Verdict mixed for reservist who landed at naval base

[unhappycamper]

http://hamptonroads.com/2014/08/verdict-mixed-reservist-who-landed-naval-base

Verdict mixed for reservist who landed at naval base
By Corinne Reilly
The Virginian-Pilot
© August 8, 2014

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 this spring.

Capt. Daniel C. Cross, 52, was flying his single-engine plane from Georgia to Norfolk on May 16. He planned to land at Norfolk International Airport - he'd filed a flight plan saying as much and had arranged to park his plane there - but changed course at the last minute because of a severe rainstorm that flooded parts of Hampton Roads that day.

Prosecutor Nicholas Linstroth argued during a daylong trial Wednesday 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 that 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 made the landing only after he was told he could.

[Downwinder]

1. Any port in a storm.

[cloudbase]

2. Always remember to use the magic words

"I'm declaring an emergency."