After a while they ran out of beer, lost interest and went to sleep themselves.
General Devin got a good laugh out of the story when the two security guards checked in the next morning. That would serve the dumb ass right, trying to navigate in the night. Even he had a hard time and he had been down that road a thousand times. Maybe that would take some of the swagger out of wonder boy. Hearing the story had brightened his day and he actually spoke to several of the technicians as he walked through the hanger bay.
He was on his way to see what progress had been made in the Su-11 incident. He stopped by the mess hall and got a cup of coffee before going to the hanger where they were still going over the bits and pieces from the Su-11 wreckage.
“Any new developments?”
“General. Well, we think we have the answer but we want to be sure before we proceed.”
“What have you got?”
“It appears that the forward latch on the cargo bay failed and allowed the door to lift up during reentry. This caused it to act as a wind brake and funnel the heat from the shields directly into the cargo bay.”
“How sure are you?”
“We are loading the program into the simulator right now. Would you like to watch?”
“Absolutely,” the general said, following them to the large flight simulator that they used to train the pilots for shuttle operations.
“All ready,” one of the technicians said.
“Now general, this is the way it appears to have happened judging from all of the data we have gathered. Here is the initial phase for reentry. See the panel? Everything is green and they are in line for approach” The flight data recorder confirmed that everything was ready for reentry.
“Okay, now here they start to hit the atmosphere, everything is still normal. Ten seconds into the reentry path the warning light for the number one bay door starts to blink yellow. Five seconds later it goes to red and then goes out,” the technician narrated. Devin was watching the reading intently.
“Now. Here is where it all starts to go really wrong. They are twenty-nine seconds into the descent; all lights except the number one cargo door are green. The heat is starting to come over the top of the shuttle and it is hitting the leading edge of the cargo door. Ten seconds later the door starts to open from the buffeting.”
Everyone’s eyes were fixed on the display. Other than the technician telling them what was happening, it was totally quiet.
“Fifteen seconds later fire was being sucked into the cargo bay. The pilot tries to correct the drifting but the craft was not responding fast enough. Now the nose is starting to come up as the heat is sucked into the bay and hitting the back wall. This is forcing the tail down and the pilot was desperately fighting to stay on the correct glide path and the proper AOA.”
They could all see how the nose was starting to pitch up and the pilot trying to shove the nose down to get back to the proper angle of attack. Lights on the instrument panel were all starting to turn from green to red and several warnings were being issued.
“At this point, they were at about 140,000 feet, and this is when the cargo door peeled back, slamming into the left wing, severing various electrical and hydraulic systems. The pilot switched to the backup hydraulic pumps as he tried to fight for control,” he said in a flat voice.
It was almost as if no one was even breathing, it was so quiet in the room.
“At 95,000 feet the heat started to melt through the back wall of the bay and is beginning to enter the engine compartment. Then, at 90,000 feet the other cargo bay door started to lift off and five seconds later, it peeled back and slammed into the rear stabilizer. The nose comes up vertical and at 75,000 feet the Su-11 breaks apart.”
No one said a thing for several seconds.
“My God,” someone finally said, breaking the silence.
“Well, that certainly eliminates pilot error. That we now know for sure,” the general said.
Even he was not his usual brisk self.
“I can’t even begin to imagine what those pilots were thinking when the back started to come around,” he said in a low voice.
“If it makes any difference general, they were so busy that I doubt they had time to think about much. Once it went vertical, they would have died instantly,” the technician said quietly.
“I understand but still…”
Everyone that had crowded into the flight simulator started to slowly file out. Once they were all assembled in the hanger bay the general addressed them.
