The following is in the Matter of...
Investigation of Accident Involving
Wings West Airlines, Inc., Beech
C99, N6399U, and Aesthetec, Inc.,
Rockwell Commander 112TC, N112SM, near
San Luis Obispo, California, on
August 24, 1984
This following dialog was recorded on the morning of November 1, 1984, the first day of the NTSB hearing into this midair collision, as reported by Milton Reporting, Inc.
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William P. Simons, a FAA employee for 2.5 years, was taking a proficiency check ride towards sector certification at Sector R-15 that fateful day. Portions of his testimony follow...
From page 29... 8 Q So then we understand you did see a code 1,200 9 before the transponder was changed to the discreet code? 10 A I looked at it and right before I saw it turn to a 11 six seven two one code, I say the V there.
From page 30... 12 Q Did you see any VFR targets at all in proximity to 13 Flight 628 when you radar identified the aircraft? 14 A No, I didn't.
From page 40... 18 Q You don't. What is the policy of the Los Angeles 19 Center with regard to inhibiting the transponder code 1,200 20 in the R-15 sector? 21 A We don't inhibit it. I don't even think we can. 22 Well, I guess we could, but we don't. 23 Q But you do have the capability of inhibiting 1,200 24 if you, as a controller, so chose to do so? 25 A I don't even think I could.
From Page 41... 1 Q You couldn't adjust the scope to inhibit code 1,200 2 targets at the sector? 3 A Not that I know of. From Page 69... 5 Q Do you have any explanation as to why it might not 6 have been observable? 7 A No, I don't have any at all, but I know that if it 8 had been there, I sure would have called it to the Wings West 9 aircraft, because it was definitely traffic, from the 10 indications. I cannot understand why it would not have been 11 on my scope.
From Page 88... 5 Q All right. At that time, at 1826:61, did you 6 observe any VFR targets in the San Luis Obispo area? 7 A Only right when I was giving him the code to squawk 8 I noticed his VFR code right there in the Dobra area. 9 Q So the only VFR target you noticed in the San Luis 10 Obispo area during the period from 1816:51, roughly, to 11 1816:46 was that of Wings West 628? 12 A That's correct.
From Page 94... 19 Q Have you ever had any traffic attempt to contact 20 you by radio and you talked to them but you were unable to 21 see them on your radar scope while working Sector R-15? 22 A I have, yes, and I've seen it a lot more when I was 23 on D side, but I have on one or two occasions had that 24 happen. Of course, it doesn't last very long. Within 25 another 10-15 seconds you could seem them, depending on their
From Page 95... 1 altitude. 2 Q Were any of these aircraft that you didn't see and 3 then showed up with transponder equipped? 4 A Yes. 23 Q Would a VFR Mode-C aircraft, transponder-equipped 24 departing Paso Robles flying, say, directly toward the Crepe 25 intersection and then down the valley aligned with San Luis
From Page 96... 1 Obispo if he were above 3,000 feet, be picked up and 2 displayed on your radar if you'd extended the range as far as 3 Paso Robles? 4 A I have seen them there, yes, normally.
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The above text was obtained from microfiche as obtained from General Microfilm of Wheaton, MD.
This text was converted from microfiche, to paper, then scanned for Optical Character Recognition (OCR) processing, followed by a great deal of manual editing by Tom Lusch for correct presentation on "Lusch's Midair Collision Investigations" web site <http://home.columbus.rr.com/lusch>. Any errors or omissions resulting from this microfiche to web page process are solely the responsibility of Tom Lusch. Every effort was made to make this an accurate representation of this deposition transcript, right down to mis-spelled and/or incorrect words.
This page created Feb 25, 2000
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