In case this wasn’t apparent by now, there will be spoilers so if you don’t want any plot twists given away, do not read these write-ups until you have watched the episode in question!
Alpha Retrospective: Bugs Season 1 Episode 3 "All Under Control"
We start with a literally high flying executive in her private jet hoping to make a meeting. She remarks her pilot would make a better weather forecaster than the Met Office. Unfortunately, things quickly go wrong as the plane starts to veer wildly all over the place, contrary to the pilots inputs. We cut to a dodgy looking man messing around with a remote control air plane outside a windmill looking on in interest. After a lot of scary looking low altitude stunt flying, the man with the remote tells some unseen accomplice via a two-way radio (The wrong side of it, from the looks of things!) that they can stop as they have made their point. We then see another man messing around with a lot of computers running a cross between a very basic looking version of Microsoft Flight Simulator and DOS. The unseen saboteur relinquishes control and sends a threatening fax message (One of those again!). “NEXT TIME. WE KEEP CONTROL. ICARUS.” Evidently someone doesn’t think man should fly.On the ground, the high flying executive turns out to be the head of a major airport (It’s supposed to be any miscellaneous international facility in the UK, but obvious signs show it’s either Stanstead or pretending to be Stanstead and I thought the executive was the head of an airline at first). Ms. Jerry Langford wastes no time in hiring the Bugs team to investigate what happened to her plane. As Ros tries her hand at tracing where the faxed blackmail note was send, Head of Security Nigel (Of course it’s someone called “Nigel”!) seems to be overly upset and keen to make baseless accusations about our heroes and Jerry’s pilot almost immediately. Beckett especially finds Nigel loathsome. After some walking around, Ed spies security taking away someone and kicking them out. It’s the dodgy man with the remote control from earlier. Apparently, he is a plane geek called “Kirkby” who is a bit of a nuisance (Immediate red herring alert). Ed suggests Ros grills him for information while the remaining two go off on another boy’s own adventure and look at the faulty plane. Security at the quarantine hangar turns out to be useless as the group spots someone running away from the subject aircraft. Ed chases only to be almost crushed by a storage cage. The airport’s technical director, Richard appears, asking what happened. Ed brushes it off with some sarcasm. With no further leads, Jerry suggests speaking to the creator of the autopilot software that runs on the plane, a man called Quentin Elverson. Apparently, large complex integrated systems are the preserve of single developers working alone, rather than a large company with huge departments! Richard tries to put off our team by explaining that Quentin is an eccentric lunatic, but Beckett pays him no heed and shows up at Quentin’s place, where remote CCTV cameras and an automated door system welcome him. Quentin is adamant his autopilot system is flawless and no one can say otherwise (Obviously Quentin never heard of honest mistakes or the Dijkstra philosophy that “Testing shows the presence, not the absence of bugs”!). Quentin does let on that he is slightly bitter than he was never given any royalties for his system (Red herring or obvious clue to his suspiciousness, you decide!) Nonetheless, Quentin is happy to provide Beckett a copy of his work, on floppy disk nonetheless! (Floppy disk’s for any readers looking at this entry long after the fact, used to be what we stored computer data on. You may know it from various programs and apps as the “Save” icon.) I have to say I’m impressed. If we had programmers as efficient as that, being able to fit a complex computerised system onto 1.44Mb, it would help solve a lot of computer problems in the world with respect to ever increasing storage requirements!
Meanwhile, Ros has found Kirkby and poses as a local newspaper reporter to speak to him. Kirkby is a bit concerned about what Ros might write about him due to previous encounters with the media, but he is assuaged by promises of being able to review the final edit of any copy written about him. He turns out to be a bit more eccentric than Quentin, with dreams of being a pilot instead of a farmer. Kirkby is interrupted by an unseen visitor at the door. Ros takes this chance to examine Kirkby’s fax machine and record the sound of the signals it makes. She does get a bit suspicious when the door shuts but Kirkby doesn’t return. Going downstairs, Ros finds Kirkby looking very dead, with no sign of the mysterious visitor.
