eastern wiseguy
20th Jun 2003, 01:40
Great Falls Tribune (Montana): Local air traffic controller under fire
Man accused of violating FAA order on Sept. 11, 2001
By KATHLEEN A. SCHULTZ
Tribune Staff Writer
In an apparently unprecedented case, and the only one like it in the nation, a Great Falls air traffic controller has been fired and is being prosecuted in federal court for allowing a small cargo plane to take off during the nationwide air traffic shutdown on Sept. 11, 2001.
William C. Noble III, 47, of 504 41st St. N., is charged with one count of violating a Federal Aviation Administration order, a misdemeanor that carries a fine of up to $5,000.
Despite its misdemeanor status, the case could have far-reaching implications in how the FAA and its 15,600 air traffic controllers conduct themselves in future crises.
According to information filed in federal court, Noble "did willfully and knowingly disobey and violate an order issued by the United States Secretary of Transportation, the administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration, or their delegates" by allowing the plane to take off after receiving a "ground stop" order issued via the Salt Lake City Air Route Traffic Control Center, which governs local airspace.
Several officials said they were uncertain if any other planes were allowed to take off after the national grounding, but they all said Noble was the only air traffic controller charged with disobeying the order.
Noble, an air traffic controller for more than 20 years, one of about a dozen at Great Falls International Airport, does not deny allowing the FedEx plane to depart for Kalispell.
The bulk of his argument is that the FAA "order" was confusing and not in keeping with the agency's own longstanding policy.
A routine tape made of the conversations in the tower that day, upon which the prosecution is basing much of its case, is missing pertinent conversations and perhaps was altered by a disgruntled supervisor in whose possession the tape was found, says Noble, the air traffic controllers' union representative at the time.
At issue is the clarity -- or lack thereof -- of two "flow messages" sent to Great Falls from the Salt Lake center, the first at 7:28 a.m. Mountain Time, 25 minutes after the second plane crashed into the World Trade Center.
The FAA sent this message to its 21 regional air-traffic centers, including Salt Lake:
"Ground stop all departures destination airport all facilities included ... Reason: Due to national emergency, ground stop all departures regardless of destination ... repeat, ground stop all departures."
Salt Lake in turn sent this message to Great Falls:
"Ground stop all aircraft regardless of destination until further notice."
Nine minutes later, it sent another message, meant to clarify the first:
"Ground stop all aircraft regardless of destination until further notice IFR/VFR."
The problem, as Bill Noble sees it, is that neither message sent by the Salt Lake center was explicit. Until Sept. 11, ground stop messages never applied to planes flying by VFR, visual flight rules, as was the cargo plane. The second message only confused the issue further, he said.
Although he knew of the New York plane crashes, Noble said he was not yet aware of the terrorist link, or that a national emergency existed. He thought there was an equipment failure of some sort at the regional level -- how else could two planes crash in the same place? And an equipment failure in the eastern flight corridor would not affect VFRs in Great Falls, he reasoned.
Had the Salt Lake messages contained any mention of a national emergency or of planes being grounded nationwide, he would have reacted differently, Noble testified Friday, at the end of his two-day trial before a judge in Great Falls federal court.
Other regional air-traffic centers did send messages that indicated this was a nationwide shutdown, that it was a national emergency, that there was a terrorist attack, according to information presented by Great Falls defense attorney Nathan Hoines.
The FAA says the flow messages, especially the second one, were clear, and that by making the assumption that VFRs were not included in the ground stop and allowing the plane to take off, Noble violated a direct order and during a national air emergency to boot.
He's charged with a misdemeanor, Assistant U.S. Attorney David Dennis said, because the violation is unprecedented -- there's nothing more severe Noble can be charged with.
Noble, who also was the local representative of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, was fired April 1. He has filed a grievance in an attempt to get his job back.
Other controllers agree
Testimony from several local air traffic controllers backed up Noble's contention that, before Sept. 11, ground stops never pertained to VFR flights.
Indeed, the FAA's Web site seems to back that up.
According to the site, ground stops are immediate constraints placed on an airport or area for a wide variety of reasons -- bad weather, equipment failure, accidents -- that are issued when a facility is unable to continue to provide air traffic service.
VFRs, which are single- or twin-engine, single-pilot planes flying by visual flight rules, do not require air traffic services, except to take off and land. VFR pilots are pretty much on their own.
Ground stops do apply to IFRs -- planes that fly by instrument flight rules.
When Noble received the second flow message, the one that added IFR/VFR, he thought it was in error, because never before in his 20-year career had any of the hundreds of ground stops ever pertained to a VFR plane, he testified.
Noble allowed the plane to head for Kalispell seven minutes after receiving the second message.
"My responsibility was the safe and orderly expedition of traffic. In my opinion, this was safe. If I didn't think he was safe, I wouldn't have let him go," Noble said.
It wasn't until after the plane was on its way that a fellow worker reached officials at the Salt Lake center by phone and learned of the nationwide shutdown. Noble elected not to call the cargo plane back.
Neither side is willing to comment on the impact this case could have on air traffic controllers, or on FAA policy, until U.S. Magistrate Judge Carolyn Ostby has made her ruling.
She has given Dennis and Hoines until July 18 to file any post-trial arguments, and will issue a ruling sometime thereafter.
How much money the FAA has spent on prosecuting the misdemeanor was unavailable. Several FAA officials from Virginia and elsewhere out of state testified or were on hand.
