Greedy Plaintiff attorneys may put an end to one of the most valuable safety programs ever created.....
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Comair to release safety reports
Documents detail errors, violations
Comair has agreed to produce for the courts confidential reports that
describe safety violations and at least four runway errors by its pilots.
The airline had contended that the reports need to be kept secret to
encourage pilots and mechanics to report safety problems voluntarily.
But in the face of a request for sanctions from lawyers for the families of
victims of Comair Flight 5191, the airline has surrendered the documents,
known as ASAP reports, for the Aviation Safety Action Program.
The documents were produced under a protective order that bars the
plaintiffs from making them public. Comair also maintains that they are
unrelated to the crash, and it is continuing to litigate whether ASAP
reports should be subject to disclosure, said Comair spokeswoman Kate Marx.
Comair has resisted orders to turn over the reports, and plaintiffs' lawyers
had asked Judge Karl S. Forester to punish the airline by forcing it to
acknowledge that its failure to take reasonable steps to correct serious
safety problems was a substantial factor leading to the crash of Flight 5191
at Lexington's Blue Grass Airport on Aug. 27, 2006.
The commuter jet crashed on takeoff from the wrong runway, which was too
short for the aircraft. Of the 50 people aboard, only the copilot survived.
The National Transportation Safety Board ruled that pilot error was the
principal cause of the crash.
Forester last week said the request for sanctions was moot because Comair
had turned over the first batch of ASAP reports on March 3, the day the
sanctions were requested. The plaintiffs' liaison counsel, David Royce, said
production of additional reports is ongoing.
Marx said yesterday that Comair decided to comply with the court's order to
surrender the reports but still believes they should remain confidential.
The Air Line Pilots Association, the Regional Airline Association and the
Air Transportation Association, which represents major carriers, all filed
briefs saying that using the reports in litigation would inhibit
self-reporting.
The trial of the lawsuits against the airline is set for Aug. 4, and lawyers
have said the ASAP reports could be important in proving punitive damages.