Free Post Trial Brief - District Court of Federal Claims - federal

Case 1:96-cv-00408-LAS

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Filed 03/03/2008

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UNITED STATES COURT OF FEDERAL CLAIMS

INNOVAIR AVIATION, LTD., Plaintiff,

UNITED STATES,

Defendant.

) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) )

Docket No. :

96-408C

Pages: Place: Date:

208 through 399 Washington, D.C. October 18, 2007

HERITAGE REPORTING CORPORATION Offich~l Reporters 1220 L Street, N.W., Suite 600 Washington, D.C. 20005-4018 (202) 628-4888 [email protected]

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ROBERT CLARK - DIRECT

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someone within the aircraft industry with reasonable talent. Nothing exuberant. So it's a lot more stringent. Because of that, a one time STC, the FAA will say okay, I'm going to give you a one time STC but that's it, only one aircraft. Because you don't have documentation, you don't have instructions, you don't have all this paper. Q So if you want to commercialize a

modification to a particular model aircraft like the DC-3 conversion to turbo prop power, you must have a multiple STC. A Q That's correct. In the case of the multiple STC, to obtain

it, as with the one off, do you have to build an aircraft that conforms to the design? A Q

Yes, you do. At some point -THE COURT: We're getting near a little over

an hour, so not now immediately, but when you see a point that would be a logical break point, let me know. MS. MOOG: five more minutes? THE COURT: Okay. Heritage Reporting Corporation (202) 628-4888 Okay, Your Honor. I think about

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ROBERT CLARK - DIRECT

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and scheduling. He also was responsible for the marketing effort, both international and domestic. Q Did you work with Mr. Carmichael day to day

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during the STC program? A Q Yes, I did. How long did it take before you received an

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STC?
A We started the project basically, as far as

the STC project, that program around June/July of '88 and we received our STC in February of 1990. Q Mr. Clark, what was your impression of Mr.

Carmichael as a project manager? A Very organized, disciplined, very good

people skills, very intelligent. Dedicated to the program, obviously. Q Was his participation important to the

success of the STC program? A Q Most definitely. Did BTC and Innovair anticipate they would

sell the converted DC-3 outside of the United States? A Q Yes, they did. In order to do that would they have required

regulatory approvals of other countries? A Yes, it would. Heritage Reporting Corporation (202) 628-4888

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ROBERT CLARK - DIRECT 1 2 3 4 Q Is that an STC that another party could

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design a similar application for and receive an STC for? A Q
be?

Yes. How expensive or time consuming would that

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A

It's a relatively easy STC because it only

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involves structure, it doesn't iovolve systems like electrical or fuel. So when you're dealing with just a system like structures, the drawing plan for that was relatively simple. So in a matter of a few months you would be able to obtain an STC on that. Q Moving on to the metal control surfaces. In

order to modify the plane with metal control surfaces, would you need to have an STC for that? A Q surfaces? A Q surfaces? A At the time we felt that the original Yes, you would. And who owns the STC for the metal control

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Basler Flight Service. What was the propose for the metal control

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control surfaces, Your Honor, are fabric. THE COURT: By control surfaces are we talking about -Heritage Reporting Corporation (202) 628-4888

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ROBERT CLARK - DIRECT 1 2 3 4 THE WITNESS: Talking about the -THE COURT: The side of the wing? THE WITNESS: Yes, sir, and the tail surfaces. Way in the very back of the tail. THE COURT: This part here.

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THE WITNESS: And the elevator, which is the horizontal part in the back.

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THE COURT: THE WITNESS: THE COURT: THE WITNESS:

over there. Yes, Your Honor. So those were fabric? Those were fabric initially

when the aircraft was built. There was nothing wrong with the fabric. Since the original, they used to be cotton, actually, and now it's synthetic material. So they're very durable. But we felt to get away from this old look we would convert those into aluminum control surfaces so it would look nice. BY MS. MOOG: Q A So primarily a cosmetic change? Primarily cosmetic. We were just trying to

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get away from this idea of old. It's a relatively inexpensive STC, relatively quick to accomplish that installation.

Q.
BFS STC?

Were you :involved in, did you say that was a

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ROBERT CLARK - DIRECT 1 2 3 4 that STC? A Q about? A The actual covering of the controls with Yes, I was. Can you briefly describe how that came A Yes, I did.

