She described the intermittent presentation, the failed diagnostic attempts, the hypothesis about shielding and wiring bundle cross interference, the location behind the primary avionics panel. She did not editorialize or frame it as an emergency in a way designed to create pressure. She just described it. Caleb listened with his arms crossed and his eyes on the middle distance. the way he listened when he was actually processing information rather than waiting for his turn to talk. When she finished, he was quiet for a moment.
"Which aircraft?" he said. She gave him the model designation. "Where's the forward electronics bay on that config?" He wasn't asking rhetorically. "He was testing himself against his own memory." "Port side forward of the main spar," she said. He nodded slowly.
"Your team pulled the harness connectors but didn't pull the panel." "Correct. Have they run the diagnostic under thermal load? Not standard operating temp. I mean elevated. 40° above nominal.
She reached for her phone and called Howell's direct line. He picked up on the second ring. She asked the question. He put her on hold for 90 seconds. When he came back, his voice had a different quality to it.
"No," he said. "We ran it at standard." "Why would elevated thermal load change the presentation?" she asked Caleb, keeping the phone to her ear. Because if the shielding on that wiring bundle is degraded, it won't cause significant interference until the insulation softens under heat. At operating temperature, it's marginal enough to come and go. You push the thermal load, it stays present long enough to locate.
He paused. It's a 20-minut test. You'll know exactly where to pull the panel. She relayed this to Howell. He was quiet for 4 seconds.
Then, tell me who I'm talking to. Someone who knows the aircraft, Sloan said. another pause. "Okay, I'll set it up immediately." She hung up and looked at Caleb. He was already turning back toward the creeper in the aircraft behind him. "Thank you," she said.