American scandal uses dramatizations that are based on true events.

Some elements, including dialogue, might be invented, but everything is based on historical research.

It's late on June 20, 2003, on board a Royal Canadian Air Force patrol plane high above the North Atlantic Ocean.

An airman hunches over a monitor, listening intently to an acoustic feed through his headphones.

Typically, he's tasked with tracking the movements of

potentially hostile submarines, but today he has a different mission. A small civilian submersible

with five people on board has gone missing on a dive to the wreck of the Titanic. Search teams

from across the world have scrambled to help find it. The aircraft cabin is dim, except for the blinking

status lights and the soft glow of computer monitors. To search the murky waters of the Atlantic,

the plane has deployed several sonoboies. These sensors sink to a certain depth, capture sounds,

then transmit them back to the aircraft circling above.

But it will take a skilled ear to pick out the sound of a small submersible against the ocean's

background noise.

The Canadian airman adjusts a dial.

There's nothing on Bowie 2 apart from the usual sounds of the deep sea. Booy 5 is all

acoustic clutter too. But when he shifts to another channel, a sharper noise cuts through. He lifts one

earphone and glances across the cabin. Sir, you may want to hear this. The airman's superior

rises from his seat by the navigation console.

What do you got? I'm not sure yet. A noise, but it's repeating, rhythmic. He hands the officer

a spare headset. Listening intently, the officer's eyes narrow. How long has that been coming through?

I switched to buoy seven, maybe 30 seconds ago? This is the first time I've heard it.

Listen to this basing.

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