Free Response to Cross Motion [Dispositive] - District Court of Federal Claims - federal

Case 1:01-cv-00201-VJW
00001 1 IN THE: 2

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UNITED STATES COURT OF FEDERAL CLAIMS

3 CAROL AND ROBERT TESTWUIDE, * 4 et al., 5 6 7 8 vs. Plaintiffs, * * No. 01-201L * * *

9 THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, * 10 Defendant. *

11 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 12 The deposition of STEPHEN RILEY was taken

13 on Tuesday, February 14, 2006, commencing at 1:15 14 p.m., at U. S. Department of Justice, Environment & 15 Natural Resources Division, 601 D Street, N.W., PO 16 Box 663, Washington, D.C. 20044, before Alfred A. 17 Betz, Court Reporter and Notary Public. 18 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 19 20 Reported by: 21 Alfred A. Betz, Certified LiveNote Reporter

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00010 1 facilities. So I was one of the guys that stayed 2 back so all their jobs came down to me. 3 Q. I do remember that. I'm old enough to 4 remember the air traffic controller crisis. Now, 5 during that time at Oceana can you give me in a 6 general description of how the number of aircraft 7 operations were counted at Oceana? 8 A. There are various ways to count 9 operations. Do you want the specific method we 10 used or -- not we at Oceana. The specific Navy 11 method. There is a standard method for counting 12 air traffic operations. 13 Q. Let's start there. 14 A. Okay. In the control tower the control 15 tower counts everything that occurs, every 16 airplane, they count it all. Operations are broken 17 down into various phases. A takeoff is one 18 operation, takeoff of flight a 2, it gets a 2 19 count. Although it is only one operation, the 20 count of the airplanes is what's critical for the 21 control tower. They count everything that occurs.

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00011 1 If an airplane comes in and does a touch and go, 2 you get a 2 count. Although it is one airplane, it 3 is a 2 count because the airplane comes in, he 4 crosses the threshold and then he takes off again. 5 So he's actually doing two evolutions or 6 operations, if that's what you will. An airplane 7 passing through the control tower's area of 8 responsibility is counted as a one count. He just 9 passes through. He doesn't make an approach to the 10 airport. He doesn't do anything like that. A 11 landing is counted as one. A landing, a flight of 12 two airplanes would come in and land separately is 13 a two count. Two distinct evolutions. 14 Q. And who makes the count, physically makes 15 the count? 16 A. The person that actually makes the count 17 is the local controller in the tower. The local 18 controller has, during the initial period of time 19 has what we call blood cell counters or -- it's a 20 clicker, a little hand-held clicker and they would 21 click the evolutions.

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Case 1:01-cv-00201-VJW
00035 1 That's all.

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2 A. I'm trying to be as truthful as I can but 3 it's going back. From Chase Field, Texas I was 4 stationed at FAA headquarters for three years. I 5 was in a reimbursable slot at FAA headquarters here 6 in D.C. From FAA headquarters I went down to Pax 7 River, Maryland, another major approach control. 8 Pax River back up to FAA headquarters as the Navy 9 liaison officer. From there down to AIRLANT Force 10 Air Traffic Control at AIRLANT. From AIRLANT up 11 here to N785 up at the Pentagon. 12 Q. And how long have you been up here? 13 A. Three years. It will be three years the 14 8th of June. 15 Q. Okay. When were you notified that you 16 would, that you would potentially be a witness in 17 this case? Roughly. 18 A. A couple of inquiries were made to my 19 office about, you know, gathering the data and so 20 forth. And in the course of those telephone 21 conversations individuals making the call -- I

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00036 1 don't remember names.

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2 MR. BRYANT: Be careful about saying the 3 contents of the communications. You can talk to 4 about who you talked to if you need to but be 5 careful -- if you talked to a lawyer in any of 6 those conversations please don't disclose the 7 content of those conversations. 8 A. I did but I didn't, at the time I didn't 9 consider it anything out of the ordinary because I 10 was constantly being asked for information. Okay. 11 I value what you just said. Actually told that I 12 may be a witness in this? I, Steve Riley? 13 Q. Yes. 14 A. Thursday. 15 Q. Are you familiar with this particular 16 case and the allegations of the Complaint? When I 17 say "this particular case" the case we're here for 18 this deposition on. 19 A. I don't know how to answer that question. 20 Q. Okay. Let me ask it this way. What do 21 you know about the case you've been asked to

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