Man accused of violating FAA order on Sept. 11, 2001
By KATHLEEN A. SCHULTZ
Tribune Staff Writer
In an apparently unprecedented case, and the only one like it in the nation, a Great Falls air traffic controller has been fired and is being prosecuted in federal court for allowing a small cargo plane to take off during the nationwide air traffic shutdown on Sept. 11, 2001.
William C. Noble III, 47, of 504 41st St. N., is charged with one count of violating a Federal Aviation Administration order, a misdemeanor that carries a fine of up to $5,000.
Despite its misdemeanor status, the case could have far-reaching implications in how the FAA and its 15,600 air traffic controllers conduct themselves in future crises.
According to information filed in federal court, Noble "did willfully and knowingly disobey and violate an order issued by the United States Secretary of Transportation, the administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration, or their delegates" by allowing the plane to take off after receiving a "ground stop" order issued via the Salt Lake City Air Route Traffic Control Center, which governs local airspace.
Several officials said they were uncertain if any other planes were allowed to take off after the national grounding, but they all said Noble was the only air traffic controller charged with disobeying the order.
Noble, an air traffic controller for more than 20 years, one of about a dozen at Great Falls International Airport, does not deny allowing the FedEx plane to depart for Kalispell.
The bulk of his argument is that the FAA "order" was confusing and not in keeping with the agency's own longstanding policy.
A routine tape made of the conversations in the tower that day, upon which the prosecution is basing much of its case, is missing pertinent conversations and perhaps was altered by a disgruntled supervisor in whose possession the tape was found, says Noble, the air traffic controllers' union representative at the time.
At issue is the clarity -- or lack thereof -- of two "flow messages" sent to Great Falls from the Salt Lake center, the first at 7:28 a.m. Mountain Time, 25 minutes after the second plane crashed into the World Trade Center.
The FAA sent this message to its 21 regional air-traffic centers, including Salt Lake:
"Ground stop all departures destination airport all facilities included ... Reason: Due to national emergency, ground stop all departures regardless of destination ... repeat, ground stop all departures."
Salt Lake in turn sent this message to Great Falls:
"Ground stop all aircraft regardless of destination until further notice."
Nine minutes later, it sent another message, meant to clarify the first:
"Ground stop all aircraft regardless of destination until further notice IFR/VFR."
The problem, as Bill Noble sees it, is that neither message sent by the Salt Lake center was explicit. Until Sept. 11, ground stop messages never applied to planes flying by VFR, visual flight rules, as was the cargo plane. The second message only confused the issue further, he said.
Although he knew of the New York plane crashes, Noble said he was not yet aware of the terrorist link, or that a national emergency existed. He thought there was an equipment failure of some sort at the regional level -- how else could two planes crash in the same place? And an equipment failure in the eastern flight corridor would not affect VFRs in Great Falls, he reasoned.
Had the Salt Lake messages contained any mention of a national emergency or of planes being grounded nationwide, he would have reacted differently, Noble testified Friday, at the end of his two-day trial before a judge in Great Falls federal court.
Other regional air-traffic centers did send messages that indicated this was a nationwide shutdown, that it was a national emergency, that there was a terrorist attack, according to information presented by Great Falls defense attorney Nathan Hoines.
The FAA says the flow messages, especially the second one, were clear, and that by making the assumption that VFRs were not included in the ground stop and allowing the plane to take off, Noble violated a direct order and during a national air emergency to boot.
He's charged with a misdemeanor, Assistant U.S. Attorney David Dennis said, because the violation is unprecedented -- there's nothing more severe Noble can be charged with.
Noble, who also was the local representative of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, was fired April 1. He has filed a grievance in an attempt to get his job back.
Other controllers agree
Testimony from several local air traffic controllers backed up Noble's contention that, before Sept. 11, ground stops never pertained to VFR flights.
Indeed, the FAA's Web site seems to back that up.
According to the site, ground stops are immediate constraints placed on an airport or area for a wide variety of reasons -- bad weather, equipment failure, accidents -- that are issued when a facility is unable to continue to provide air traffic service.
VFRs, which are single- or twin-engine, single-pilot planes flying by visual flight rules, do not require air traffic services, except to take off and land. VFR pilots are pretty much on their own.
Ground stops do apply to IFRs -- planes that fly by instrument flight rules.
When Noble received the second flow message, the one that added IFR/VFR, he thought it was in error, because never before in his 20-year career had any of the hundreds of ground stops ever pertained to a VFR plane, he testified.
Noble allowed the plane to head for Kalispell seven minutes after receiving the second message.
"My responsibility was the safe and orderly expedition of traffic. In my opinion, this was safe. If I didn't think he was safe, I wouldn't have let him go," Noble said.
It wasn't until after the plane was on its way that a fellow worker reached officials at the Salt Lake center by phone and learned of the nationwide shutdown. Noble elected not to call the cargo plane back.
Neither side is willing to comment on the impact this case could have on air traffic controllers, or on FAA policy, until U.S. Magistrate Judge Carolyn Ostby has made her ruling.
She has given Dennis and Hoines until July 18 to file any post-trial arguments, and will issue a ruling sometime thereafter.
How much money the FAA has spent on prosecuting the misdemeanor was unavailable. Several FAA officials from Virginia and elsewhere out of state testified or were on hand.