Legal

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    €10,000 Awarded for Child Trauma


    Two year old Emma Reddan witnessed a Sikorsky S76 piloted by Bill Curry crashing in the Neptune Hotel car lot. The chopper’s rotor blade struck a lamp post, resulting in the crash.

    Emma Reddan suffered from separation anxiety disorder.

    In Civil court, Judge Matthew Deery approved a €10,000 settlement for Emma Reddan from Curry and GP Helicopter Services Ltd, of Woodstown Dale, Knocklyon, Dublin, and Barrack Construction Limited, Thomastown, Caragh, Naas, Co Kildare.

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    California Case Settlement Underway for Ingrams, Chan, and Hudletons

    Three settlements of five cases have finally been made in the lawsuits concerning the plane crash that killed Brian Finn, Andrew Ingram, and pilot Douglas Bourn. In 2010, Bourn’s Cessna 310R clipped high-voltage power lines and a utility tower in dense fog crashing into a Beech Street neighborhood. Ingram’s parents and aunt, Finn’s wife and daughter, and East Palo Alto residents Ervin and Pinkie Hudleton have settled, but no agreement has been reached with Lisa Jones and Jose Cortez-Herrera. Jones’ day care center and home, and Cortez-Herrera house were damaged in the accident.

    Details of the settlements have not been published.

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    Gol: US Pilots Retrial Upholds Conviction, No Jailtime

    Joseph Lepore of Bay Shore, New York, and Jan Paladino were flying the Embraer Legacy 600 executive jet that collided with a Boeing 737 operated by Gol Lineas Aereas Intelligentes SA. Lepore and Paladino guided the plane they were flying to safely while the larger jet crashed into the jungle, killing all aboard. The pilots were convicted in 2011 and sentenced to 52 months in prison because according to prosecutors, the aircraft’s anti-collision system was turned off for almost one hour. The pilots deny wrongdoing, and say the TCAS system was never off and suggest the other plane’s TCAS may not have been working. The NTSB blames the collision on the Brazilian ATC. Air force sergeant Jomarcelo Fernandes dos Santos was sentenced two years ago to 14 months in jail for failing to take action when he realized that the Legacy’s anti-collision system was off.

    The case was retried in Brazil Monday and upheld; in fact, the jail time that had last year been commuted to community service was eliminated. In lieu of jail time or community service, now the pilots will only be required scheduled check-ins with Brazilian parole authorities.

    Read More

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    Gol: US Pilots to Face Retrial in Absentia

    Joseph Lepore of Bay Shore, New York, and Jan Paladino were flying the Embraer Legacy 600 executive jet that collided with a Boeing 737 operated by Gol Lineas Aereas Intelligentes SA. Lepore and Paladino guided the plane they were flying to safely while the larger jet crashed into the jungle, killing all aboard. The pilots were convicted in 2011 and sentenced to 52 months in prison because according to prosecutors, the aircraft’s anti-collision system was turned off for almost one hour. The pilots deny wrongdoing, and say the system was never off.

    Lepore and Paladino are to be retried Monday.

    Audio from the flight in YOUTUBE below

    Read More

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    Will Kingfisher Airlines Survive?

    Unable to pay its crews, Kingfisher Airlines grounded its fleet this week.

    Employees are in the midst of a strike and things aren’t looking good. Lenders refused funding, and employees can’t expect getting their full salaries in the foreseeable future.

    The biggest hurdle to getting permission to fly will be running the gauntlet of DGCA safety issues. Then, if they can get their employees back on board, and get financing, there might be a possibility of the airline getting off the ground. But they need $600 million in financing within the next two months, and only have ten operating planes.

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    N36 Million Awarded to Families of Police Chopper Crash Victims

    The families of late DIG Haruna John, AC Garba Yalwa (Pilot), CSP Alexander Pwol-Ja (co-pilot,) and Sgt Sonatian Shirunam (orderly to the DIG) were given bank cheques of the insurance covers ranging from N9 million to N2 million by Inspector General of Police Mohammed Abubakar.

    Four property owners who sustained damages were awarded compensation.

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    Fake Pilot held in Turin

    What: Fake Pilot
    Where: Turin Airport
    When: Sept 21, 2012
    Who: Andrea Sirlo
    Why: “Andrea Sirlo” was arrested in the Turin airport for impersonating a pilot.

    He had already flown several times as a “third pilot” in the jump seat, and had a fake uniform and resumes. The name Andrea Sirlo is a fake identity, not his real name.

    Two videos below


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    David Disiere Southlake Aviation Awarded $32-Million Damages in Congo Gold Smuggling Case

    In a civil trial that sounded like a real life James Bond spy novel, a Dallas County Jury awarded Southlake Aviation, owned by Dallas business executive David Disiere, $32.4 million in damages against Houston based oil company, CAMAC International, its subsidiary CAMAC Aviation, and Mickey Lawal CAMAC’s Vice President of African Operations.
    The case stemmed from a scheme in which CAMAC International and its officers used a Gulfstream V jet leased from David Disiere’s Southlake Aviation to try to spirit more than ten thousands pounds of gold bullion out of the Democratic Republic of the Congo with help from General Bosco Ntaganda, a notorious Congolese warlord.

