Published on Tuesday, November 11, 2008
By Daily Bulletin Staff Writer
MICHAEL CRICHTON'S death last week at age 66 reminded me that one of his novels included a scene involving the Inland Valley. No, not "Jurassic Park."
"Airframe" from 1996, puts aerospace quality-assurance vice president Casey Singleton on the trail of an airline accident's cause.
In one crucial scene, Singleton is in a Compton warehouse, examining documentation about every part of the aircraft, when she finds what she's looking for.
Crichton writes:
"She was staring at a photocopy of a sheet of paper from Hoffman Metal Works in Montclair, Calif."
Bom-bom-bom-bom!
Singleton learns the "slats locking pin" had "come direct from a reputable supplier" - hooray for fictional Hoffman Metal Works in Montclair, Calif.! - but that the pin found on the crashed plane was, suspiciously, bad.
Reader Berny Alexander said, when sending me a copy of the relevant page: "First time I have seen Montclair in a novel
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