Numb3rs s01e12 Episode Script
Noisy Edge
Hey,Charlie.
Find anything you can help us with? Yeah.
These cases won't benefit from mathematical applications.
Although,we could approach|all these with Chaos Theory.
Yeah.
Chaos I got.
Right,but with chaos,there's no telling where a case will lead, and there could be mathematical applications I can't detect yet.
I love that about you.
What? You never give up,do you? Well,there's always a solution,Don.
You know,if there's any limitation,it's got to be in the mathematician,not the math.
How about fun,Charlie? What do you ever do for fun? Well,if you must know,Dad thought playing golf was something|we might enjoy doing together.
I'm sure he did.
You know he's like an eight handicap,right? I'm a pretty quick study.
Just don't let him talk you into betting.
Last time we played,he took me for 20 bucks.
What's up? In the last ten minutes, the FAA's received seven eyewitness reports of an unidentified object flying low over the San Fernando Valley|headed toward Los Angeles.
What about a radar signature? That's just it.
The object's not showing up|on either civilian or military radar.
Edwards Airforce Base is scrambling two F-16s for an overflight.
Sounds serious.
Homeland Security's been warning about a small craft terrorist attack for months.
No flight plan,no contact|with air traffic control.
We have to assume this craft is hostile.
What about you taking the sightings and trying to plot a flight path? Oh,well,I Just give it a try.
If he does it,patch him through to me.
Okay.
Where you going? I'm gonna go up to the roof,see if see anything.
Contact Homeland Security.
See if they have a military attach in the area.
I want to monitor their com.
Agent Eppes? Yes,sir.
Anything yet? Nothing.
Military ATC,this is Rogue One at Echo Delta Tango four,|four,niner and descending.
That's our two F-16s coming in.
Rogue One,you are cleared as assigned.
Make best time on target.
Hey,Charlie,what do you got for me? You got anything? Based on these sightings, the object should be|over Glendale on heading 1-1-8.
Glendale.
You got it? Are you sure? New LAPD sighting one mile north of the Silver Lake Reservoir.
Don,based on this new sighting,I estimate the object is on a direct course|for downtown Los Angeles.
Downtown? Are you sure? Yeah,if these reports are right.
Military Air Traffic Control, this is Leader One.
Direct Rogues One and Two on a direct heading to downtown Los Angeles.
Roger that,Leader One.
ATC,this is Rogue One and Two|on new heading.
Nose is warm,visuals are clear,|weapon systems are hot.
Pinging on PRF.
All frequencies.
Charlie,I don't see anything.
Look,according to my calculations, it should be just north of downtown.
It's got to be right there.
Rogue One checking one-zero,|one-one and one-two.
Negative contact.
Rogue Two,checking one,two and three.
No Joy.
Repeat,no joy.
Where the hell is it? Echo Delta Tango.
Night sky clean and clear.
Rogue One,this is Leader One.
Confirm your visual.
Roger,Leader One.
That's a negative.
Whatever you boys were chasing,sir,it's gone.
We all use math every day to forecast weather to tell time to handle money We also use math to analyze crime reveal patterns predict behavior.
Using numbers,|we can solve the biggest mysteries we know.
It's over here.
Came right over those trees.
How long it take to pass by? Uh,five,ten seconds,maybe.
Not very fast.
How high you think it was? Few hundred feet.
Yeah? What did it look like? Dark,lights all around.
I have a video.
My wife shot it.
You have a video? It's not great.
We still need to see it.
Sure.
We'll get it back to you.
Man,I was hoping it was some idiot in a Cessna getting his pilot's license,you know? Altitude,speed,path toward downtown.
Could have been the practice run|for a terror strike.
Test our responses? Maybe.
Like I said,it's not great.
There.
There it is All right,wait Just freeze it.
Yeah,he was right.
It's not great.
Uh-uh.
I don't know Agent Eppes? Yeah.
Hi.
Erica Weston.
National Transportation Safety Board.
Oh,hey,Erica.
Don.
Hi,Don.
David Sinclair.
David.
Thanks for coming.
Not a problem.
Post 9/11,U-A-E's are a top priority.
U- A-Es? Unexplained Aerial Events.
Your seven sightings- they're all consistent with this? Yeah,pretty much.
We might be looking at an MPH.
Not a U-A-E? Sorry.
Occupational hazard.
Multi-Person Hoax.
Yeah,I don't know.
I mean,it seems pretty elaborate to be a prank.
eight ultralites flew in formation at night to create the appearance of a UFO.
Well,I don't want to assume it's a hoax.
I mean,we need to find out where it came from and where it went.
I'm thinking maybe Charlie might be helpful.
That was better.
What? It was.
You almost hit the ball.
You know,I'm-I'm the king at basketball, I- I can snowboard, I'm the best at video games, I'm even getting over my fear of rock climbing, but I still I can't I hit this little white ball.
Because you're lifting up.
You're trying to find out where the ball is going.
Now all you have to do is just trust your instincts|and let me watch for the ball.
Go ahead.
All right.
All right,that was better.
I stink.
Charlie,do you always have to excel|at what you do? This shouldn't be happening.
I've worked these numbers.
Hey,come on,this is what is known as fun.
Out here together in the in the fresh air.
Isn't that enough? Don't get me wrong.
It's not like|I'm not enjoying myself with you,Dad.
It's just,I'm just surprised the math isn't giving me an edge.
Yeah.
All right, now you just watch and learn.
Now you sit down like you're on a stick,hmm? And let your hands work together.
Draw the club back slowly.
Huh? Awesome.
That was good.
See? There's no math involved.
It's all rhythm.
It's just rhythm.
Oh,rhythm.
There's a rule on the course about cell phones,you know.
Yeah,I know.
Hey,Don.
Hey,what's up? Yeah,you got it.
Okay,bye.
Hey,sorry I'm late.
Dad wanted to walk.
Took us a little longer to get back to the clubhouse than I'd estimated.
It's okay.
Charlie,this is Erica Weston from the NTSB.
She specializes in what they call Unidentified Aerial Events.
Hi.
Pleasure.
Nice meeting you.
Hi.
Likewise.
You're right on time.
|Your student just finished loading our radar images.
This is Civilian Air Traffic Control? -Right.
These blips are commercial airliners.
The others are small planes, but over here,where our bogey was, there's nothing.
Hmm.
What do you think? Well,there's a lot of noise in the system.
Hmm.
What about trying the noisy edge? Mm-hmm.
DON: What's that? Well,there's random noise in every radar system.
And sometimes the signals the radar's designed to pick up are so weak, they're obscured by the noise.
Here.
Listen.
That noise you're hearing is really the noise of the system.
Without a signal, all we're hearing is random energy.
How do you find signals that faint? It's called Squish/Squash.
It's a technique that|was developed by a mathematician from the University of Alberta in Canada.
Looks for anything that|looks like a-a weak signal, and then mathematically|squishes and squashes that data to guess at its speed and at its direction.
How is that possible? Okay,imagine a Imagine a room full of-of 20 or,um, or 30 people clapping.
Now some people clap loud,some soft.
Most generally at the same pace.
Now imagine a woman in that audience clapping much,much slower, clapping at a very specific rhythm.
Her rhythmic clap is the signal we want to track.
But we can't.
We can't hear it amongst the random clapping.
The signal's lost in the noise.
