“I think we found something,” the lead mechanic called out to NTSB agent Tom Sharpent. Nodding, Tom crushed out his cigarette and walked back into the hangar serving as the investigation’s main hub of operations.
“What do you have, Jude?”
“This,” the mechanic pointed grimly. “Elevator controls. What do you not see?”
Tom gazed intently at the exposed mechanism. “Hmm,” he murmured. “We seem to be missing the bolt connecting the cockpit control cables to the elevator’s bell crank.”
“Exactly,” Jude confirmed. “And the horizontal stabilizer remained intact at impact. See how there’s no warping on any of this that would indicate the bolt broke or worked its way loose? Didn’t shear off, and didn’t just fall out; this is self-contained, we’d have found it when we opened this up. I think it was
