Good news for private pilots' spouses

"Jim Macklin" wrote in message
news:vX09g.18419$ZW3.5002@dukeread04...
Trial lawyers will bring a suit anytime they feel that they
can find a stupid jury. I recall a case in the Miami area;
a pilot left the bar with a pretty heavy load of alcohol and
went to the airport. He pulled his Cherokee out of the
hanger about 4 AM and took off. He was sightseeing when the
fog rolled in. He flew around waiting for the fog to burn
off, which was mid-morning. Unfortunately he ran out of
fuel about an hour before and he crashed and died.
The widow and her lawyer sued, because the fuel tanks were
not big enough to let him stay aloft until the fog burned
off. I understand they won.

Many years ago, Cessna was successfully sued by the estate of a pilot that
flew into a shear rock wall (CFIT). The basis of the suit was that better
shoulder harnesses would have saved his life. This in the days before three
point harnesses, just lap belts and the model he was flying was well before
the three-point harness years.

IWLTB, that this was the case that broke the camels back and led Cessna to
drop out of the industry until the 1994 law was enacted.

Side note: the reason Ruger started stamping their guns with that verbose
warning (late 1970' or early 80's) was due to losing a suit to the estate of
a guy who was playing Russian Roulette. I suppose the warning would have
stopped him...