However,Squish/Squash allows us to isolate the rhythmic clap and track it.
So with that,you can pinpoint the flight path? Where it started and where it ended? Probably.
And how long would that take? Oh,it's hard to say right now.
Well,I mean,if we're dealing with terrorists, and they make another run,Charlie Right.
Well,Larry has time booked in the computer lab.
I mean,that could help us run this program much faster.
Call Larry.
When you first told me|you wanted to run an advanced conditional probability distribution application, I was delighted.
Naturally,I assumed we were about to attempt a model of my theory concerning the distribution of gravity waves.
I'm sorry,Larry.
But no,little did I realize|my slender budgetary resources were being used to finance a UFO hunt.
Well,I think the more accurate term is Unexplained Aerial Event.
Right,and-and you know I'll get the FBI to reimburse you,I promise.
Oh,I-I suppose national security has to take priority.
Yes.
Thank you for being understanding.
You say this craft left no radar signature? Nothing visible.
So,what assumptions are we making for the program you're running? Well,the FBI has eliminated weather balloons.
They've eliminated ultralite aircraft, helicopters and military drones.
Which leaves us? I think the highest probability is|that it's some kind of small, piloted aircraft that was flying|without a radar transponder, or one that was turned off.
Well,keep in mind, quantum physics maintains an infinite number of possibilities.
This might have nothing to do with man or machine.
Oh,this could be some sort of|inter-dimensional event or Yes,it might even be a vehicle from another part of the universe using a type of propulsion we can't even begin to understand.
Okay,Larry.
We'll try and factor that in,as well.
Okay,you two,you make your little jokes.
The fact remains, we may not be alone.
What-What's that? That's the Squish/Squash program calculating the object's likely flight path.
Well,it looks like the flight path of our mysterious little object is suddenly becoming a lot less mysterious.
This is the path of the object as calculated by the Squish/Sguash algorithms.
And what happens here? The signal becomes too thin to track.
What,right around the time it reaches downtown? Right,but if we follow the projection of the data, the flight takes us over the city.
Now,where's that on the map? That is right over the Staples Center.
Or right into it.
Major sports venue,thousands of innocents.
Exactly the kind of high visibility soft target we've been worried about.
Why don't you get a schedule of upcoming events at the Staples Center? All right.
So,what we have is a small aircraft capable of penetrating densely populated areas without detection.
Obvious dangers are is if it crashes into a building or God forbid disseminates a WMD.
Ms.
Weston has the,the good news.
We now believe we know the location of the flight's origination.
According to Professor Eppes, craft took off from somewhere in here.
What I'm calling the "area of origin.
" And assuming we're|looking for a fixed-wing airplane, it would need a runway to take off from.
How many strips are in the area of origin? One commercial,four recreational airfields.
We need to cover them all.
I mean,track every single plane|that took off that night.
Talk to as many pilots as possible.
I mean,somebody had to see the thing.
All right.
Okay,let's do it.
Okay let's go.
I don't get it.
|The aircraft should have originated from an airfield that the FBI checked out.
You know,here's where I get reductive on your ass, 'cause you keep saying "aircraft," but so far,no one's been able to identify whatever it was that people saw.
What are you saying,Larry? I'm saying instead of building a flight path, let's try focusing on the object itself? You know what? He's right.
We could get a visual of the object by building in all the radar sources|at the same time yes,civilian and military.
So overlap the radar sources? That's right.
By layering the images,we could build a three-dimensional cross-section of it There.
Now it's working off of all seven radar sources.
And it's building an image of the object.
Charlie? Is that what I think it is? Now,le-let's be very,very careful.
We shouldn't jump to any conclusions or make any assumptions.
There could be any number of reasons why that looks like A vehicle from another part of the universe.
I mean,sure,it looks like a real UFO.
We don't know what a UFO looks like.
How can you say this looks like a real one? It's cutting-edge aeronautical design, but it was definitely made here on Earth.
Well,that's good,|'cause I really like my job,you know? This is similar to the blended wing design.
The same one used to create the B2 bomber.
It's a concept,actually,that dates back to 1939, when Lyle Farver proposed it|to the U.
S.
Army Air Corps for a 500-miles- per-hour fighter.
Something this small? Pretty radical concept.
Since we were looking for a fixed-wing aircraft, naturally we're looking for an airstrip where the flight originated.
Right,but we didn't find any.
Which forced us to consider alternatives.
Freeways,makeshift runways.
Only any of those would have had a witness.
Which is why we have to ask ourselves a whole different question.
Why assume that|this aircraft needs a runway at all? Vertical takeoff? Like one of those,uh,Harrier jets? Yeah,only smaller and lighter.
And that would minimize the power it would need for sufficient lift.
Which would explain why no one heard it.
All right,so,|it takes off straight up and it's quiet.
How does that explain it|not showing up on any radar? Well,there's only one explanation,really.
It'd be construction material.
Some lightweight non-metallic composite that radar wouldn't pick up.
And who makes a plane like that? Something like this can't be done overnight.
This is the kind of plan that would take years in the making.
Well,still,it's got to be|a relatively small community, right? I would start with Nordell Aeronautics.
Nordell? They've been offering a $5 million prize for a working craft that has vertical takeoff for years now.
We've offered the prize since '97.
No takers? No winners.
Vertical takeoff's proven to be|a tough nut to crack in the field of personal aircraft.
Personal aircraft? Some people believe that once vertical technology's|actually conquered, affordable and easy-to-fly aircraft will eventually replace the automobile.
I'll tell you, if this thing really flew, I'd sure love to talk to the team behind it.
Yeah,well,so would we.
We were hoping yomight be able to tell us who'd be capable of putting a plane|like this in the air.
Just a handful of designers,|I can tell you that much.
Anyone out on the west coast? There's a couple of engineers that come to mind: David Croft and Lane Gosnell.
How much do you know about them? Croft and Gosnell used to be partners, until they had a falling out.
Over what? The direction of the design.
You're saying this thing actually flew? At least 50 miles.
At heights varying from several hundred feet to a few thousand.
This photo what Gosnell gave you, or did you actually see it fly? Gosnell.
You mean Lane Gosnell, your former partner? Well,this is his plane,isn't it? Is it? Unless someone else stole|this wing design from me.
We understand that you and Mr.
Gosnell had some sort of dispute.
You might say that.
We were told it was about|the design of this aircraft.
The design had nothing to do with it.
It was about Lane.
And his,uh, obsession to be remembered.
You see,with Lane, it was all about making a statement.
Showing the world that the rules didn't apply to him.
Not even the rules of physics.
Frankly,it didn't matter how dangerous it was or who might get hurt by him doing it.
Mr.
Croft,do you have any idea where Lane Gosnell is now? Not a clue.
But when you find him, you tell him my lawyers are gonna be talking to his lawyers.
Lane Gosnell.
Two years ago,at a conference on air traffic safety in Seattle, he gives a presentation in which he claims the 9/11 hijackers would someday be viewed as pioneers in aviation.
He what? He said the flights into the Towers proved that the average person was capable of piloting an aircraft with a minimal amount of training.
That's twisted.
Twice he flew a Cessna|into restricted military airspace.
Twice he had to be escorted out by U.
S.
warplanes.
Claimed he did this in protest of news blackouts of returning casualties from Iraq.
Don,why haven't we locked this guy up? Oh,we did.
