Two Naval aviators die in a crash of an F-14 while using a new fly-by-wire navigation system. Harm and Meg investigate. The vendor of the system blames the pilot. Harm flies both a simulator and a Tomcat; he and Meg discover the cause.
A Navy pilot and his radar-intercept officer (RIO) die in a crash of an F-14 Tomcat while using a new Air Force fly-by-wire navigation system; the pilot was a friend and shipmate of Harm. Harm and Meg investigate. The vendor of the system insists that the cause of the crash was a pilot error; Harm believes otherwise. While Harm duplicates the fatal flight, he tries to induce an error by the system while flying a simulator, then the does so while flying a Tomcat; he and Meg eventually discover the cause. Harm also comforts the widow and her son.—DocRushing
During a test flight Lt. Pendry has a deadly crash with his Tomcat. Harm and Meg are ordered to probe this case and the facts point to a pilot error, not at a system malfunction. Though Pendry was a risk-taking pilot, Harm doesn't think he has gone too far based on his knowledge from his flying days with Pendry.