Chapter 15 - The Trial Before the NTSB
At 2:00 p.m. that afternoon, the Grand Hearing Theater of the National Transportation Safety Board in Washington was packed with three hundred aviation experts, international journalists, and survivors of Flight 418.
At the center of the illuminated witness stage stood Commander Laura Vance, dressed in her formal United States Air Force Service Dress Uniform, her medals and ribbons gleaming beneath the television lights.
Chief Administrative Law Judge Eleanor Bradley presided over the emergency hearing, reviewing the finalized telemetry analysis presented by Dr. Lauren Bennett.
Judge Bradley looked down from the bench, her authoritative voice commanding the silent auditorium.
"The court has reviewed the complete, uncompressed flight data recorder analysis, the cockpit voice recordings, and the physical micro-solenoid extracted from the airframe," Judge Bradley announced.
Judge Bradley turned her gaze upon the gallery, where two hundred and eighty-four passengersâmothers, fathers, business travelers, and childrenâsat in absolute, breathless silence.
"The findings of this board are unequivocal," Judge Bradley decreed. "At 02:18 UTC, Flight 418 suffered an intentional, malicious total catastrophic loss of all primary and secondary hydraulic controls. In the entire history of modern civil aviation, a total hydraulic failure in severe meteorological conditions has resulted in a zero-percent survival rate."
Judge Bradley tapped the microphone, her voice trembling slightly with profound, unpayable emotion.
"Commander Laura Vance executed a manual-reversion aerodynamic glide profile using asymmetric engine thrust and manual rudder trim that defies all theoretical flight simulator models. She did not merely save an airplane. She saved two hundred and eighty-four families from an unlivable tragedy."
The entire three-hundred-person auditorium stood to their feet simultaneously.
A deafening, thunderous five-minute standing ovation shook the walls of the federal hearing theater.
Passengers who had wept in terror over the Atlantic cheered through their tears, shouting Lauraâs name in unvarnished gratitude and love.
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Judge Bradley slammed her heavy oak gavel down with a sharp CRACK.
"This board formally dismisses all civil complaints against Commander Vance with prejudice, revokes Global Airways' operating certificates, and refers all corporate officers for capital criminal prosecution."
