This blawg is dedicated to providing aviation and space law news with a particular focus on aviation business, unmanned aerial vehicles, and national security.
This blawg is provided by Ravich Law Firm, P.A. and Timothy M. Ravich, a Martindale-Hubbell® AV-rated business lawyer and one of only thirty-four lawyers in the state recognized as a “Florida Bar Board Certified Aviation Lawyer.”
Terrible news as Ohio officials report that two people were killed when a plane carrying a wing walker crashed and burst into flames at a Daytona-area air show. It was not immediately known why the accident occurred. (Please be aware the video here is graphic and disturbing.)
Air show accidents are not common, but, they are not rare either. For that matter, air show accidents are unique for their legal complexity. Not only is there a question of what went wrong in the cockpit (if anything), but there are questions about the welfare of the thousands of spectators, and whether or not public and private organizers of the air show took proper precautions to avoid the tragedy -- on the ground and in the air. For now, determining the probable cause of this accident, not assigning blame, is crucial so that whatever occurred will not happen again. To that end, the National Transportation Safety Board will now investigate "man, machine, and environment" to develop a report of this terrible tragedy.
A troubling report that a two-engine private airplane crashed in the Everglades this evening, resulting in the death of its pilot. The Federal Aviation Administration, together with the National Transportation Safety Board ("NTSB"), will now try determine the probable cause of the accident.
It has not yet been reported whether the pilot was a professional or recreational pilot. Nor has any condition of the airplane, including its safety or maintenance record, been reported. In accidents involving general aviation (as opposed to commercial) aircraft, the law that usually applies to claims is GARA, which is officially known as the General Aviation
Revitalization Act of 1994, 49 U.S.C. § 40101 note, Pub. L. 103-298. That is a
federal statute of repose that prohibits lawsuits against aircraft
manufacturers arising out of accidents involving any general aviation aircraft
or component part that is more than 18 years old. GARA was implemented to rejuvenate the
general aviation market in light of litigation costs arising from product
liability lawsuits.In considering GARA
legislation, the United States Senate noted that “[t]he rationale for this time
limitation is that general aviation manufacturers should not be exposed to
liability for harm caused by their products for an unlimited period of time …
Accidents involving general aviation aircraft which have been in use, for
example, 25 years or more, are not likely to be due to any defect in the design
or manufacture of the product because the product has operated safely for a
long period of time.”S. Rep. No. 202,
103d Cong. 1st Sess. (1993). Whether pilot error, component failure, weather, or something else caused this tragedy remains to be seen. In the near term, it is a sad reminder both of the general safety of airplane flight and the ultimate cost of life when operations fail.
