It's all getting more complicated...
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Another Training Accident Nets $4 Million Settlement.
Meanwhile, another training fatality has led to a $4 million decision. 20-year-old Air Force Academy cadet Pace Weber was killed during a June 1997 training flight in a T-3A Slingsby Firefly. Weber and his instructor, Capt. Glen Comeaux, lost control of the plane at 700 feet and crashed. Though British manufacturer Slingsby Aviation Ltd. says an Air Force investigation blamed pilot error, a Miami jury found the company liable, and ordered it to pay damages to Pace's parents, Terri and Hank Weber.
"We proved the plane was defective," claimed the Webers' attorney, Robert Parks. Parks' case centered on the Firefly's design, which he said was prone to engine stoppage caused by heat and altitude. "Slingsby was very cost-conscious, and not about to fix problems because they were too expensive," Parks said. Slingsby plans to appeal the verdict. "The evidence was very clear that none of the complaints that the plaintiffs said caused the accident did, in fact, cause the accident," said Slingsby lawyer John Murray. "We think the jury's conclusion was wrong from a liability standpoint, as a result of undue sympathy."
More "undue sympathy" may be right around the corner for the company. Trial is set to begin on Feb. 26 in Miami federal court in a lawsuit filed by the parents of another Air Force cadet killed in a T-3A crash. Cadet Dennis Rando of Massachusetts died with his instructor, Capt. Clay Smith, on September 30, 1996. The Air Force contracted with Slingsby in 1993 to produce the T-3A, which went into service in 1995. The 113 planes were grounded for good last year and the Air Force is talking about selling the $35 million batch of planes for scrap.
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...quoted from the Monday 19th Feb 2001 news section on
www.avweb.com .