He was held|for observation for three weeks, and he was supposed to|undergo psychiatric counseling.
What happened? He didn't show.
We got us an emotionally disturbed man trying to make aviation history.
You believe this? Still can't find it? No.
Why don't we just drop another ball? 'Cause it has to be here.
The ball was traveling on a trajectory whose endpoint would put it|in this immediate area.
Charlie,there's one thing|you got to learn about this game.
Golf balls don't always do|what you expect them to.
Yeah,well,golf balls have to|follow the rules of physics! Just like any other object.
Then why do people keep losing so many of them? Chaos.
Why don't we|let this foursome play through? In a minute.
We don't have all day! Now where you going? Well,there's no reason to|think the ball landed here.
So it's where I'm looking, because it doesn't make sense.
It's where I don't expect it.
Here it is.
Except that's not your ball.
Let's go,guys.
What? Uh,found it! Come on,let's go.
You can drop the ball over here.
Well,he hasn't been home in a couple of days.
Uh,he's been working.
When was the last time you talked to him? Few days ago.
What's this all about? Do you recognize this aircraft? Where'd you get this? So you recognize it? Yeah,I mean,it's my dad's plane, but he didn't want anybody else seeing it.
Maybe he shouldn't have flown it|over Los Angeles,then.
Flown it? What are you talking about? That image was captured on radar two nights ago.
No.
Yeah.
Well,that's not possible.
Well,your father's plane was tracked flying at low altitudes in populated areas with no flight plan and no radio contact.
If you have any idea what he was planning,Blake, and you withhold information from us, you're looking at a serious felony here.
Blake,we need to talk to your father right away.
Okay,yeah,sure.
I mean,he's at his workshop, but I'm telling you,the plane is there.
Where's his workshop? That's his truck,so he should be here.
Hey,Dad! Dad,you in there? Don,it's the same plane.
It's supposed to be here.
This is not possible.
It's the exhaust from the vertical engines.
It must've burnt the grass.
So he did fly it,then? Yeah,I guess so.
And where would he take it? I don't know.
I- I have no idea.
Just because he's an antiwar activist doesn't make him a criminal.
Maybe not,but we're also aware of his psychiatric history.
As well as his feelings about|the United States government.
He's not a violent person.
He would never do anything|to intentionally harm someone.
Why didn't he tell you|about the flight that night? See,you don't know his intentions,Blake.
A lot of innocent people could be hurt.
You understand what I'm saying? He wasn't supposed to fly it.
Not yet.
We-we were still testing the rudder.
So he talked to you about it? No.
Something must've happened.
What do you mean? What,a crash? No,no.
He's much too good of a pilot for that.
Then what? You have to understand, my father's in a race for the history books.
Uh-huh.
Okay? An obsession like that makes you do things that-that you wouldn't, and that you normally couldn't.
What? Like what? What he's doing is very expensive.
Uh-huh.
The materials,the tests,the designs.
We don't have that type of money.
So,where'd the money for all this come from? He sold an interest in his plane|to a venture capital firm.
Which one? Ridenauer Investments.
It's a German company.
He was never happy with the arrangement.
He always thought that they were less interested in the history books and more interested in what the technology might do for them.
According to corporate records, your company has put almost $1.
7 million into Gosnell's work so far.
What can I say? We're a venture capital firm|who just got bit by the bug.
The promise of|the mass production of personal aircraft.
Right.
But it doesn't look like your investors have much to show for it.
Better a few years too early,|then a few too late,ja? Besides,if Mr.
Gosnell ever|gets his plane up in the air, our share of the prize offered|by Nordell Aeronautics more than makes for a very good hedge|on our investment,no? Gosnell already got his plane in the air.
What are you talking about? The unidentified aircraft|that was recently in the news.
The one spotted over downtown Los Angeles.
You didn't know how far along|he was with his project.
Uh,Gosnell began refusing us|any access to his workshop over three months ago.
Which means you knew|where his workshop was located,then? I also noticed the source of your investments come from overseas.
What difference does that make? Well,I was just wondering if your motivation is less the production of personal aircraft and more the sale of Gosnell's technology to your foreign investors.
I have no idea what you're talking about.
Mr.
Ridenauer,|if this plane is used to harm anyone, you will find yourself facing serious charges.
There were rumors.
What sort of rumors? That Gosnell was getting very close to creating a working prototype.
But he wasn't letting anyone see it.
And naturally,you felt obligated to pass that information along to your foreign investors.
Amita you know,|I didn't think you could make this work.
But you've come with a novel approach to solve this problem.
Spent six months getting nowhere until I thought if you can't come in the front door, climb through a window.
Well,you've obviously,certainly, come a long way in your thesis work.
Thank you.
You know what the weird thing is?- What's that? I realized how much I enjoy being here at CalSci.
That's good.
I'm glad to hear that.
Well,I was hoping you'd say that,because I'm seriously considering getting a second PhD.
In astrophysics.
No.
Don't do that.
Don't tell me I've been working with you for over two years on combinatorics, and you're just going to throw that|all away for physics.
Charlie,astrophysics and computer science make a prey good match.
Mm.
Besides, I've really realized how much I like being here.
So you'd do your work here? Of course,I'd have a different advisor.
Of course.
Which means that|I wouldn't be your student anymore.
I guess that's true,isn't it? Dr.
Eppes.
I'd like Uh,sorry.
Is this a bad time? No.
No,no,no,not anymore.
What's up?What have you got? We found the location where the plane took off from,|and we have a suspect.
But we haven't been able to find him or the plane.
Also,your brother thinks that this man may not be in this alone.
Really? There were foreign investors|in Gosnell's aircraft, so there's a possibility this technology could end up|in the hands of a country that's hostile towards the United States.
What's this? Weather radar of the Los Angeles area the night the plane disappeared.
Weather radar? We know that the plane wasn't picked up by conventional air traffic radar.
Probably because the material it was made out of didn't have enough metal in it.
And that's what traditional radars are designed to pick up- metal.
'cause that's what most airplanes are made of.
But the weather radar will show us|locations of cloud formations, because it's tuned to detect water vapor.
So,by re-tuning the radar signal We might be able to track the path of the plane.
Because this time, the radar won't be looking for vapor or metal.
It'll be looking for something in between.
I called the State Department with a list of Ridenauer's investors.
They're trying to track down|their whereabouts right now, see if any of them are in the country.
All right,that sounds good.
Don.
We found it.
What,the plane? We re-tuned radar to look for|nonmetallic materials.
We found a new flight path.
We know where the plane went.
Where? Should be within a quarter-mile area|in Signal Hill.
Okay.
Let's go.
Get on the phone to LAPD.
Tell them we need Search and Rescue teams.
|I'm on it.
No sign of Gosnell or the plane.
Charlie,I mean, are you sure about the location? The math is right.
All right.
I mean,I'll see if I can get|some more people out here,but maybe we should be considering the possibility that the plane might be hidden in plain sight.
How do you mean? Kind of like the Gary DeVore case.
Oh,yeah.
This guy that just disappeared driving back from Vegas.
Right.
And then some months later, they find him in his car buried|under 20 feet of water.
Just yards away from where the Highway Patrol were looking for him.
Right.
Gosnell's plane could be|right in front of us yet be in an environment|that's preventing us from detecting it.
It's like Charlie said.
Look.
I mean,if he went down, here's a place it'd be pretty hard|to find any wreckage.