Back at the airport, Ros confirms that Kirkby’s fax machine was the source of the blackmail message by comparing a recording of the received signal at the airport with that of Kirkby’s machine (Although having said that wouldn’t all fax machines sound the same if they sent the same message?). The Bugs team decide to try to trace where the blackmailer may be transmitting their control signal from. Nigel appears and gets really upset with the team putting up random antennas on the roof of the airport terminal (Understandable as you normally are not allowed to do things like this at an airport anyway) but before he can get angrier, they are interrupted by alarms going off. A flight from Malaga has run into trouble with complete loss of control on approach to the airport. The pilots struggle with the controls despite the autopilot being switched completely off. The Captain makes the understatement of the century regarding the plane having a “slight malfunction” and everyone prepares for a crash landing. Turns out Icarus is up to his melting wing tricks again. Just before the plane crashes, he relinquishes control and the plane lands. An ominous message appears on literally every screen and board in the airport demanding 5 million quid (About 9 to 10 million at the time of writing) or else. Jerry decides to pay up while Nigel blames our heroes for their woes and wants them off site. Nigel fails as head of security for not getting grunts to appear and escort the trio out of the airport (Also isn’t Jerry in overall charge and can override Nigel? What is going on here? Is there some sort of unseen power struggle going on here?) Ros points out the passes they were handed were still valid until midnight and persuades Jerry to turn a blind eye to them remaining until they expire (Another fail on Nigel’s part). Jerry basically tells them this conversation never happened and the Bugs team wait until later on at night to attempt to break into the hangar the Malaga airliner is isolated in.
This doesn’t go to plan as Beckett finds out when his pass is not accepted by the door lock to the hangar. Turns out Nigel is not as big an idiot as he seems, although he is shows a stunning lack of intelligence for letting the protagonists keep their passes. Ed shows off his athleticism and climbs up the side of the building into a conveniently ajar window. Ros arrives just in time to see Ed open the door. They make their way to the plane and start doing some checks. Ros, somehow, as an anti-virus scanner that can run on or at least detect if there are viruses on embedded aviation systems! Beckett and Ed waves a scanner of some sort over various parts of the aircraft exterior to no avail. They are interrupted when Nigel and some security minions open the main hangar doors and stroll in. Nigel grills the two boys over the whereabouts of Ros, to which Beckett replies sarcastically about Ros being at home making their dinner. The security personnel take Ed and Beckett away while Nigel fails a spot check in searching the plane interior, only making a cursory glance of the cabin before leaving, completely missing Ros hiding in the dinner trolley storage cupboard!
At the airport’s security office, Nigel examines the teams equipment and accuses Ed and Beckett of being Icarus, despite Beckett’s protestations. Meanwhile, actual Icarus is back at his computers typing random commands that close up the doors of the plane Ros is on and traps her onboard. She raises everyone else on her radio telling them of the situation. It’s only then Nigel gets the hint that the Bugs team has nothing to do with the blackmailing. Ed shouts instructions to Ros, but apparently the control Icarus has over the plane is so total that none of the switches work and the doors are all locked so no going down the emergency slides here! Fire engines scream down the runway and one gives our dynamic duo a lift to follow the plane as it taxis towards it’s takeoff position, ignoring all instructions. Ed once again shows off by jumping onto the wing and tries to open an emergency exit from the outside, to no avail. Beckett warns Ed that the plane’s engines are throttling up to full power and Ed has to abandon his heroic attempt to save Ros. The plane takes off and all our boys can do is watch. Meanwhile, Icarus is revealed in his lair. It’s a very pensive looking Quentin!
