Helicopter Engineer Charged with manslaughter

[spanners]

I heard on the news this evening that a heli eng based at WAP is to be charged with Manslaughter following a fatal accident last year. Does Anyone know anything further?

I know that I dont have all the facts, but this action seems to have very grave implications licensed a/c engineers. Any comments?

[Rob_L]

Heard same, apparently details were on teletext. If true I can only say the writing has been on the wall for a long time.
If anyone has any details please post.

Question is do you get paid enough to risk facing a manslaughter charge, taking into account the normal ills of this industry.
Lack of manpower, too many hours worked, no spares, insufficient time, lack of adequate tooling etc etc etc etc

[Hoverman]

This matter appears on the Rotorheads Forum. The thread has now been closed at the request of the Pruner who started it, after reading a request by FLYING LAWYER (aka Mr Tudor Owen, Barrister). I have copied what Flying Lawyer said:
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" size="2">Fellow Pruners
This is a now an extremely sensitive subject. The engineer is being prosecuted and the matter is now going to Court.
The Facts:
The Engineer has been charged with three counts of Manslaughter, and some associated ANO offences.
He will appear in a Magistrates Court on Monday. This is a formality in the judicial process; Magistrates are not qualified to deal with serious cases.
The case will be transferred to the Crown Court where it will be heard by a Judge and jury later this year.
As with all cases sent to the Crown Court for trial, the Press are restricted to reporting the name of the accused, the charges which he faces, and the fact that his case has been committed to the Crown Court for trial.
There is a very good reason for that rule. It is to ensure, so far as possible, that a defendant has a fair trial in which the jury tries the case on evidence which is properly produced in Court, uninfluenced by what they may have read in the Press - which may or may not be accurate.

If this thread continues, it is inevitable that people will speculate, repeat rumours they've heard, give "the facts" as they understand them to be, comment upon the pros and cons of the case, relate the facts of "similar" cases. As we can see from just a few posts, that has already begun.

Although PPRuNe is not part of the Press, it is (despite its name) a public forum read by many thousands of people who are interested in aviation, but not involved in it. It is not beyond the bounds of possibility that one of those will be called for jury service later in the year, and will be on the jury which tries the case.

This is a tragic case for EVERYONE concerned: Firstly, and obviously, for those who were killed and their families. Secondly, and perhaps less obviously, for the Engineer and his family - whatever the eventual outcome.
This is entirely different from the more common 'low flying' cases where what is at stake is a heavy fine and licensing action by the CAA.

May I ask you, please, to defer any further comment about the case until the trial is concluded.

For completeness, I should declare my interest in the case:
I have been asked to represent the Engineer. I would make precisely the same request if I had been asked to prosecute. Both sides in any criminal trial share one common interest, namely that there should be a fair trial.</font>

If any of you think you may be able to help the Engineer in any way, I suggest you e-mail Flying Lawyer direct. His e-mail address is given under his 'Profile'.

PLEASE think very carefully before posting anything further on this thread.


[This message has been edited by Hoverman (edited 11 February 2001).]