Yet it has become customary for lawsuits to make grand charges that controllers are responsible for crashes — even in cases where the responsibility clearly resided between the left and right earcups of the pilot’s headset. Why do they do this? It isn’t because lawyers are against controllers (at least, not any more than they are against all of us). It’s because controllers work for the FAA — part of the federal government — the ultimate in deep pockets. In other words, it’s the reason lawyers do anything: in the legal profession, it’s all about money.
Aero-News.Net has an impressive refutation of a ruling against the FAA in a case involving the crash of an inexperienced lawyer-pilot, Donald Weidner, that killed him and three passengers. The FAA, found 65% responsible by Judge Timothy Corrigan in a bench trial, settled for $9.5 million. (Kevin R.C. O’Brien, “I Blew The ILS: It Must Be YOUR Fault”, Mar. 21 and Mar. 22; “FAA To Pay $9.5 Million To Families From JIA Plane Crash”, WJXT-4, Mar. 9; “Judge Finds FAA Largely To Blame For 2001 Plane Crash”, WJXT-4, Nov. 16; Case No. 3:02-cv-01114-TJC-MCR (M.D. Fla.)).
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