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Were you involved in BFS' effort to obtain

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metal was done in Canada originally. The U.S. and Canada have what's called a bilateral agreement, the FAA. What that means is that what's approved in the U.S. is basically approved in Canada and vice versa. Being Canada already had an approval for the metal flight control, I took that data to the FAA and applied for an STC and we created, Basler created our own drawings for that and submitted those. The FAA accepted all of the engineering data from Canada so there was no flight test required. So basically we just generated a set of drawings, made the application, and applied for the STC and received it. Q Could Innovair have designed a similar

modification and obtained its own STC for that metal control surfaces? A Q Yes. And can you estimate the time and expense in

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the early '90s for that effort? Heritage Reporting Corporation (202) 628-4888

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ROBERT CLARK - DIRECT

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A

I would assume they would do the same

process as I did, so you're looking at probably a three month period at the most probably. That would be on the outside. It's a relatively small drawing package. Q A And the cost?

$i0,000.
The third item on the list of options that

Q

you didn't mention before as available from third party vendors is the long range tanks. Does BFS have an STC or did they have in the early '90s, an STC for long range tanks? A Q A Q A .Q Yes. How did BFS acquire or develop that STC? We purchased that STC from Pan American. Pan American Airlines had the STC? Correct. To your knowledge had the PanAm STC been

used to modify any DC-3s prior to BFS' acquisition of the STC? A
NO.

Q
A Q

You mean PanAm's modification was never used

on a DC-3 frame? Not by Basler. Oh, no, I meant in the world. Were you Heritage Reporting Co£poration (202) 628-4888

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ROBERT CLARK - CROSS 1 2

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sought to market the aircraft prior to the issuance of the supplemental type certificate. A Q Yes. Your technical training consists of aircraft

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mechanic school, FAA certifications and your pilot training, correct? A Correct, with the addition of inspection

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authorization which is an add-on to the aircraft mechanics training. Q A That's FAA inspection authorization? That allows me to sign off major repairs and

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major alterations. Q Thank you. But you have no formal education

in business or marketing, is that correct? A Q Correct. And you don't speak a foreign language or

you did not as of 1991, did you? A Q No. And your professiona! experience has been as

a pilot and a mechanic, correct? A Q A Q Correct. Not as a marketing person. Correct. So to the extent that you were involved in

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marketing the BT-67, your marketing role was to Heritage Reporting Corporation (202) 628-4888

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ROBERT CLARK - CROSS

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do the conversion is what I'm getting at. Q Let me reformulate the question then. If you were to apply STC 4840, the BT-67 STC, and only do what was included in STC 4840, then you would have the green aircraft, correct? A Q Correct. That is a technical term for an aircraft

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that's not cSnfigured to a use? A Q That is correct. I believe you testified,, and I quote, that

"That's like buying a car with no options." A Q Yes. So you need to add the options to make the

aircraft suitable for use, is that correct? A Q If you want to put it to work, yes. For example, if you want to run search and

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rescue operations or survey oil spill locations you might need to add long range fuel tanks. Is that correct? A Q If they required that, yes. For some missions you would need long range

fuel tanks. A Q Specific missions, yes. I believe y.ou testified earlier that that

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was covered by a separate STC that was owned by
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ROBERT CLARK - CROSS 1 2 3 4
A

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That's correct. Is that a result of the FAA's requirements? Yes. You need the special cargo floors, smoke detectors, fireproof cargo liner?

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A Q

Correct. And the cargo floors, at least, were an STC

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that was owned by the Basler Flight Services, is that

correct? A Q A Q
NO.

Who owned that STC? It's not an STC. It's not? How about the cargo door, the

large cargo door? Is that an STC? A Q A Q Yes. Was that owned by Basler? Yes. And that door would alter the green plane so

it would allow cargo containers to be added to the plane, I believe you testified earlier. A Q Correct. LD-3 containers. And those are standard containers that are

used in the air freight industry, correct? A Q For the DC-10. For the DC-10, but -Heritage Reporting Corporation (202) 628-4888

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ROBERT CLARK - CROSS 1 2 3 4 A container. Q

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But other, like a 747 would use a different

Sure. But, I mean, an LD-3 container refers

to, there are LD-I containers, there are LD-2 containers, correct? A Q Correct. Okay. And that door again I think was owned

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by Basler, the STC for that? A Q Correct. And because the aircraft sits on its tail,

is a tail dragger as Ms. Moog alluded to earlier, it would also be helpful to have a cargo winch to help you haul cargo up the hill, is that correct? A Q A Q A Q Correct. That was, was it a field approval? Yes. And Basler had the field approval for that? Yes. Heated windshields, that was also covered by

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an STC, right? A Q A Yes. It wouldn't be on the green plane? Not unless it was on before it was

converted, not. Q If you were again, taking, simply applying Heritage Reporting Corporation (202) 628-4888

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