Two security guards go up some stairs in some anonymous part of the airport offices. They remark on how they never had to deliver a large amount of cash so early in the morning while removing it from the security boxes. The way this scene is shot implies they are thinking of making off with some of it. At the airport’s air traffic control facility, Jerry decides to accede to Icarus’ demands of a ransom, especially since Ros has been caught up by being stranded inside the errant plane. Nigel is incredulous but Jerry is adamant that no further lives should be at risk. The others plot the plane’s course using current radar data. Ed deduces from the circular route flown around the airport, the blackmailer must be relatively close and narrows the signal down to the village of Huntsford. Ros meanwhile starts searching the plane for a receiver unit that is the probable cause of Icarus being able to remotely pilot the plane. With Ed’s help, she finds it plugged into the mainboard of the autopilot (I do wonder if this is a design flaw, to have convenient connectors on avionics that completely bypass all the safeguards and pilot inputs. Also, it appears all a plane needs to receive remote commands from relatively far away is a small silver box with a short antenna inside the plane cabin! Must have very good reception gain!). Because Ros is no pilot, Ed, (Being the resident flying expert) prepares to talk her down into a safe landing once the receiver is disconnected. There is just enough time for more snide comments about the safety of flying and comparing it to the sinking of the Titanic before Ros goes through with removal of the receiver unit. However, it turns out the system has an anti-tamper function, forcing the plane into a steep dive when it Ros unplugs the so-called bug. I didn’t see Ros attempt to test the controls in the cockpit but nonetheless, we are told the plane refuses to respond to any inputs and Ros struggles with the pitch down angle and g-forces generated by the dive as she tries to grab the receiver, which has for plot reasons fallen out of her hands and is now stuck in the foot well of the cockpit! We are treated to more contrived movements of the bug falling down further out of Ros’ grasp, interspersed with shots of the instrumentation going haywire and especially the altimeter indicating imminent disaster, before Ros manages to retrieve the receiver and reconnect it just before the plane slams into the ground. Obviously they are not going to get down safely via that way! Ed decides to go in search of Icarus’ control signal using a scanner strapped to his motorbike. Ros somehow figures out the potential frequency by prodding at some of the internal circuitry inside the remote receiver, specifically a resistor and Ed, equipped with this information, goes out on the hunt.
At this point, I would like to take a long digression here. This may indicate my bias given one of my hobbies is Amateur Radio and I am licensed with a callsign, but it does amuse and infuriate in equal measure that Ros gives a fairly wide frequency band of 140 to 150 Mhz. What is more crazy is that Ed somehow narrows in on a signal at 149 Mhz. Now, things may have been different back in 1995, but if we look at the Government website that lists communication regulations, especially to do with radio spectrum use, we find that the 140-150 Mhz range is full of signals. Mostly private two way radio traffic and the band I use, the amateur 2 meter allocation. Now, let us think for a second. This would mean there are quite a few signals in use in the area. How does Ed know that exact signal is the one they are looking for?!
Also did you notice the amazing range and clarity of their headsets. I have enough problems trying to get a decent phone signal even in a town with good coverage and no obstructions!
We return to Nigel and Richard, who we haven’t seen for a while, agreeing to take the ransom money to the drop off point that Icarus has designated, a local pub in the village. Beckett has a tracker installed in the case the money is being taken in and has a back up in case Icarus figures that out. Time is of the essence as Ros is running out of fuel. The money is taken to what seems to be an abandoned drinking establishment in the middle of nowhere. Richard is particularly spooked and concerned it might be a trap while Nigel is extremely confident Icarus isn’t there and there is nothing to worry about. Beckett, who is following a distance behind, is listening in on the conversation via the bugged money case when he hears a loud noise. Fearing the worst, he floors it in his car to the area to find Nigel very dead, Richard missing and the bugged suitcase devoid of the cash. Very suspicious!
