Originally Posted by
ATC Watcher
They all do , but it is not an "out of jail card guarantee" if there is negligence , you'll end up in court , paper or no paper signed. Some vintage operations make you member of their association for one day, so that , as member , you are supposed to know the risks, That what we did with when my club had one ,
But all this is cosmetic if you get an accident. Hell will fall on you paper signed or not. and I would dare to say , even in the US.
As Hotel tango clearly sated , people will do ( and sign) anything to fly in those old aircraft, and basically they want the thrill and experience the perceived "danger" of flying like in the 1930's.
An Hybrid solution is what Lufthansa has done , kept the air frame but put more powerful P&W engines with modern instrumentation, and apply Lufthansa Technik maintenance standards., but that means the aircraft is very often AOG , for small things , like now...
The other big difference with Lufthansa is also they do not need to make money on theses operations..
One thing about liability waivers is that you can't sign away someone else's right to sue for their loss. Say this guy shows up for a vintage plane ride. They hand him a liability waiver, he signs it, they go flying, it goes badly. Wife of deceased sues for loss of companionship, loss of financial support, pain and suffering, all the usual. Defendant's attorney pulls out the waiver, plaintiff's attorney says "My client never signed an agreement not to sue". Which is correct. The defendant is not being sued by the person who agreed not to sue, they're being sued by his wife, and
she never signed any agreement giving up
her right to sue for
her loss.