A junk yard.
A place already full of wreckage.
Hey,guys! Over here! She found something Don.
It's Lane Gosnell.
He's dead.
Yeah,the rudder controls show|evidence of being tampered with.
It was? Mm-hmm.
Tampering? You sure? No question.
The box holding the rudder servo controller|was unsealed.
The mechanism was altered.
The plane went down as a result of sabotage.
Want me to talk to him? No,I got it.
Blake? All right,Blake Was that him? Was that my Dad? I'm sorry.
Can you tell me if he suffered? We're pretty sure he died on impact.
How does this happen? How does something like this happen? Well,see,the thing is,it-it wasn't an accident.
What? Apparently,the rudder was tampered with.
The rudder? Your father was murdered.
I'm sorry.
All right,so,Lane Gosnell was definitely killed by an act of sabotage.
Yeah,but by who,and why? Well,I mean, working theory|has to assume the worst,right? I mean,it has to be because of|what that technology could do.
Just got a preliminary analysis of Gosnell's flight data record.
Mm-hmm? Apparently,because Gosnell didn't know about the rudder problem,he over-corrected, put the craft into an uncontrolled dive.
He wasn't able to recover.
Any chance that flight recorder can tell us where he was headed? Not without a filed flight plan.
Most of the data on the recorder is just pretty basic information about changes in his speed and altitude.
So,you can't even tell us the Staples Center was his intended target? You can't eliminate it,either.
Because of the sabotage, the rudder wasn't behaving as expected, so we can't tell|what his true course might've been.
I mean,so,he took the plane up|for what that night? A joy ride? Wasn't the impression I got from his ex-partner.
Croft was pretty sure that Gosnell intended to try something spectacular.
What do you hear from the State Department? So far,they've come up empty-handed.
None of Ridenauer's investors are in the country.
Doesn't mean they don't have people here|working on their behalf.
Hey,Charlie.
Hey.
What's up? Just grading tests|for my Nonlinear Dynamics class.
Glad to see you're taking my advice and having some fun.
Well you don't look like|you've been having too much fun.
Oh,man this Gosnell case I spent all that time trying to figure out where the plane went.
Turns out the pilot didn't even know, because the rudder was busted.
See,that's the thing- I got to find out where he was headed,|'cause I think that's why he was killed.
You got any ideas?Anything at all? Maybe.
Could I,uh could I get some data off the flight recorder? Yeah,I mean,I can see if,|uh,Erica can drop some by.
Maybe Amita can help you out.
Dad said she's sticking around.
Did he? Well,you happy about that? Um are you asking me|as her thesis advisor or? You tell me.
Yeah,I'm happy.
Hey,what's the deal? I thought you were playing golf today.
Oh,no.
You know,|I'm really no use on the golf course.
Charlie you know|why he likes playing with you,don't you? I have no idea, because I-I've got to be the worst golfer in the history of the game.
No.
It's the one time|he gets to teach you something.
You understand? That's the one time.
Oh,excuse me.
Eppes.
Don the forensic report from Gosnell's workshop|just came in.
We found David Croft's fingerprints|all over the shop.
But I thought you said|he hadn't seen him in years.
And so he said.
All right,look,uh,take a team,pick him up.
I'll meet you at the office,okay? You got it.
I didn't kill Lane Gosnell.
But you were pretty pissed at him,right? I've been pretty angry at Lane Gosnell for over ten years.
Because he stole your design.
Is that why you led us to think he was planning something pretty big? All I said was that it was in Lane's nature to do something crazy,and it was.
Crazier than sabotage,you mean? I don't know what you're talking about.
Your prints were found in his workshop.
If you hadn't seen him in ten years,|how'd they get there? What was it? You couldn't let him win? Is that it? Okay,look,look, I- I ran into Gosnell's kid at an air show a few months ago, and he let slip that|his old man was getting pretty close to a working aircraft.
Uh-huh.
And I had to see that plane for myself.
Now,Lane was a great designer, but he was an ungrateful son of a He just could never acknowledge|anyone's contribution.
For ten years,I worked on that design.
So you went into his workshop? Look,I know you think I killed Gosnell.
I know you're thinking that.
Yeah.
But not this way.
I could've never touched that airplane.
Not ever.
Don't you understand? As much as that airplane was Lane's, it was mine,too.
Tell me how this works.
A servo is basically an automatic device used to control large amounts of power with small amounts of power.
What happens is the pilot|moves the flight controls, the servo translates|those movements to the rudder.
And where was the tampering done? Three places: amplifier,|actuator and feedback element.
Why would somebody break three things|instead of one? Have you considered maybe whomever it was wasn't trying to break it? They were trying to fix it.
Don.
Hey.
We think we know who tampered with that servo.
Great.
Who? Well,we don't have a name.
What-what are you talking about? Do you know who did it or not? The rudder wasn't sabotage.
Right- it wasn't sabotage in the traditional sense of the word.
Now,we assumed because the plane crashed that someone was trying to cause it to crash, but maybe that's wrong.
Yeah? What do you mean? what if the adjustments were actually intended to be design improvements? Improvements? But you said the flight|recorder clearly showed that Gosnell didn't know|anyone messed with the rudder.
Doesn't disprove my theory.
It merely eliminates Gosnell as the person who made the improvements.
I was hoping to hear from you guys soon.
Have you made any progress? Actually,yes.
So do you know who did it,then? We're still waiting on|final fingerprint analysis, but,uh,we have a pretty good idea.
Well,can you tell me? Why don't you tell us,Blake? Uh,I don't know what you mean.
See,the thing is,I remember|the look on your face when we walked in your father's workshop and that plane wasn't there.
And the first thing you wanted to know|at the crash site wasn't what happened to the plane but was whether your father had suffered.
You didn't have to ask about the plane 'cause you knew why it crashed.
Whose fingerprints are we going to find|on that servo,Blake? I was just trying to make improvements.
That's all.
You should've told him|you changed the design,right? No,he wouldn't have listened.
No? No,I could never tell him.
He'd just remove it.
The man was so sure He was so sure that I could never do the things that he could.
And you wanted to show him that you were good enough|to carry on his work, carry on his legacy? He wanted to be the first.
He wanted to be the next Henry Ford.
You know what I mean? Yeah,I think I follow you.
Do you have any idea|what it's like to live like that? To know that your father cares more|for his accomplishments than he does for his own son? I mean,I wonder if for one second, I entered his mind that night.
I wonder if he thought that that I might want to be there to share that moment with him.
Guess I'll never know.
Where's Chuck? I don't know.
Last I looked,he was right behind us.
There he is.
Hey,Dad.
Your clubs weigh a ton.
Are you kidding?|I've used those clubs for ten years.
There's nothing wrong with them.
Dad,they're older than he is.
I don't even think they|make wood clubs anymore.
Yeah,I know, but each one of|'em's got a great sweet spot.
We'll put 'em in a museum.
Eh,when Charlie gets better, I'll buy him a set of his own.
Come on,Charlie,|maybe this is the day you'll par a hole.
I'd just like to get the ball in the hole.
That's all.
Hey,Charlie.
Charlie,maybe,uh, if you're getting that frustrated, there's always something else|we could do together,you know.
Actually,you know what? I love golf.
You see,huh? I knew it would grow on you|once you gave it a chance.
