COLIN LAMB wrote:

I wish to address the potential legal liability issue regarding the ELT
requirment made by the "sponsor" of the event at a private airport.

I do not know all the details, nor do I know the law in the state where New
Castle is located. But, I have been a practicing attorney for 35 years and
have seen lawsuits on almost every issue one can imagine. I have read
judgments into the millions of dollars where it seemed obvious there was no
liability. I have defended cases that were brought where there was
significantly less culpability than the organizer of a soaring event might
face if he ignored the potential safety benefits of an ELT.

While I am embarassed by the direction of our legal system, I simply wanted
to say that there may be a potential liability concern. Remember that even
if the organizer is successful in defending a lawsuit, the legal fees could
be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

I know crazy things can happen in the liability world, but "possible"
isn't "probable", and I wondering about sense of the perspective here.

Could you offer a guess about the potential liability exposure of
allowing your airport to be used for a soaring contest in the first
place, compared that to neglecting to require contestants install a
piece of equipment their gliders are specifically exempted from in the
regulations, and is only of value if they crash somewhere besides your
airport?

--
Change "netto" to "net" to email me directly

Eric Greenwell
Washington State
USA