Originally Posted by
Old Boeing Driver
That's a mighty big 767 pictured in the linked article about the 2018 divert to Goose.
A cracked windshield on a B-763, oy, the pain and suffering... 
The passenger who filed the suit Wednesday, Theodore Liaw, claims United is trying to cover up the real story, which he allegedly discovered from the pilots flying the plane.
“United has been lying to everyone about what happened,” the suit claims.
According to one pilot, it wasn’t a bird strike that caused the window to crack because “there’s nothing alive at 40,000 feet.” Instead, they believe the incident was a result of a United mechanic over-torqueing the bolts of the cockpit window.
“Nothing struck Flight 931 in the air. There was no bad weather. Under such ordinary flight conditions, cockpit windows for a Boeing 767-300 do not break of their own accord,” the suit claims.
The document also states that had the last layer of the windshield broken before landing, “both pilots would have likely been sucked out of the plane and Flight 931’s passengers would have been doomed.”
Liaw also says the pilots “grimly mentioned that everyone came close to dying many times over,” according to the suit.
United reportedly gave all passengers on board a $500 voucher in exchange for a release of all liability, though Liaw did not accept it.
Instead, he wants to hold United accountable and is seeking “fair compensation” for his bodily injury and severe emotional distress as a result of the “brush with death.”
Liaw, a CEO and “extremely experienced flyer” who’s flown over one million miles with United, reportedly now has a fear of flying which could put his “entire career in jeopardy.”
And I'm sure the remedy for this fear of flying will be a lot of money and free United tickets. Next he'll claim medical expenses for twisting his ankle while running to his lawyer's office after the flight. I'm joking of course, he actually claims his back was hurt during the landing at YYR:
Fortunately, the skilled pilots of Flight 931 were eventually able to land the aircraft at the Goose Bay Airport located in Goose Bay, a remote city in the Newfoundland province of Canada (the most easterly part of that country).
Due to that rapid descent and the resulting hard landing, Plaintiff suffered a bodily injury.
Specifically, Mr. Liaw injured his back during the landing, and his back remains sore and receives treatment more than two months later.
But wait, there's more.
From the lawsuit:
Indeed, it was entirely fortuitous that Flight 931 was not further over the Atlantic
Ocean at the time of the accident. If that were the case, the airplane would have had to make an
emergency landing into the ocean itself. As Flight 931’s pilots explained to Plaintiff, everyone on
board would have either died from the impact or would have quickly frozen to death in the cold
ocean.
Plaintiff wandered up to the cockpit to express his appreciation to Flight 931’s pilots on landing the plane in one piece. The pilot and co-pilot were extraordinarily helpful, and freely discussed what had precipitated the near-calamity.
Pointing to the shattered cockpit window, the pilots explained to Plaintiff how two
of the three layers of that window had been completely compromised, and how the co-pilot’s
quick thinking (and extraordinary bravery) had saved everyone by keeping the third layer intact
long enough for the plane to land in Goose Bay. The pilots grimly mentioned that everyone came
close to dying many times over – from the pilots being sucked out of the window, to the fact that
had the plane been further out on its journey, the pilots would have had no choice but to risk an
almost certainly fatal water landing in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.
Even if a United mechanic was not responsible for over-torqueing the bolts of the
cockpit window, some other United-related negligence was to blame for the cockpit window
shattering. Nothing struck Flight 931 in the air. There was no bad weather. Under such ordinary
flight conditions, cockpit windows for a Boeing 767-300 do not break of their own accord.
In any event, Plaintiff has suffered severe emotional distress as a result of United’s
accident. In particular, he has seen two different psychologists since Flight 931, and his mental
injuries have not diminished. On five different occasions since then, he has had vivid nightmares
involving people dying in horrific ways. He also now experiences panic attacks when he is in
high locations, whereas he previously never had a fear of heights.
According to LinkedIn Teddy Liaw has a degree in ethnic studies and was president of the student body at Cal Berkeley.