Cirrus SR22 crash lawsuit

[nigelb]

An interesting article and video about the January fatal crash of a Cirrus SR22. Even though the NTSB probable cause put full blame on the pilot, his family and the family of a passenger won $16.4 million in damages. Much of the plaintiffs case hinged on one syllabus item, “VFR into IMC autopilot assisted” that was not ticked off. However, the flight instructor claimd the material was covered elsewhere. Should give flight instructors pause for thought, and make lawyers everywhere happy.

The page also has other links to some interesting articles

http://www.maxtrescott.com/max_trescott ... video.html

Nigel²

[Prop Jockey]

That's nuts !

[Garry Russell]

That's why insurance costs make think prohibitively expensive

Garry

[emfrat]

Did the syllabus contain, under each item, two lines like these ?:
'I instructed (the pupil) in (item number) signed (instructor)( date)'
'I received instruction from (instructor) in (item number) signed (the pupil)(date)'

If it had, there would have been no question about it.

As a standard procedure, that will protect training providers against this sort of liability.
Unfortunately, it will not get rid of the cultural problem.
( Yeah, we gotta fill in the paperwork, but fair dinkum blokes like us , we don't do 'safe' or 'intelligent'...our mates might think we were wimps and then all our boy bits would fall off)

I have been battling this in Australia for over twenty years now, in workplace safety.


MikeW