In the early hours on Monday morning, TransPacific Airlines
Flight 545, enroute from Hong Kong to Denver, experiences a
horrifying event. Three people are killed and countless
others are injured as their plane ascends and descends in a
terrifying roller-coaster ride reportedly due to turbulence.
The plane's manufacturer, Norton Aircraft dispatches an
in-house Quality Assurance Vice President, Casey Singleton,
to discern what exactly occurred—and most importantly, who
is to blame.
Over the next five days, Casey must sift through literally
thousands of systems to determine what went wrong. The task
is complex enough, but the added stress of an
as-yet-unsigned sales deal of this N-22 plane to the Chinese
scheduled to happen by week's end, intense media scrutiny,
union difficulties and a saboteur all but make her task
impossible.
Casey finally unravels the mystery of Flight 545 but needs
physical proof to substantiate her theory. She decides to
recreate the in-air event and take along a pushy reporter to
help dispel any thoughts that the N-22 is unsafe.
Following the demonstration, which proves that it was pilot
error, Casey keeps her job, the Chinese deal goes through
and Norton Aircraft is saved. The most complex part of the
aircraft—the wing—is also, unfortunately, part of the
Chinese deal. This is the very thing the unions feared the
most. The other key players in the unfolding drama do not
fare so well—including the media.