Court awards woman €500,000 in air case

[redout]

Taken from RTE
04 November 2005

Court awards woman €500,000 in air case

04 November 2005 20:05
A woman who sued the manufacturers of a light aircraft in which her husband and father both died has been awarded over €500,000 in the High Court.

Jessica Murray of Carton Lane, Sligo, took the action on her own behalf and on behalf of her other dependents.

The mother-of-two sued Rans Inc of Kansas which allegedly supplied the Rans S-12 D-MLAB aircraft. Her husband Fionn and her father Holger Schiller perished in the crash at Gibraltar Point in Sligo Bay in 1998.


It is claimed the crash probably occurred as a result of a fuel cap becoming detached during flight and damaging a propeller blade located behind the aircraft's wings, resulting in a loss of control of the aircraft.

The case came before the High Court for an assessment of damages.

The defendant did not make an appearance in the proceedings but in correspondence the company did dispute the claims in relation to the cause of the plane crash.

The company said that it had no funds to fight the action. The family will now have to seek to execute the court judgment in Europe or Kansas where it is believed the company may have assets.

The accident investigation report can be read here http://www.aaiu.ie/AAIUviewitem.asp?id=3584&lang=ENG&loc=1280

[IO540]

Well, anybody making stuff needs to have product liability insurance.

This is nothing new.

It's nothing like as expensive as manufacturers claim, in their attempts to justify the high cost of aviation products.

The vast majority of damage in aviation is nothing to do with the product (it's pilot action).

But would loss of prop cause loss of control? Does this plane need power for stability, F117-style???

Any input from lawyers on this one?

[Stafford]

Er, isn't the S-12 a homebuilt ? If the filler cap came off in flight, what happened to the Commander's responsibility for ensuring the aircraft fit to fly ? My aircraft has a check wire to stop the cap coming off and even if it didn't it would be my responsibility to secure it before flight.

I know that if the same thing happened on my aircraft, the investigation would centre on my omission in the pre flight checks to ensure that the cap was secure, not on the assertion of a design fault ?

[Piltdown Man]

Bloody lawyers again! On the grounds of a maybe, an incorrect set of propellor blades not specified and not installed by the manuafacturer, a loss of control following a loss of thrust, yet another manufacturer may have an expensive fight on their hands. And the rapacious lawyers now will try and persue the cash. An action which everyone else will ultimately pay for. This is patently unfair and unjust! Whilst I have sympathy with the bereaved, somebody should point out to them that this is called an ACCIDENT! No cash payable! No compensation! Zip!

I wish the lawyers involved all the missfortune that can be possibly heaped upon them.

[cubflyer]

damn Lawyers!
Piltdown man said it exactly.
It amazes me that a respected professional body can carry out an accident investigation, but then the lawyers and court totally disregard the report and make up their own answer.

There is clearly no proven fault of the aircraft manufacturers. They already designed an improvement which the owner didnt fit. It is clearly the owner/pilot's responsibility to ensure that the cap is securley fastened before flight.
However, even if the fuel cap did cause the propellor to loose a tip, resulting in vibration, this surely doesnt render the aircraft unflyable and thus cannot be the cause of the accident.

My sympathy goes out to the relatives and friends of the victims. But they have no right to get money from the manufacturers.
So my sympathy also to Rans INC and all of the owners and fans of their aircraft who may loose out because of this action by greedy lawyers.
Hopefully they wont be able to get the money