Your point is well made and sad.

I recall back in the '80s reading about two hunters returning from a trip in
a Mooney. They were scud running and ran into a power line strung across a
highway. The powerline was not depicted on the sectional chart. The
grieving widow sued the FAA and won even though the sectional in the
aircraft was out of date and was folded up in the back seat of the airplane.
They were using a gas station road map with which to navigate.

Offshoot of that was that the sectional charts now have a warning on them
which states that not all obstructions may be depicted on the chart.


"Soartech" wrote in message
...
Dan Marotta wrote:

When a pilot collides with a ground obstruction it's his fault.

You would think so.
We have a local reservoir that is surrounded by a scenic network of trails.
The trails are very popular with hikers and mountain bikers. There are
several large metal gates here and there to keep out motor vehicles. About 3
or 4 years ago a women rode her mountain bike right into one of these large,
obvious metal gates and was injured. She sued the town for a million dollars
and WON !!
So given this "prior ruling" feel free to fly into any large fixed object
and if you survive, sue the owner of it.