Turns out Richard is one of the blackmailers. He visits Quentin who is waiting in his lair for his share of the money. Richard is ready to flee with his dosh, but Quentin is concerned that far too many people have died or have been hurt because of this caper and wants to bring the plane down safely before leaving. Richard brushes off the concerns especially over the death of Kirkby and when the large stack of money isn’t enough to soothe Quentin’s conscious, Richard decides he can’t wait any longer. Poor Quentin is blasted in the back and Richard makes off with all the money. Outside, Ed is closing in on the source of the control signal. Amazingly, it isn’t a false lead, despite what would be numerous signals all over the airwaves. He finds himself outside a windmill that houses Quentin’s hidey-hole. Unfortunately for Ed, Quentin is now a very dead man at this point and Ed has no idea how to fly a plane with a computer. Beckett is having slightly better luck. His backup tracking device is working and he has figured out Richard is Icarus in so far as he is doing the blackmailing. He informs Jerry of this and figures out that Richard is heading towards a flying club that he is a member of.
Ed is still trying to get to grips with controlling an aircraft via a PC. He is a seasoned pilot but his lack of computer literacy means he has to get a bit of a crash course in using mice from Ros. They drily remark that they are in the wrong places in this situation. Ed eventually figures out what a computer mouse is and gingerly messes around with the Flight Simulator/DOS hybrid on the screens, manipulating enough controls to get the plane to descend towards the airport. He manages to land the plane but they are still coming in too fast for Ros’ comfort. Running out of runway, Ed manages to figure out how to engage the brakes and reverse thrust to stop the plane going off into the grass, much to Ros’ relief. Celebrations all round.
At the flying club, the surviving half of Icarus thinks he has gotten away with his illicit activities. However, Beckett’s extreme driving means he has caught up quite quickly. In a desperate to get away, Richard attempts to drive like he is in a Formula One motor race, weaving between planes and shooting his pistol that he used to kill Quentin and Nigel to fend off Beckett. A pity for him that Beckett's Jeep seems to be made out of bullet proof steel, with random sparks being the only indicator that any round has hit. More weaving through various stationary aircraft, Richard is so paranoid about losing Beckett, he forgets that his car does not have the ability to drive through solid objects and collides with a flatbed trailer (Almost damaging a preserved Vulcan bomber, registration mark “XL426”, as well!). Beckett arrives to a sombre scene and score and tells the folks back at the airport that Richard is no longer a problem.
Back at the airport, Jerry announces to the team that the ransom money has been recovered but one note is returned to Beckett. Turns out he has learnt from Ros how to be technologically sneaky and has bugged the cash itself! One of the notes had a homing beacon embedded in it, using the metallic security thread as an antenna. Jerry is grateful and is willing to reward the trio with discounted air fares to anywhere they wish to go in future but Ros is put off by flying for the immediate future. Ed feigns disappointment as he had a present of flying lessons in mind for Ros. Ros looks like she is ready to kill Ed in that very moment. To hell with you, Ed!
Verdict/Retrospective Comments
This was a fun episode, in spite of (Or perhaps because of) the various inaccurate portrayals of the aviation industry and tech. Today, commercial flight is very much still a part of everyday life, if not more so, and safety has been a priority even in the airlines that are particularly tight-fisted. The idea of remote control planes and even planes that fly themselves isn’t far fetched anymore, especially given that remote control drones are a thing, unfortunately including ones that menace airports and commercial airliners. The drive to remove or reduce the human element of commercial flight, mostly to drive down costs as well as increase safety by ruling out human error, means that Quentin’s talk of no longer requiring humans to fly planes may actually become reality in the near future. However, as many aviation Youtube channels have pointed out, including many from either former or current commercial pilots, there are many legal and practical barriers to overcome before this happens. However, I would not be surprised if things change sooner rather than later. Money, as shown in the episode, is a powerful motivator, especially for more negative reasons. I do however doubt that retrofitting such systems to a currently flying plane would not be as simple as plugging in a “bug” into the plane’s computer systems. And I certainly doubt that pilots would allow a system to override human input and even lock it out entirely. Also, Ed’s scanner is ridiculously good if it can pin point control signals in amongst all the noise of the airwaves! Don’t get me started on being able to figure out a fax machine just by recording it’s noises. Can someone clarify if what Ros did is realistic?
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