Well,what can I say? You're a great teacher.
Show us how it's done.
Find anything you can help us with? Yeah.
These cases won't benefit from mathematical applications.
Although,we could approach|all these with Chaos Theory.
Yeah.
Chaos I got.
Right,but with chaos,there's no telling where a case will lead, and there could be mathematical applications I can't detect yet.
I love that about you.
What? You never give up,do you? Well,there's always a solution,Don.
You know,if there's any limitation,it's got to be in the mathematician,not the math.
How about fun,Charlie? What do you ever do for fun? Well,if you must know,Dad thought playing golf was something|we might enjoy doing together.
I'm sure he did.
You know he's like an eight handicap,right? I'm a pretty quick study.
Just don't let him talk you into betting.
Last time we played,he took me for 20 bucks.
What's up? In the last ten minutes, the FAA's received seven eyewitness reports of an unidentified object flying low over the San Fernando Valley|headed toward Los Angeles.
What about a radar signature? That's just it.
The object's not showing up|on either civilian or military radar.
Edwards Airforce Base is scrambling two F-16s for an overflight.
Sounds serious.
Homeland Security's been warning about a small craft terrorist attack for months.
No flight plan,no contact|with air traffic control.
We have to assume this craft is hostile.
What about you taking the sightings and trying to plot a flight path? Oh,well,I Just give it a try.
If he does it,patch him through to me.
Okay.
Where you going? I'm gonna go up to the roof,see if see anything.
Contact Homeland Security.
See if they have a military attach in the area.
I want to monitor their com.
Agent Eppes? Yes,sir.
Anything yet? Nothing.
Military ATC,this is Rogue One at Echo Delta Tango four,|four,niner and descending.
That's our two F-16s coming in.
Rogue One,you are cleared as assigned.
Make best time on target.
Hey,Charlie,what do you got for me? You got anything? Based on these sightings, the object should be|over Glendale on heading 1-1-8.
Glendale.
You got it? Are you sure? New LAPD sighting one mile north of the Silver Lake Reservoir.
Don,based on this new sighting,I estimate the object is on a direct course|for downtown Los Angeles.
Downtown? Are you sure? Yeah,if these reports are right.
Military Air Traffic Control, this is Leader One.
Direct Rogues One and Two on a direct heading to downtown Los Angeles.
Roger that,Leader One.
ATC,this is Rogue One and Two|on new heading.
Nose is warm,visuals are clear,|weapon systems are hot.
Pinging on PRF.
All frequencies.
Charlie,I don't see anything.
Look,according to my calculations, it should be just north of downtown.
It's got to be right there.
Rogue One checking one-zero,|one-one and one-two.
Negative contact.
Rogue Two,checking one,two and three.
No Joy.
Repeat,no joy.
Where the hell is it? Echo Delta Tango.
Night sky clean and clear.
Rogue One,this is Leader One.
Confirm your visual.
Roger,Leader One.
That's a negative.
Whatever you boys were chasing,sir,it's gone.
We all use math every day to forecast weather to tell time to handle money We also use math to analyze crime reveal patterns predict behavior.
Using numbers,|we can solve the biggest mysteries we know.
It's over here.
Came right over those trees.
How long it take to pass by? Uh,five,ten seconds,maybe.
Not very fast.
How high you think it was? Few hundred feet.
Yeah? What did it look like? Dark,lights all around.
I have a video.
My wife shot it.
You have a video? It's not great.
We still need to see it.
Sure.
We'll get it back to you.
Man,I was hoping it was some idiot in a Cessna getting his pilot's license,you know? Altitude,speed,path toward downtown.
Could have been the practice run|for a terror strike.
Test our responses? Maybe.
Like I said,it's not great.
There.
There it is All right,wait Just freeze it.
Yeah,he was right.
It's not great.
Uh-uh.
I don't know Agent Eppes? Yeah.
Hi.
Erica Weston.
National Transportation Safety Board.
Oh,hey,Erica.
Don.
Hi,Don.
David Sinclair.
David.
Thanks for coming.
Not a problem.
Post 9/11,U-A-E's are a top priority.
U- A-Es? Unexplained Aerial Events.
Your seven sightings- they're all consistent with this? Yeah,pretty much.
We might be looking at an MPH.
Not a U-A-E? Sorry.
Occupational hazard.
Multi-Person Hoax.
Yeah,I don't know.
I mean,it seems pretty elaborate to be a prank.
eight ultralites flew in formation at night to create the appearance of a UFO.
Well,I don't want to assume it's a hoax.
I mean,we need to find out where it came from and where it went.
I'm thinking maybe Charlie might be helpful.
That was better.
What? It was.
You almost hit the ball.
You know,I'm-I'm the king at basketball, I- I can snowboard, I'm the best at video games, I'm even getting over my fear of rock climbing, but I still I can't I hit this little white ball.
Because you're lifting up.
You're trying to find out where the ball is going.
Now all you have to do is just trust your instincts|and let me watch for the ball.
Go ahead.
All right.
All right,that was better.
I stink.
Charlie,do you always have to excel|at what you do? This shouldn't be happening.
I've worked these numbers.
Hey,come on,this is what is known as fun.
Out here together in the in the fresh air.
Isn't that enough? Don't get me wrong.
It's not like|I'm not enjoying myself with you,Dad.
It's just,I'm just surprised the math isn't giving me an edge.
Yeah.
All right, now you just watch and learn.
Now you sit down like you're on a stick,hmm? And let your hands work together.
Draw the club back slowly.
Huh? Awesome.
That was good.
See? There's no math involved.
It's all rhythm.
It's just rhythm.
Oh,rhythm.
There's a rule on the course about cell phones,you know.
Yeah,I know.
Hey,Don.
Hey,what's up? Yeah,you got it.
Okay,bye.
Hey,sorry I'm late.
Dad wanted to walk.
Took us a little longer to get back to the clubhouse than I'd estimated.
It's okay.
Charlie,this is Erica Weston from the NTSB.
She specializes in what they call Unidentified Aerial Events.
Hi.
Pleasure.
Nice meeting you.
Hi.
Likewise.
You're right on time.
|Your student just finished loading our radar images.
This is Civilian Air Traffic Control? -Right.
These blips are commercial airliners.
The others are small planes, but over here,where our bogey was, there's nothing.
Hmm.
What do you think? Well,there's a lot of noise in the system.
Hmm.
What about trying the noisy edge? Mm-hmm.
DON: What's that? Well,there's random noise in every radar system.
And sometimes the signals the radar's designed to pick up are so weak, they're obscured by the noise.
Here.
Listen.
That noise you're hearing is really the noise of the system.
Without a signal, all we're hearing is random energy.
How do you find signals that faint? It's called Squish/Squash.
It's a technique that|was developed by a mathematician from the University of Alberta in Canada.
Looks for anything that|looks like a-a weak signal, and then mathematically|squishes and squashes that data to guess at its speed and at its direction.
How is that possible? Okay,imagine a Imagine a room full of-of 20 or,um, or 30 people clapping.
Now some people clap loud,some soft.
Most generally at the same pace.
Now imagine a woman in that audience clapping much,much slower, clapping at a very specific rhythm.
Her rhythmic clap is the signal we want to track.
But we can't.
We can't hear it amongst the random clapping.
The signal's lost in the noise.
However,Squish/Squash allows us to isolate the rhythmic clap and track it.
