Wings of Payback

The day after I was suspended from my position, someone I never expected to see came to me.

It was Yasmin.

She didn't make an appointment; instead, she waited in front of the Federal Aviation Administration building.

"Mr. Lowe, hello," she greeted. "I know nothing about what my dad did. The only thing I know is that my skills are real. I flew every hour myself."

I cast my gaze upon her. "Does he know you're here for me?"

"Nope."

"There was no QAR data corresponding to 120 flight hours in your record."

She seemed baffled and didn't get what I meant. "What?"

"The flight hours were recorded in your file and the airline's system. But there was no record for 120 flight hours in the QAR data folder. The data was uploaded at one go later."

"That's impossible. I flew every—"

"I'm not questioning if you operated the aircraft or not. I'm asking if the record was tampered with."

She clenched her fists. Her lips twitched, but she said nothing.

At last, she turned around and left.

After taking a few steps, she stopped in her tracks. "Mr. Lowe, if you're right, then those 120 hours…"

She left the rest of her words unsaid.

…

When I returned to my office, a document had just been delivered and placed on the desk.

It was a notice from the disciplinary inspection team stating, "A special review meeting will be held in three days to investigate the actions of the chief examiner, Ethan Lowe, during the captain upgrade assessment of Yasmin Sullivan."

The review would be made public. Representatives from all the airlines could attend it.

I pulled out the bottom drawer with the paper bag inside. Then, I kept it in a briefcase.

I kept a small Bluetooth speaker and a USB drive containing documents I had copied in the internal compartment of the briefcase.

There was a restored old recording in the drive.

Three years ago, a retired pilot handed the tape to me with trembling hands. "Ethan, I've been keeping this for 17 years. After giving it to you today, I can finally be at ease."

…

The review meeting was held in the meeting room on the ninth floor of the Federal Aviation Administration building.

Three people from the inspection team sat at the head table with Mike in the middle. The room was crowded with representatives from the authorities and airlines.

Zach Airways had sent seven representatives over.

Jason sat in the front row, and next to him were the general counsel and public relations manager.

Wynnie was there too, seated in a corner at the back. Meanwhile, Zachary sat at the center.

He wore a dark gray suit with Zach Airways' golden wing badge pinned to his chest.

When he saw me coming in, he swept his gaze across me.

Mike read out the items that would be reviewed.

"This meeting is being held to investigate whether the chief examiner, Ethan Lowe, exercised an improper veto and abused his authority during the captain upgrade assessment of Zach Airways' co-pilot, Yasmin Sullivan.

"Ethan Lowe, please state your reasons for rejecting the captain upgrade application."

I opened up the file.

"There was no QAR data corresponding to 120 flight hours in Yasmin's record. After retrieving the airlines' server logs, it was found that the data of these 120 hours was uploaded all at once, 48 hours before the application.

"The IP address indicated that the files were uploaded from Zach Airways' management."

I handed the printed copies of the screenshots to the disciplinary inspection team.

Mike took them, glanced at them, and arched an eyebrow.

Everyone in the room fell silent.

Jason's general counsel was the first person to stand up. "Mr. Lowe, the delay in transferring QAR data is nothing new. System migration and server maintenance could lead to bulk synchronization. You can't confirm that the data was fabricated—"