US to pay $4.4 million for pilot error
December 16, 2011, 12:02 pm
Six years ago, a wealthy Boca Raton businessman died in a small plane crash in Florida just outside Miami. The cause of the crash was determined to be a combination of pilot error and negligence on the part of the air traffic controller, prompting a federal judge to recently order the United States to pay the victim's family $4.4 million.
In 2007 the National Transportation Safety Board determined that Michael Zinn lost control of his Cessna P337H while flying alone through stormy weather with limited visibility, the Orlando Sentinel reported. A Miami U.S. Magistrate Judge ruled that Zinn was 60 percent to blame for the crash, while the other 40 percent belonged to the Miami Air Route Traffic Control Center.
The judge decided the air traffic controller did not properly warn Zinn that he would be flying into inclement weather conditions prior to his flight, and the pilot did not land the plane once he hit the storm.
"(The air traffic controller) breached his duty of care in providing complete and accurate weather briefings when it was possible to do so and highly pertinent to Zinn's route of flight," the judge wrote in his 97-page findings of facts. "Compounding that breach of the duty of care, he then failed to provide any navigational assistance when the pilot requested."
To compensate for their loss, the judge ordered the United States to pay the grieving family. However, the judge said that while errors were made, the main culprit was the weather, the source reported.
"Neither the air traffic controllers nor Michael Zinn were bad actors in this tragic accident," the judge said. "History shows us that a pilot's greatest enemy, more often than not, is nature's challenges."
The source reported the U.S. Department of Justice represented the Federal Aviation Administration in the lawsuit, and will be paying the settlement. Although Zinn was blamed for putting the flight in danger from the start with a lapse in judgement, it was the air controller who made the more deadly errors, the judge determined.
"With knowledge that Zinn was flying (using instruments) in a small plane with limited weather capability, this controller failed to provide sufficient accurate weather information to allow Zinn to make informed decisions," the judge wrote.
And weather is not the only problem that can occur without notice. In an interview with Sioux Falls, South Dakota, news provider KSFY, flight instructor John Schreurs said flying a plane can be safer, after a reasonable amount of practice, than driving a car.
"Altitude is your best friend, basically, if you would go into a roll or spin there's not much time to recover, at higher altitudes those situations are easier to recover from," Schreurs told the source.
But even a skilled pilot cannot predict engine failures or other mechanical malfunctions. Schreurs told the source pilots should land straight ahead in the event of an engine failure because they will likely lose some power handling. This point illustrates the importance of investing in pilot insurance to protect against damages and unexpected accidents.
"The tendency is if you lose an engine is to turn around and try and come back to the runway, that's never a good idea," Schreurs told the source. "I've heard of a lot of accidents that have occurred trying that."
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