So with that,you can pinpoint the flight path? Where it started and where it ended? Probably.
And how long would that take? Oh,it's hard to say right now.
Well,I mean,if we're dealing with terrorists, and they make another run,Charlie Right.
Well,Larry has time booked in the computer lab.
I mean,that could help us run this program much faster.
Call Larry.
When you first told me|you wanted to run an advanced conditional probability distribution application, I was delighted.
Naturally,I assumed we were about to attempt a model of my theory concerning the distribution of gravity waves.
I'm sorry,Larry.
But no,little did I realize|my slender budgetary resources were being used to finance a UFO hunt.
Well,I think the more accurate term is Unexplained Aerial Event.
Right,and-and you know I'll get the FBI to reimburse you,I promise.
Oh,I-I suppose national security has to take priority.
Yes.
Thank you for being understanding.
You say this craft left no radar signature? Nothing visible.
So,what assumptions are we making for the program you're running? Well,the FBI has eliminated weather balloons.
They've eliminated ultralite aircraft, helicopters and military drones.
Which leaves us? I think the highest probability is|that it's some kind of small, piloted aircraft that was flying|without a radar transponder, or one that was turned off.
Well,keep in mind, quantum physics maintains an infinite number of possibilities.
This might have nothing to do with man or machine.
Oh,this could be some sort of|inter-dimensional event or Yes,it might even be a vehicle from another part of the universe using a type of propulsion we can't even begin to understand.
Okay,Larry.
We'll try and factor that in,as well.
Okay,you two,you make your little jokes.
The fact remains, we may not be alone.
What-What's that? That's the Squish/Squash program calculating the object's likely flight path.
Well,it looks like the flight path of our mysterious little object is suddenly becoming a lot less mysterious.
This is the path of the object as calculated by the Squish/Sguash algorithms.
And what happens here? The signal becomes too thin to track.
What,right around the time it reaches downtown? Right,but if we follow the projection of the data, the flight takes us over the city.
Now,where's that on the map? That is right over the Staples Center.
Or right into it.
Major sports venue,thousands of innocents.
Exactly the kind of high visibility soft target we've been worried about.
Why don't you get a schedule of upcoming events at the Staples Center? All right.
So,what we have is a small aircraft capable of penetrating densely populated areas without detection.
Obvious dangers are is if it crashes into a building or God forbid disseminates a WMD.
Ms.
Weston has the,the good news.
We now believe we know the location of the flight's origination.
According to Professor Eppes, craft took off from somewhere in here.
What I'm calling the "area of origin.
" And assuming we're|looking for a fixed-wing airplane, it would need a runway to take off from.
How many strips are in the area of origin? One commercial,four recreational airfields.
We need to cover them all.
I mean,track every single plane|that took off that night.
Talk to as many pilots as possible.
I mean,somebody had to see the thing.
All right.
Okay,let's do it.
Okay let's go.
I don't get it.
|The aircraft should have originated from an airfield that the FBI checked out.
You know,here's where I get reductive on your ass, 'cause you keep saying "aircraft," but so far,no one's been able to identify whatever it was that people saw.
What are you saying,Larry? I'm saying instead of building a flight path, let's try focusing on the object itself? You know what? He's right.
We could get a visual of the object by building in all the radar sources|at the same time yes,civilian and military.
So overlap the radar sources? That's right.
By layering the images,we could build a three-dimensional cross-section of it There.
Now it's working off of all seven radar sources.
And it's building an image of the object.
Charlie? Is that what I think it is? Now,le-let's be very,very careful.
We shouldn't jump to any conclusions or make any assumptions.
There could be any number of reasons why that looks like A vehicle from another part of the universe.
I mean,sure,it looks like a real UFO.
We don't know what a UFO looks like.
How can you say this looks like a real one? It's cutting-edge aeronautical design, but it was definitely made here on Earth.
Well,that's good,|'cause I really like my job,you know? This is similar to the blended wing design.
The same one used to create the B2 bomber.
It's a concept,actually,that dates back to 1939, when Lyle Farver proposed it|to the U.
S.
Army Air Corps for a 500-miles- per-hour fighter.
Something this small? Pretty radical concept.
Since we were looking for a fixed-wing aircraft, naturally we're looking for an airstrip where the flight originated.
Right,but we didn't find any.
Which forced us to consider alternatives.
Freeways,makeshift runways.
Only any of those would have had a witness.
Which is why we have to ask ourselves a whole different question.
Why assume that|this aircraft needs a runway at all? Vertical takeoff? Like one of those,uh,Harrier jets? Yeah,only smaller and lighter.
And that would minimize the power it would need for sufficient lift.
Which would explain why no one heard it.
All right,so,|it takes off straight up and it's quiet.
How does that explain it|not showing up on any radar? Well,there's only one explanation,really.
It'd be construction material.
Some lightweight non-metallic composite that radar wouldn't pick up.
And who makes a plane like that? Something like this can't be done overnight.
This is the kind of plan that would take years in the making.
Well,still,it's got to be|a relatively small community, right? I would start with Nordell Aeronautics.
Nordell? They've been offering a $5 million prize for a working craft that has vertical takeoff for years now.
We've offered the prize since '97.
No takers? No winners.
Vertical takeoff's proven to be|a tough nut to crack in the field of personal aircraft.
Personal aircraft? Some people believe that once vertical technology's|actually conquered, affordable and easy-to-fly aircraft will eventually replace the automobile.
I'll tell you, if this thing really flew, I'd sure love to talk to the team behind it.
Yeah,well,so would we.
We were hoping yomight be able to tell us who'd be capable of putting a plane|like this in the air.
Just a handful of designers,|I can tell you that much.
Anyone out on the west coast? There's a couple of engineers that come to mind: David Croft and Lane Gosnell.
How much do you know about them? Croft and Gosnell used to be partners, until they had a falling out.
Over what? The direction of the design.
You're saying this thing actually flew? At least 50 miles.
At heights varying from several hundred feet to a few thousand.
This photo what Gosnell gave you, or did you actually see it fly? Gosnell.
You mean Lane Gosnell, your former partner? Well,this is his plane,isn't it? Is it? Unless someone else stole|this wing design from me.
We understand that you and Mr.
Gosnell had some sort of dispute.
You might say that.
We were told it was about|the design of this aircraft.
The design had nothing to do with it.
It was about Lane.
And his,uh, obsession to be remembered.
You see,with Lane, it was all about making a statement.
Showing the world that the rules didn't apply to him.
Not even the rules of physics.
Frankly,it didn't matter how dangerous it was or who might get hurt by him doing it.
Mr.
Croft,do you have any idea where Lane Gosnell is now? Not a clue.
But when you find him, you tell him my lawyers are gonna be talking to his lawyers.
Lane Gosnell.
Two years ago,at a conference on air traffic safety in Seattle, he gives a presentation in which he claims the 9/11 hijackers would someday be viewed as pioneers in aviation.
He what? He said the flights into the Towers proved that the average person was capable of piloting an aircraft with a minimal amount of training.
That's twisted.
Twice he flew a Cessna|into restricted military airspace.
Twice he had to be escorted out by U.
S.
warplanes.
Claimed he did this in protest of news blackouts of returning casualties from Iraq.
Don,why haven't we locked this guy up? Oh,we did.
He was held|for observation for three weeks, and he was supposed to|undergo psychiatric counseling.
