Originally Posted by
Uplinker
Indeed.
Seems to have been the student's fault by pulling back on the stick. Without that, they would still have hit the light but no more.
I suppose it was argued that the instructor should have prevented the yokes being pulled back.
My instructor crashed our C152 onto its nose-wheel and propellor on my 4th ever flying lesson, (I was hands and feet off, just observing, while he landed). But I wasn't traumatised by the heavy crash in the least, and went on to become an ATPL airline pilot.
This student doesn't seem to have had the "right stuff" in the first place, and am not really sure about them being awarded all those damages.
Surely they would have agreed to terms and conditions, which would/should have mentioned the possibility of accidents ?
It's the same jeopardy as teaching somebody to drive. The more experienced person in the supervision role holds the responsibility for what happens, regardless of who's in control. The supervisor should not allow the student to be in control if they are not safe, so it's their decision to allow the student to be in control in a particular scenario. The only time you could pass the buck to the student is if they intentionally try to cause a dangerous situation , or act illegally. Where it gets gray is solo operations, where the student can claim they were not trained for something or such. That's where thourough training records will save your skin.