In my own little trashy novel world
Stomach just starting to tell me it was almost dinner time
I became aware of a discussion between the flight deck crew members
"See that?
It just did it again!"
The captain had his hands on the elevator trim
Putting a few degrees of nose down on the aircraft
I just watched for a minute to try to see what was happening
After all
I might have to fix something once we landed again
"Is the autopilot letting the controls creep?"
The copilot was idly speculating
The flight engineer had a manual open in front of him on his little desk
It was the flight operations manual
He didn't add anything to the discussion yet
He was still double checking the way the system was supposed to be working
Just in case something had been dialed in wrong
I decided to jump in
"What's it doing exactly?"
I asked
The copilot half turned to face me
"About fifteen minutes ago
We had the autopilot set and trimmed up
When it started yawing to the left a little bit
We corrected and it seemed to go away"
He looked skeptical
"We blamed it on a glitch or some strange turbulence"
"Everything was fine for about ten minutes
Then we pitched down slightly
Then up slightly
So we checked the mach trim
And tried to see if the autopilots were fighting with each other or something
But everything seemed fine"
Now he looked irritated
"Then just now we started yawing again
This time to the right
I can't figure it"
We discussed it for a few more minutes
And I was just about to break out the microfiche machine and the manuals to read the trouble shooting trees
Just then
The handlers all headed back down to check the animals again
I went with them as before
Just in case something was amiss and I could help
I also kept my eyes open for anything out of the ordinary that might explain what was going on with the plane
The 747 Classics don't have liner all the way around the cargo compartment
About seven feet above the floor level
The gil liner walls end
Leaving the insulated aircraft structure exposed
And way up in the crown area of the fuselage
Flight control cables ran in their runs and pulleys
From where the upper deck ended
Until they disappeared through the aft pressure bulkhead on their way to the tail
As I wandered the cargo deck
Walking in and out of the cages and crates
I let my flashlight play on the cable runs
Looking for anything wrong
Everything seemed fine
The only obviously alert animal
Gina the giraffe
Watched me walk around intently
"I don't have any treats for you darlin'"
I said on my way by her box
She looked down at me
Fluttering her long lashes at me
What a flirt
Going back up to the upper deck
About twenty minutes had gone by
During that time nothing unusual had happened
And not finding any obvious answers
The crew had slowed down on their troubleshooting mission
Having switched the topic to the latest baseball stats it seemed
I went back and tidied up the galley a bit before sitting back down
Finding my book again
The handlers all came back up a few minutes later
And we all spent a few quiet minutes minding our own business
Which was, of course, when the plane yawed to the right again
The crew started right back where they had been with the problem
Which was when I remembered one more place I could look for trouble
At the back of the passenger upper deck area
There is a false wall
In this wall on a freighter is an access door
This is where I went
On the other side of the door the floor continued for another five feet or so
Where it ended in some structure that tied into the main fuselage
In all this were wire bundles, air ducts and flight control cables
And just beyond that
Was a big nylon guard net
Designed to keep tall pallets of cargo from ramming into the more delicate upper deck structure
Beyond that was the open main cargo deck
Which I could see through the tangled web of everything else
I looked around with my flashlight
Checking on the cable runs in here that I hadn't been able to see from down below
Nothing seemed wrong
Everything was happily going where it was supposed to
Nothing touching anything that it wasn't supposed to
I switched off my light and was just about to turn around to head back forward through the access door
When I saw Gina the giraffe
She was extending herself as far as she could and picking at the ceiling area
With nobody around she was being naughty
I watched her for a moment
Thinking I should tell the handlers
As she could get sick if she ate the insulation
When Gina the giraffe did something surprising
She grabbed ahold of something and pulled
I could see her neck flex as she pulled hard on whatever it was
Simultaneously with what I was seeing the giraffe do
I heard a complaint from the cockpit
Muffled through the access door to me
"Again!
It's doing it again!"
I realized what Gina the giraffe was doing
And I knew why the plane was pitching and yawing
Gina was pulling on the flight control cables that ran above her pen
Certainly not hard enough to break them
But just hard enough to start the plane gradually going this way and that
With a wry smile I went back forward to share my news with everyone
As something was going to have to be done about naughty Gina the giraffe
Stomach just starting to tell me it was almost dinner time
I became aware of a discussion between the flight deck crew members
"See that?
