It's a comin ...

Avocet · Apr 3, 2018

I worked summers in a law office with a fellow whose father was the first U.S. lawyer to successfully ($$$$) sue a large (the largest at the time) general aviation manufacturer for product malpractice in a liability suit (early 1970's or so I think). The court found in favor of the plaintiff's estate (the family was killed by a cotter pin that broke) and that little litigation drove underwriting rates for general aviation machines up by a factor of 4 or 5. This essentially ended the American concept of the small personal airplane replacing the automobile (at least that was the dream by the manufacturers).

I bring this up because as we are all pioneering the wild, wild west of the sUAV and UAS era, it is only a matter of time before a large and impactful litigation involving malpractice, product or otherwise in our world of sUAV, etc. changes the landscape. I am fully suspecting someone to follow this thread with a link to one that has already occurred. A lot of skin in this game.

aerialimagery · Apr 3, 2018

Darn, I thought it was the Phantom 5 Pro...

dirkclod · Apr 3, 2018

aerialimagery said:
Darn, I thought it was the Phantom 5 Pro...

Yeah me too or the Mavic 2 . I have read about this going to happen for 4 years in PP and still waiting to see it happen .And it might but bet I'm dead before I see it .

aerialimagery · Apr 3, 2018

Sorry, I didn't mean to derail the thread. I missed the point the first time I read it. The concern is that once someone his hurt or killed by a drone, their cost is going to increase many times?

dirkclod · Apr 4, 2018

Oh you fine and I was speaking of reading of large lawsuits against like DJI and I just don't see it
happening . Maybe someone sueing someone else but not a class action so I mis read also I guess.
Still wanna see the newest drones ..a comin..

R.Perry · Apr 5, 2018

Lawyer & Liars seem to be synonymous. It is true that the so called legal profession destroyed general aviation. I had a Cessna 182 RG. Try to buy insurance for a private aircraft, it is down right ridiculous. Many guys I know today are flying without it because they can't afford the insurance.
I know there is a place for lawyers, but these sleaze balls ambulance chasers should be stopped.

Avocet · Apr 6, 2018

With some degree of irony, it was that exact aircraft, a Cessna RG that was the subject of the lawsuit, if my memory serves me. A physician and his family were on final in the Cessna when the pilot's cotter pin on his seat rail failed. He and the control yoke went forward and the rest is as we shall say, history ...

R.Perry · Apr 6, 2018

The 182 and the cardinal are two different planes. 182 is the skylane.

Avocet · Apr 6, 2018

R.Perry said:
The 182 and the cardinal are two different planes. 182 is the skylane.

Thanks for the correction .. its been a while for me in the SEL world ... this all took place eons ago ... the greater irony still is that the attorney that sued for plaintiff was a private pilot with a trunk load of type ratings. He also owned a Grummin F9F Panther which he flew around on weekends for giggles. If you remember reading "Flying" magazine years ago, there was always and advertisement for "War Birds Videos" which had a for a backdrop a picture of a F9F .. HIS!

Best,

Sojourner60 · Apr 7, 2018

If I remember correctly, the FAA did issue a AD on the seat rails cause they were breaking and causing people to crash.
Missouri Governer Carnahan died in a plane crash late 90s early 2000s. It was his son's Cessna twin engine. Cessna had sent out a Service Bulletin not to fly in certain weather conditions. I assume they checked the weather before their flight and chose to fly anyway. They crashed and all soles on board were lost. His wife sued Cessna, and every company that made any part for that plane. I never heard if she won or not. Thing is, the plane was 30 years old. After say five years, and a couple thousand hours, it's really a matter of how good the mechanic is, and how much the owner is willing to pay. A proper annual inspection is expensive. It takes a while to open up a plane for inspection, throughly inspect it, fix all that has to be fixed and button it all up. I worked as an A&P for 15 years. Some owners would rahter pay $1000 for an ink pen annual than to fix their plane properly. If they crash, the wife Sues the MFG of the plane when it's the owners fault for cutting corners, and the AIs for going along. We had a jewler that owned a plane. He came in and we inspected it. The estimate was $4000 to fix all that was wrong. He had a cow! It only cost him $1000 the last three years, why so much? Ya get what ya pay for and risk your life if ya go cheap. Just my 2 cents

R.Perry · Apr 7, 2018

I don't have a problem with legitimate lawsuits in the case of gross negligence, but expecting a manufacturer to be responsible for every part of an aircraft is just nuts in my opinion. Flying carries with it a element of risk, that is reality and you shouldn't be able to hold people responsible for something that is beyond their control. Poor maintenance has been responsible for a lot more accidents than manufacture defects. That's why annual inspections are required and must be done by a certified AP technician.
As for Cessna seats rails, I flew in some pretty rough weather and seat never moved.

The other issue I have with the above story is on approach you are using your throttle and rudders, if the plane is trimmed properly one needs very little pressure on the control yoke, if any. If the seat latch did come lose I just can't imagine the seat coming far enough forward to push the control yoke down unless the pilot was holding on to it with a death grip, and that would be pilot error.

The 182 is a nose heavy aircraft and I always trimmed it to compensate as any pilot would do especially on approach.