As you know, when a plane goes down, the NTSB sends a Go Team to the crash site immediately.
They find the flight data recorder?
They did. It's perfectly intact.
Oh, great. Great, great, great. Then that solves everything. So, why do we need a lawyer from Chicago?
Well, Hugh specializes in criminal negligence.
Criminal negligence?
Lang
Death demands responsibility. Six dead on that plane, someone has to pay.
Yeah, but that's a plane that fell a part at 30,000 feet.
The airline will try to prove equipment failure, which is gonna make the manufacturer responsible. The manufacturer, in turn, is gonna try and prove poor maintenance of the equipment by the airline.
Lang
Or pilot error.
I flew the plane inverted, Hugh. That means upside down. You get the picture? A hundred people, upside down, 500 feet off the ground. Do you have any idea what that's like?
Lang
I do. I, uh, heard the black box recordings last night.
Oh, you heard this? Are you a pilot?
Lang
No, I'm not.
Then you don't know what the **** you're talking about, do you?
Hugh's on our team, Whip.
Is he?
Yeah, he is.
He doesn't act like he's on our team.
Well, he is.
Asking me questions about **** pilot error.
Listen, it's the NTSB's ball game. They run the investigation, and they will ultimately rule on the cause. And that's why we need him.
Lang
Well, they interview the entire flight crew, they interview the passengers, they hold public hearings.
All right, let's cut to the chase. Just tell me what it is I need to know, Charlie.
Lang
The NTSB Go Team also collects blood, hair and skin samples from the entire flight crew for the purposes of a toxicology report.
Okay. When do they want to do that?
Lang
They've already done that. In the hospital. It's the first thing they do. You don't remember having your blood drawn the night of the crash?
No. They get the results of this test?
Lang
Yeah, they do. Now, initial reports show that you had alcohol in your system at a system of .24. Now, in the good old U.S. of A., one of the most lenient drunk driving countries in the world, you go to jail for driving with anything above .08. And by driving, I mean a car.
So, that doesn't mean anything. I had a couple of beers the night before the flight. That made the tail of the plane explode?
Lang
A couple of beers?
Yeah, a couple of beers. You know, I need a lawyer, Charlie.
Hugh is your lawyer.
I need a bigger lawyer. I need a lawyer that understands that someone put me in a broken plane. Without me up there, there would've been 102 funerals, not six.
Lang
We're not talking about funerals right now, Captain.
Then what are we talking about?
Lang
We're talking about prison time.
What?
Lang
Lawsuits. Somebody has to pay.
What, write a check? It's not gonna be me, I promise you that. As long as they're writing checks, tell them to write one for me, too. Because somebody put me in a broken plane.
Lang
This toxicology report states that you were drunk and high on cocaine. Felonies punishable by up to 12 years in prison. And if it is proven that your intoxication was the cause of death of the four passengers, now we're going to look at four counts of manslaughter. That could be life in prison.
