t8 b3 faa indy center bill orr fdr- entire contents- 9-25-03 mfr and 2 sets handwritten notes 764

8/14/2019 T8 B3 FAA Indy Center Bill Orr Fdr- Entire Contents- 9-25-03 MFR and 2 Sets Handwritten Notes 764

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COMMISSION SENSITIVEUNCLASSIFIED

M E M O R A N D U M F O R T H E R E C O RDEvent: Bill Orr, Quality Assurance Manager of Indianapolis Air Traffic Control CenterType of event: InterviewDate: Thursday, September 25, 2003Special Access Issues: nonePrepared by: Gate TaylorTeam N umber: 8Location: Indianapolis Air Traffic Control CenterParticipants - Non-Commission: Bill Orr, Quality Assurance Manager; EileenParticipants - Comm ission: John Farmer, Dana H yde, Gate TaylorThe purpose of this interview is to understand measures taken by the IndianapolisA RTC C after 9/11. Bill Orr is the Qua lity Assurance M anager of the Indianapo lis AirTraffic Control Center and has provided the comm ission staff present with a briefaccount of his day on 9/11 and steps taken follow ing 9/11 to file an accident package andan y other after action reports.Background:In his 22 year career with the FAA, Orr has been an Air Traffic Controller in the LosAngeles Center and Boston Center, FAA Academy Instructor, Facilities Manager, andQuality Assurance Trainer. He has been at the Indianapolis C enter for just over 10 yearsas an Air Traffic Controller, Local Union Vice President, First Line Supervisor, and aTraining Manager. For the past four years, Orr has held th e position of Quality AssuranceManager.Orr's Experience on 9/11:On the morning of September 11, 2001, Bill Orr was paged to come down to thecontroller floor and he went directly to the e-desk. Here he learned that the IndianapolisCenter had lost contact with AA77. Orr remembers hearing reports of a crash in Ashland,KY an d concern for the Sears Tower in Chicago, IL . Most of Orr's time that morning wasspent gathering data so he is unsure of exact times when thing occurred. H e recalls thatSally W eed, John Thomas, and K atherine were on the Telecom. During the course of themorning, Orr was never in contact w ith the FA A.Orr does not recall an instruction from the Air Traffic Managers to the Controllers tokeep their primary radar 's on. Also, he doesn't think that the primary radar's were kepton by the AT C's. Orr recalls that it was obvious to him that AA 77 was the plane thatcrashed into the Pentagon.


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COMMISSION SENSITIVEUNCLASSIFIEDOrr is unaware of any Facility Accident Notification Record generated but thinks JohnThomas or Sally Weed would fill this form out and it would be available at the watchdesk.After Action:PackageAs Quality Assurance M anager on 9/11, Orr managed the investigation and wasresponsible in providing the FAA HQ in Washington with the Accident Package.An accident package was created within one week of 9/11. In this package werepersonnel statements from Indi staff involved w ith A A77. Since there were leaks ofinformation from other Air Traffic Control Centers, access to the contents of the Accidentpackage were limited to Bill Orr, Arnie Miller, the package specialist and a few others.Bob M att, a retired emp loyee of the Indi Cen ter, assisted in putting together the packetand Dave Boone was needed to sign off on certain docu ments. Renee ?? (secretary) alsohad access to this information in order to respond to docum ent requests. Orr has kept alog of who accessed the package. After the package was prepared, the Indi center did nofurther assessment. The only follow up o f the events of 9/11 was a PowerPointpresentation prepared an d delivered by Dave Boone to the staff of the Indi center.TapesIt is standard operating procedure to gather all recorded tapes shortly after an event suchas 9/11. Orr did this for all recorded lines including the phones at the management deskan d all Voice Switching Com munication System (VSC S) lines. However, the phone linesat the e-desk and the Domestic Events Network (DEN) are not recorded on theIndianapolis Center end. The FBI contacted Orr on the afternoon of September 11 an drequested that the Indi tapes be played over the phone. Orr sent a digital voice file ofthese tapes to the FBI per their additional request.Quality Assurance AlertA Quality Assurance alert was issued by O rr shortly after 9/11, stating that the ruleswould change for response to NORDO and loss of transponder based on a report that Orrwas filing. Analysis for this report focused on the blank spot in the radar, sort boxes,primary an d secondary radar, and the satori, a comp uter generated recreation of the scopeand prim ary targets. Orr reports that AA 77 reappears in Area 3 and lower sectors in thisarea should have seen AA77 based on the satori report. Thus, Orr included in the QualityAssurance A lert that A T C ' s ar e required to maximize the histories in the event ofNORDO and loss of transponder.


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t8 b3 faa indy center bill orr fdr- entire contents- 9-25-03 mfr and 2 sets handwritten notes 764

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