It just did it again!"
The captain had his hands on the elevator trim
Putting a few degrees of nose down on the aircraft
I just watched for a minute to try to see what was happening
After all
I might have to fix something once we landed again
"Is the autopilot letting the controls creep?"
The copilot was idly speculating
The flight engineer had a manual open in front of him on his little desk
It was the flight operations manual
He didn't add anything to the discussion yet
He was still double checking the way the system was supposed to be working
Just in case something had been dialed in wrong
I decided to jump in
"What's it doing exactly?"
I asked
The copilot half turned to face me
"About fifteen minutes ago
We had the autopilot set and trimmed up
When it started yawing to the left a little bit
We corrected and it seemed to go away"
He looked skeptical
"We blamed it on a glitch or some strange turbulence"
"Everything was fine for about ten minutes
Then we pitched down slightly
Then up slightly
So we checked the mach trim
And tried to see if the autopilots were fighting with each other or something
But everything seemed fine"
Now he looked irritated
"Then just now we started yawing again
This time to the right
I can't figure it"
We discussed it for a few more minutes
And I was just about to break out the microfiche machine and the manuals to read the trouble shooting trees
Just then
The handlers all headed back down to check the animals again
I went with them as before
Just in case something was amiss and I could help
I also kept my eyes open for anything out of the ordinary that might explain what was going on with the plane
The 747 Classics don't have liner all the way around the cargo compartment
About seven feet above the floor level
The gil liner walls end
Leaving the insulated aircraft structure exposed
And way up in the crown area of the fuselage
Flight control cables ran in their runs and pulleys
From where the upper deck ended
Until they disappeared through the aft pressure bulkhead on their way to the tail
As I wandered the cargo deck
Walking in and out of the cages and crates
I let my flashlight play on the cable runs
Looking for anything wrong
Everything seemed fine
The only obviously alert animal
Gina the giraffe
Watched me walk around intently
"I don't have any treats for you darlin'"
I said on my way by her box
She looked down at me
Fluttering her long lashes at me
What a flirt
Going back up to the upper deck
About twenty minutes had gone by
During that time nothing unusual had happened
And not finding any obvious answers
The crew had slowed down on their troubleshooting mission
Having switched the topic to the latest baseball stats it seemed
I went back and tidied up the galley a bit before sitting back down
Finding my book again
The handlers all came back up a few minutes later
And we all spent a few quiet minutes minding our own business
Which was, of course, when the plane yawed to the right again
The crew started right back where they had been with the problem
Which was when I remembered one more place I could look for trouble
At the back of the passenger upper deck area
There is a false wall
In this wall on a freighter is an access door
This is where I went
On the other side of the door the floor continued for another five feet or so
Where it ended in some structure that tied into the main fuselage
In all this were wire bundles, air ducts and flight control cables
And just beyond that
Was a big nylon guard net
Designed to keep tall pallets of cargo from ramming into the more delicate upper deck structure
Beyond that was the open main cargo deck
Which I could see through the tangled web of everything else
I looked around with my flashlight
Checking on the cable runs in here that I hadn't been able to see from down below
Nothing seemed wrong
Everything was happily going where it was supposed to
Nothing touching anything that it wasn't supposed to
I switched off my light and was just about to turn around to head back forward through the access door
When I saw Gina the giraffe
She was extending herself as far as she could and picking at the ceiling area
With nobody around she was being naughty
I watched her for a moment
Thinking I should tell the handlers
As she could get sick if she ate the insulation
When Gina the giraffe did something surprising
She grabbed ahold of something and pulled
I could see her neck flex as she pulled hard on whatever it was
Simultaneously with what I was seeing the giraffe do
I heard a complaint from the cockpit
Muffled through the access door to me
"Again!
It's doing it again!"
I realized what Gina the giraffe was doing
And I knew why the plane was pitching and yawing
Gina was pulling on the flight control cables that ran above her pen
Certainly not hard enough to break them
But just hard enough to start the plane gradually going this way and that
With a wry smile I went back forward to share my news with everyone
As something was going to have to be done about naughty Gina the giraffe
I knew it was her!
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