Crew Duty Day an issue in CorpEx Litigation

[~~~^~~~]

Crew Fatigue an issue in CorpEx Litigation

Lawsuits Filed in Jetstream Crash

The families of at least five people who died in the October 19 crash of Corporate Airlines Flight 5966 have filed lawsuits against Corporate Airlines and American Airlines for unspecified damages. At press time the most recent suit, filed on behalf of a Michigan physician, alleges that the pilots suffered from fatigue after flying six trips over 14 hours and 41 minutes - not above the FAA limit of 16 hours but more than American Airlines' company limit of 14 hours. Others claim that the pilots failed to follow safe landing practices, tried to land in unsafe conditions and didn't monitor their altitude during approach.

This is being reported in Aviation International News Online.

I for one wish that there was some protection for pilots in addition to the "Whitlow Letter." Some of us fly shedules that are "Legal to Start, Stupid to Finish."

The Gulfstream crash in Aspen set an entirely new standard for punitive damage settlements. If the FAA, ALPA, APA and Airlines will not do something - then the Courts play a role in trying to fix the system. I doubt that Crew Schedulers in any airline are aware of just how bad pilot pushing would look if the tapes were played for a jury.

~~~^~~~

 

[BoilerUP]

I knew the captain on that flight, and rode along on a leg or two with him. Definately a good guy and seemed like a good stick. He has been and will be missed.

The problem I see is the APA negotiated a 14 hour duty day limit for American Airlines pilots. I doubt that Corporate Airlines (or any other AX carrier) was bound to abide by the APA contract. Seemingly the pax don't see a difference between the two, as I believe I saw an allegation that AMR misled pax into believing that they were going to be on mainline American airplanes. Like an MD80 in IRK. Despite the fact that when you buy the ticket it says "American Flight 56XX operated by Corporate Airlines" or whatever.

I hope this lawsuit gets tossed if only for its blatent inaccuracies, but for that, I'm not very hopeful.

 

[~~~^~~~]

I knew the captain on that flight, and rode along on a leg or two with him. Definately a good guy and seemed like a good stick. He has been and will be missed.

The problem I see is the APA negotiated a 14 hour duty day limit for American Airlines pilots. I doubt that Corporate Airlines (or any other AX carrier) was bound to abide by the APA contract. Seemingly the pax don't see a difference between the two, as I believe I saw an allegation that AMR misled pax into believing that they were going to be on mainline American airplanes. Like an MD80 in IRK. Despite the fact that when you buy the ticket it says "American Flight 56XX operated by Corporate Airlines" or whatever.

I hope this lawsuit gets tossed if only for its blatent inaccuracies, but for that, I'm not very hopeful.

Why shouldn't American Airlines be held responsible for the actions of its contractors? Perhaps that would make the master of an operation more involved in the safety of their alter ego servants - which could be a very good way to promote One Level of Safety.

Most regional's rules go something along the lines of - we will schedule you to 14 hours, but when the weather is really challenging or the airplane has something broke, then we will run you to 16 hours, reduce your rest and let you have more fun the next several days. Someone joked about it being called "Fly till you puke." That seems to be about right.

Why should safety be something that pilots have to fight for in a contract? Shouldn't safety be a standard?

By the way, a Texas lawyer can correct me if I am wrong - but Texas has allowed strict liability for being in the chain of commerce with a dangerous instrumentality and aviation has been considered a dangerous instrumentality. I am sure American has indemnification language in their favor, but I can see any AX carrier's liability limits being exceeded if this gets settled for the numbers used in the Gulfstream crash out in Aspen.

 

[cargoflyr69]

Maybe this will be the catalyst for some "tombstone regulation" seems like this may be the only way logical regulations make their way into law. I wonder if things would have been different if it was a mainline AA flight where 190+ people lost their lives?

 

[belchfire]

Be careful out there guys and gals!

Sorry, this one is too close to home for
me...

must-walk-away...arrgh!

 

[JetScreamDriver]

Don't take the verbage of the the lawsuits too literally. This is just the lawyers' way of trying to get a rise out of the public.

If you felt like I did when you read it, I hate to give a lawyer credit, but it worked.

Other than that, let's leave this one alone, they were my friends.