Fate Is the Hunter

Consolidated Airlines flight 22 from Los Angeles to Seattle faces a mechanical issue a few minutes after takeoff, and while seemingly not an emergency in being directed to return to Los Angeles by air traffic control, the plane ends up crash landing on the beach, with all but one of the fifty-four aboard ultimately killed from the crash, the lone survivor being the chief flight attendant, Martha Webster. While the Civil Aeronautics Board leads the official investigation, the airline does its own concurrent investigation led by Sam McBane, Director of Flight Operations. While air traffic control can provide some information as to what happened from their perspective, only Martha can provide that first hand perspective on board. Initial evidence points to one of three possible causes: sabotage, mechanical issues, or human pilot error. As the investigations progress, evidence points more and more to the latter, specifically that the pilot, Jack Savage, was possibly drunk. Sam, who knew Jack from their war days, hired him, and considered him a friend, admits to himself that Jack could be a bit of a grandstander at times both in his professional and personal life, but dismisses that Jack could have ever breached such protocol despite independent witnesses reporting having seen Jack ordering drinks at a bar prior to the flight. As such, Sam goes on a mission to discover this and other reports related to Jack's life that could have been factors in this suspected pilot error. Sam may not like what he discovers, not so much about Jack himself related to the drinking, but about unsettled issues regarding the crash in combination in he needing to work on fact.