What happened? He didn't show.
We got us an emotionally disturbed man trying to make aviation history.
You believe this? Still can't find it? No.
Why don't we just drop another ball? 'Cause it has to be here.
The ball was traveling on a trajectory whose endpoint would put it|in this immediate area.
Charlie,there's one thing|you got to learn about this game.
Golf balls don't always do|what you expect them to.
Yeah,well,golf balls have to|follow the rules of physics! Just like any other object.
Then why do people keep losing so many of them? Chaos.
Why don't we|let this foursome play through? In a minute.
We don't have all day! Now where you going? Well,there's no reason to|think the ball landed here.
So it's where I'm looking, because it doesn't make sense.
It's where I don't expect it.
Here it is.
Except that's not your ball.
Let's go,guys.
What? Uh,found it! Come on,let's go.
You can drop the ball over here.
Well,he hasn't been home in a couple of days.
Uh,he's been working.
When was the last time you talked to him? Few days ago.
What's this all about? Do you recognize this aircraft? Where'd you get this? So you recognize it? Yeah,I mean,it's my dad's plane, but he didn't want anybody else seeing it.
Maybe he shouldn't have flown it|over Los Angeles,then.
Flown it? What are you talking about? That image was captured on radar two nights ago.
No.
Yeah.
Well,that's not possible.
Well,your father's plane was tracked flying at low altitudes in populated areas with no flight plan and no radio contact.
If you have any idea what he was planning,Blake, and you withhold information from us, you're looking at a serious felony here.
Blake,we need to talk to your father right away.
Okay,yeah,sure.
I mean,he's at his workshop, but I'm telling you,the plane is there.
Where's his workshop? That's his truck,so he should be here.
Hey,Dad! Dad,you in there? Don,it's the same plane.
It's supposed to be here.
This is not possible.
It's the exhaust from the vertical engines.
It must've burnt the grass.
So he did fly it,then? Yeah,I guess so.
And where would he take it? I don't know.
I- I have no idea.
Just because he's an antiwar activist doesn't make him a criminal.
Maybe not,but we're also aware of his psychiatric history.
As well as his feelings about|the United States government.
He's not a violent person.
He would never do anything|to intentionally harm someone.
Why didn't he tell you|about the flight that night? See,you don't know his intentions,Blake.
A lot of innocent people could be hurt.
You understand what I'm saying? He wasn't supposed to fly it.
Not yet.
We-we were still testing the rudder.
So he talked to you about it? No.
Something must've happened.
What do you mean? What,a crash? No,no.
He's much too good of a pilot for that.
Then what? You have to understand, my father's in a race for the history books.
Uh-huh.
Okay? An obsession like that makes you do things that-that you wouldn't, and that you normally couldn't.
What? Like what? What he's doing is very expensive.
Uh-huh.
The materials,the tests,the designs.
We don't have that type of money.
So,where'd the money for all this come from? He sold an interest in his plane|to a venture capital firm.
Which one? Ridenauer Investments.
It's a German company.
He was never happy with the arrangement.
He always thought that they were less interested in the history books and more interested in what the technology might do for them.
According to corporate records, your company has put almost $1.
7 million into Gosnell's work so far.
What can I say? We're a venture capital firm|who just got bit by the bug.
The promise of|the mass production of personal aircraft.
Right.
But it doesn't look like your investors have much to show for it.
Better a few years too early,|then a few too late,ja? Besides,if Mr.
Gosnell ever|gets his plane up in the air, our share of the prize offered|by Nordell Aeronautics more than makes for a very good hedge|on our investment,no? Gosnell already got his plane in the air.
What are you talking about? The unidentified aircraft|that was recently in the news.
The one spotted over downtown Los Angeles.
You didn't know how far along|he was with his project.
Uh,Gosnell began refusing us|any access to his workshop over three months ago.
Which means you knew|where his workshop was located,then? I also noticed the source of your investments come from overseas.
What difference does that make? Well,I was just wondering if your motivation is less the production of personal aircraft and more the sale of Gosnell's technology to your foreign investors.
I have no idea what you're talking about.
Mr.
Ridenauer,|if this plane is used to harm anyone, you will find yourself facing serious charges.
There were rumors.
What sort of rumors? That Gosnell was getting very close to creating a working prototype.
But he wasn't letting anyone see it.
And naturally,you felt obligated to pass that information along to your foreign investors.
Amita you know,|I didn't think you could make this work.
But you've come with a novel approach to solve this problem.
Spent six months getting nowhere until I thought if you can't come in the front door, climb through a window.
Well,you've obviously,certainly, come a long way in your thesis work.
Thank you.
You know what the weird thing is?- What's that? I realized how much I enjoy being here at CalSci.
That's good.
I'm glad to hear that.
Well,I was hoping you'd say that,because I'm seriously considering getting a second PhD.
In astrophysics.
No.
Don't do that.
Don't tell me I've been working with you for over two years on combinatorics, and you're just going to throw that|all away for physics.
Charlie,astrophysics and computer science make a prey good match.
Mm.
Besides, I've really realized how much I like being here.
So you'd do your work here? Of course,I'd have a different advisor.
Of course.
Which means that|I wouldn't be your student anymore.
I guess that's true,isn't it? Dr.
Eppes.
I'd like Uh,sorry.
Is this a bad time? No.
No,no,no,not anymore.
What's up?What have you got? We found the location where the plane took off from,|and we have a suspect.
But we haven't been able to find him or the plane.
Also,your brother thinks that this man may not be in this alone.
Really? There were foreign investors|in Gosnell's aircraft, so there's a possibility this technology could end up|in the hands of a country that's hostile towards the United States.
What's this? Weather radar of the Los Angeles area the night the plane disappeared.
Weather radar? We know that the plane wasn't picked up by conventional air traffic radar.
Probably because the material it was made out of didn't have enough metal in it.
And that's what traditional radars are designed to pick up- metal.
'cause that's what most airplanes are made of.
But the weather radar will show us|locations of cloud formations, because it's tuned to detect water vapor.
So,by re-tuning the radar signal We might be able to track the path of the plane.
Because this time, the radar won't be looking for vapor or metal.
It'll be looking for something in between.
I called the State Department with a list of Ridenauer's investors.
They're trying to track down|their whereabouts right now, see if any of them are in the country.
All right,that sounds good.
Don.
We found it.
What,the plane? We re-tuned radar to look for|nonmetallic materials.
We found a new flight path.
We know where the plane went.
Where? Should be within a quarter-mile area|in Signal Hill.
Okay.
Let's go.
Get on the phone to LAPD.
Tell them we need Search and Rescue teams.
|I'm on it.
No sign of Gosnell or the plane.
Charlie,I mean, are you sure about the location? The math is right.
All right.
I mean,I'll see if I can get|some more people out here,but maybe we should be considering the possibility that the plane might be hidden in plain sight.
How do you mean? Kind of like the Gary DeVore case.
Oh,yeah.
This guy that just disappeared driving back from Vegas.
Right.
And then some months later, they find him in his car buried|under 20 feet of water.
Just yards away from where the Highway Patrol were looking for him.
Right.
Gosnell's plane could be|right in front of us yet be in an environment|that's preventing us from detecting it.
It's like Charlie said.
Look.
I mean,if he went down, here's a place it'd be pretty hard|to find any wreckage.
