"James Herbert - The Survivor" - читать интересную книгу автора (Herbert James)

The recorder keeps a note of five aircraft parameters: the positive or negative
gravitational forces as read by one of the aircraft's gyroscopes; the magnetic
heading from the compass; the indicated air speed; the altitude at which the
aircraft is flying taken from the pressure altimeter dials; and the time in seconds,
not related to the time of day on a clock. This was all graphed and then compared
with a chart of another 747 that had taken off in similar conditions - time, weather,
load, that sort of thing - a few days before. From that, we learnt everything had
file:///F|/rah/James%20Herbert/Herbert_James_-_The_Survivor__(proofed).htm (18 of 227) [5/21/03 10:08:38 PM]
 Herbert, James - The Survivor UC FR


been normal except for one detail: the HDG - the magnetic heading - had begun to
differ from the other 747s before it had even reached cruising speed. In other
words, Captain Rogan had changed direction. Possibly he was turning back for
Heathrow. There's no way of knowing because that's when the instruments began
to malfunction.'

'But he must have called Control to let them know of his change of course,' Keller
said, leaning forward across the table, his eyes fixed on Tewson's face.

'He tried to, but whatever happened, happened fast. He had no time to relay the
message.'

Keller was silent for a moment, desperately trying to remember. But his mind was
a blank. He sat back in his seat again.

Tewson continued: 'Our systems people had already begun an examination of the
cockpit which had been nearly completely destroyed, but they were still able to
establish the positions of quite a number of the aircraft's controls and switches
and, although some of them were burned completely away, they were still able to
determine whether they were "on" or "off" according to the positionsтАж"

"Were the bodies of the crew still in the cockpit?' Keller interrupted,

тАШEr, yes, they were. Impossible to identify absolutely, of course, butтАж'

Then how did I get out? Why wasn't my body there? Why wasn't I killed?'

'It's obvious you must have left the cabin before the crash, Dave.'

тАШWhy? Why should I leave the cabin so soon after take-off? IтАж

A sudden flash. A memory almost breaking through. A picture. A frozen picture of
the Skipper's face, his mouth open, shouting something at him, alarm in his eyes.
Fear.


file:///F|/rah/James%20Herbert/Herbert_James_-_The_Survivor__(proofed).htm (19 of 227) [5/21/03 10:08:38 PM]
 Herbert, James - The Survivor UC FR