NORFOLK
A
high-ranking Navy Reserve officer was cleared of two federal misdemeanor
charges but found guilty of a third after making a last-minute decision
to land his private plane at Norfolk Naval Station amid bad weather.
Capt.
Daniel C. Cross, 52, was flying his single-engine plane May 16 from
Georgia to Norfolk. He planned to land at Norfolk International Airport –
he’d filed a flight plan saying as much and had arranged to store his
plane there – but changed course at the last minute because of a severe
rain storm that flooded parts of Hampton Roads that day.
Prosecutor
Nicholas Linstroth argued that Cross decided to divert to Norfolk Naval
Station’s airfield despite having other options and no permission to
land there. Linstroth called it “a decision that didn’t need to be made”
that was based on “personal convenience.” Cross didn’t want to miss a
presentation that he was scheduled to give on the base, Linstroth said,
so he led air traffic controllers to believe that he was authorized to
land there, inappropriately mentioning his high rank for good measure.
But
defense attorney Patrick O’Donnell painted a different picture, saying
there was a misunderstanding. Cross was frantic after an air traffic
controller at Norfolk International suggested it wasn’t safe to land
there because of the weather, O’Donnell argued. Cross didn’t purposely
mislead controllers at the base, O’Donnell said, and he only made the
landing after he was told he could.
The Navy air traffic
controller who handled Cross’s plane, Petty Officer 2nd Class Cory
Sawyer, testified for the prosecution. He said he only told Cross he was
“cleared” to land because Cross indicated over the radio that he had
the required authorization. Sawyer said Cross’s plane wasn’t on the
tower’s list of authorized aircraft, but he “thought it was a mistake on
our end,” especially after Cross mentioned his rank.
Sawyer
testified that when he told Cross he was cleared to land, he meant only
that the runway he was approaching was unobstructed. Obtaining
authorization to land – something that can only be granted by a base’s
commanding officer – is another matter; it is a multistep process that
involves filing paperwork well in advance, including proof of insurance,
a hold-harmless agreement and a flight plan.
Even with the right
documents, witnesses testified, pilots flying private planes often
aren't granted permission to use a military airfield as their back-up
landing place.
Cross, who testified during his day-long trial
Wednesday, acknowledged that he failed to include an alternate airport
in his flight plan in case there was bad weather at Norfolk
International.
Witnesses testified that Cross gave the base’s
tower little notice that he was planning to land there, and they could
not quickly verify whether he had authorization. Sawyer said he worried
that turning Cross away when he was so close could have put him in
danger.
Security personnel met Cross’s plane on the ground.
That’s when base officials confirmed that Cross didn’t have
authorization, Linstroth said. Linstroth said the only permission Cross
had – the permission that Cross apparently was referring to when he
spoke to the tower – was granted by the Air Force to land at an
installation in New Jersey. Cross was handcuffed and detained for
several hours before he was allowed to take off from the base.
Cross,
who lives in Washington, D.C., was in Georgia because he was working
there on temporary active duty for the Office of the Under Secretary of
Defense for Intelligence. He was coming here to give a presentation at
Norfolk Naval Station in his Navy Reserve capacity as the mid-Atlantic
regional commander for the Information Dominance Corps. He was
commissioned into the Reserves in 1986.
Cross acknowledged that
part of the reason he chose to land at the base rather than divert to a
civilian airport was because he was hoping not to miss the presentation.
He testified that because he was on Navy business and had been “vetted”
by the Air Force to use another military airfield, he thought it would
be OK to land at Norfolk Naval Station given the weather.
“My motivation was based on safety,” he said after the verdict.
Cross
was cleared of trespassing and entering U.S. property under false
pretenses. He was found guilty of violating defense property security
regulations. His punishment is a $1,500 fine.
- Source: http://hamptonroads.com
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