A junk yard.
A place already full of wreckage.
Hey,guys! Over here! She found something Don.
It's Lane Gosnell.
He's dead.
Yeah,the rudder controls show|evidence of being tampered with.
It was? Mm-hmm.
Tampering? You sure? No question.
The box holding the rudder servo controller|was unsealed.
The mechanism was altered.
The plane went down as a result of sabotage.
Want me to talk to him? No,I got it.
Blake? All right,Blake Was that him? Was that my Dad? I'm sorry.
Can you tell me if he suffered? We're pretty sure he died on impact.
How does this happen? How does something like this happen? Well,see,the thing is,it-it wasn't an accident.
What? Apparently,the rudder was tampered with.
The rudder? Your father was murdered.
I'm sorry.
All right,so,Lane Gosnell was definitely killed by an act of sabotage.
Yeah,but by who,and why? Well,I mean, working theory|has to assume the worst,right? I mean,it has to be because of|what that technology could do.
Just got a preliminary analysis of Gosnell's flight data record.
Mm-hmm? Apparently,because Gosnell didn't know about the rudder problem,he over-corrected, put the craft into an uncontrolled dive.
He wasn't able to recover.
Any chance that flight recorder can tell us where he was headed? Not without a filed flight plan.
Most of the data on the recorder is just pretty basic information about changes in his speed and altitude.
So,you can't even tell us the Staples Center was his intended target? You can't eliminate it,either.
Because of the sabotage, the rudder wasn't behaving as expected, so we can't tell|what his true course might've been.
I mean,so,he took the plane up|for what that night? A joy ride? Wasn't the impression I got from his ex-partner.
Croft was pretty sure that Gosnell intended to try something spectacular.
What do you hear from the State Department? So far,they've come up empty-handed.
None of Ridenauer's investors are in the country.
Doesn't mean they don't have people here|working on their behalf.
Hey,Charlie.
Hey.
What's up? Just grading tests|for my Nonlinear Dynamics class.
Glad to see you're taking my advice and having some fun.
Well you don't look like|you've been having too much fun.
Oh,man this Gosnell case I spent all that time trying to figure out where the plane went.
Turns out the pilot didn't even know, because the rudder was busted.
See,that's the thing- I got to find out where he was headed,|'cause I think that's why he was killed.
You got any ideas?Anything at all? Maybe.
Could I,uh could I get some data off the flight recorder? Yeah,I mean,I can see if,|uh,Erica can drop some by.
Maybe Amita can help you out.
Dad said she's sticking around.
Did he? Well,you happy about that? Um are you asking me|as her thesis advisor or? You tell me.
Yeah,I'm happy.
Hey,what's the deal? I thought you were playing golf today.
Oh,no.
You know,|I'm really no use on the golf course.
Charlie you know|why he likes playing with you,don't you? I have no idea, because I-I've got to be the worst golfer in the history of the game.
No.
It's the one time|he gets to teach you something.
You understand? That's the one time.
Oh,excuse me.
Eppes.
Don the forensic report from Gosnell's workshop|just came in.
We found David Croft's fingerprints|all over the shop.
But I thought you said|he hadn't seen him in years.
And so he said.
All right,look,uh,take a team,pick him up.
I'll meet you at the office,okay? You got it.
I didn't kill Lane Gosnell.
But you were pretty pissed at him,right? I've been pretty angry at Lane Gosnell for over ten years.
Because he stole your design.
Is that why you led us to think he was planning something pretty big? All I said was that it was in Lane's nature to do something crazy,and it was.
Crazier than sabotage,you mean? I don't know what you're talking about.
Your prints were found in his workshop.
If you hadn't seen him in ten years,|how'd they get there? What was it? You couldn't let him win? Is that it? Okay,look,look, I- I ran into Gosnell's kid at an air show a few months ago, and he let slip that|his old man was getting pretty close to a working aircraft.
Uh-huh.
And I had to see that plane for myself.
Now,Lane was a great designer, but he was an ungrateful son of a He just could never acknowledge|anyone's contribution.
For ten years,I worked on that design.
So you went into his workshop? Look,I know you think I killed Gosnell.
I know you're thinking that.
Yeah.
But not this way.
I could've never touched that airplane.
Not ever.
Don't you understand? As much as that airplane was Lane's, it was mine,too.
Tell me how this works.
A servo is basically an automatic device used to control large amounts of power with small amounts of power.
What happens is the pilot|moves the flight controls, the servo translates|those movements to the rudder.
And where was the tampering done? Three places: amplifier,|actuator and feedback element.
Why would somebody break three things|instead of one? Have you considered maybe whomever it was wasn't trying to break it? They were trying to fix it.
Don.
Hey.
We think we know who tampered with that servo.
Great.
Who? Well,we don't have a name.
What-what are you talking about? Do you know who did it or not? The rudder wasn't sabotage.
Right- it wasn't sabotage in the traditional sense of the word.
Now,we assumed because the plane crashed that someone was trying to cause it to crash, but maybe that's wrong.
Yeah? What do you mean? what if the adjustments were actually intended to be design improvements? Improvements? But you said the flight|recorder clearly showed that Gosnell didn't know|anyone messed with the rudder.
Doesn't disprove my theory.
It merely eliminates Gosnell as the person who made the improvements.
I was hoping to hear from you guys soon.
Have you made any progress? Actually,yes.
So do you know who did it,then? We're still waiting on|final fingerprint analysis, but,uh,we have a pretty good idea.
Well,can you tell me? Why don't you tell us,Blake? Uh,I don't know what you mean.
See,the thing is,I remember|the look on your face when we walked in your father's workshop and that plane wasn't there.
And the first thing you wanted to know|at the crash site wasn't what happened to the plane but was whether your father had suffered.
You didn't have to ask about the plane 'cause you knew why it crashed.
Whose fingerprints are we going to find|on that servo,Blake? I was just trying to make improvements.
That's all.
You should've told him|you changed the design,right? No,he wouldn't have listened.
No? No,I could never tell him.
He'd just remove it.
The man was so sure He was so sure that I could never do the things that he could.
And you wanted to show him that you were good enough|to carry on his work, carry on his legacy? He wanted to be the first.
He wanted to be the next Henry Ford.
You know what I mean? Yeah,I think I follow you.
Do you have any idea|what it's like to live like that? To know that your father cares more|for his accomplishments than he does for his own son? I mean,I wonder if for one second, I entered his mind that night.
I wonder if he thought that that I might want to be there to share that moment with him.
Guess I'll never know.
Where's Chuck? I don't know.
Last I looked,he was right behind us.
There he is.
Hey,Dad.
Your clubs weigh a ton.
Are you kidding?|I've used those clubs for ten years.
There's nothing wrong with them.
Dad,they're older than he is.
I don't even think they|make wood clubs anymore.
Yeah,I know, but each one of|'em's got a great sweet spot.
We'll put 'em in a museum.
Eh,when Charlie gets better, I'll buy him a set of his own.
Come on,Charlie,|maybe this is the day you'll par a hole.
I'd just like to get the ball in the hole.
That's all.
Hey,Charlie.
Charlie,maybe,uh, if you're getting that frustrated, there's always something else|we could do together,you know.
Actually,you know what? I love golf.
You see,huh? I knew it would grow on you|once you gave it a chance.
Well,what can I say? You're a great teacher.
Show us how it's done.