    Following the verdict, Southlake Aviation’s President, David Disiere praised the jury’s decision, “twelve citizens saw through a smoke-and- mirrors defense put on by the CAMAC’s attorneys and clearly found that CAMAC caused my company to loose a $43 million dollar aircraft in a greedy scheme that violated the U.S. Trading With The Enemy Act.”
    The jury heard riveting testimony from a diamond trader involved in the scheme describing how CAMAC executives Kase Lawal, Mickey Lawal, and Kamoru Lawal arranged to exchange two-oversized suitcases stuffed with six-and-half million dollars in cash for ten boxes of gold delivered by General Bosco Ntaganda’s armed forces.

    An investigation of the smuggling incident by the United Nations Security Council found that CAMAC and its three top executives, Kase Lawal, Mickey Lawal, and Kamoru Lawal were dealing with “individuals operating in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and committing serious violations of international law involving the targeting of children or women in situations of armed conflict.”

    Kase Lawal, Mickey Lawal, and Kamoru Lawal who are Nigerian American brothers invoked their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination hundreds of times during their testimony in the case.

    Houston energy executive, Kase Lawal the former CEO of CAMAC International and the current CEO of the publically traded CAMAC Energy Inc. was appointed to a White House Trade Advisory position by President Obama and serves on the boards of the Houston Port and Airport Authorities.

    David Disiere, the Dallas business executive and owner of Southlake Aviation, told the jury how he was shocked to get a call in the dead of night informing him that his company’s 43-million dollar Gulfstream V jet aircraft loaded with ten boxes of gold had been confiscated in Goma by authorities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo on February 5, 2011. The jury’s verdict also included compensation of more than 535-thousand dollars for repairing damage done the to the aircraft’s interior passenger compartment during the loading of the gold.

    Because Southlake Aviation’s aircraft was confiscated in the Congo, VFS Financing a subsidiary of General Electric, automatically placed Southlake Aviation’s loan to purchase the Gulfstream V in default, accelerated the entire balance, and repossessed the aircraft.

    Testimony in the case and the investigation by the United Nations also indicated that former Houston Rocket’s basketball star Dikembe Mutombo acted as an intermediary in the gold smuggling scheme.

    Testimony in the case showed that David Disiere had never met the Lawal brothers. Disiere testified that CAMAC had signed a three-year lease for Southlake’s Gulfstream V jet and claiming it would use the jet was to travel between its Houston headquarters and oil operations in Nigeria.

    The jury agreed with David Disiere’s testimony that CAMAC and its officers violated the terms of the aircraft’s lease by using it in an outlaw region of Africa.

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    Foreign Airliner Leasing & Financing Un-Deserving Operators

    Arik Air Ltd., and Aero Contractors Co. of Nigeria Ltd., Nigeria’s top two airlines, have been banned from getting loans by Nigeria’s Central Bank due to the massive debt they have accrued. Arik Air owes Asset Management Corp. of Nigeria more than $534 million. Aero Contractors owes more than $203 million. A bank that loans money to these airlines will face “serious fines from the government.” Air Nigeria recently collapsed owing crew a debt of four months’ pay, in addition to $175 million in loans to Nicon Investments Ltd..

    Only three Nigerian airlines remain in operation. Arik Air has not published a date when it will resume flying.

    Officially, according to the BBC, the carrier resumed domestic flights on Sunday Sept 24. However we did get anonymous input from Monrovia that as of Saturday, Sept 22nd, Arik Air was flying.

    In George’s Point of View

    Before making a loan, banks need to look past the uncertainties in airline survival, aircraft value, interest rates and the airline’s credit worthiness.

    This is what the aircraft leasing companies should do:

    Stop leasing planes to operators that are careless in their maintenance and pilot training.

    Leasing companies should not look only at credit worthiness. Yes, that is one factor, but it is only part of the picture. Leasing companies must also make judgements based on the history of the airline operator performance, and maintenance.

    If credit and performance history all checks out, the oversight is not over. The leasing company should monitor every single plane they have leased out to foreign operators.

    If monitoring reveals any problems whatsoever, that pilots are not being trained, that they are not getting enough sleep, that the operator or aircraft goes on a black list, that the operator is shown to be negligent in any way, then the lessor should endeavor immediately to pickup/repossess that plane.

    Maintaining every aspect of the plane’s maintenance, flight operations, crew resource management, and crew training is as crucial to the contract agreement as payments. Failure to keep everything up to date is as much a breach of contract and cause for action as is failure to pay.

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    Dana Compensation Delays


    Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
    Contact photographer Peter Tonna

    What: Dana Air McDonnell Douglas MD-83 en route from Abuja to Lagos, Nigeria
    Where: Iju neighborhood, Lagos
    When: June 3, 2012
    Who: 153 passengers
    Why: NAICOM told seminar attendees that the $70,000 per Dana Plane Crash victim payment is contingent on the death certificate and letter of administration, and 70 per cent of Dana Air Crash Claim settlements have been delayed due to families being unable to submit death certificates and letter of administration.

    58 families have been paid $30,000 (the initial 30%) that is due 30 days after the crash. On verification of the correct claimants, the balance of the claims should be covered by Prestige Assurance, six Nigerian insurance companies and Lloyds and Lloyds Associates.

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    Plane Ticket Prices in US Court of Appeals

    New Consumer protection ruling from the US Court of Appeals now requires the ticket total must be displayed in the largest type size and be the most prominent price in an ad or Web page, that airlines allow consumers who purchase tickets more than a week in advance to cancel reservations without penalty within 24 hours after purchase, and airlines are banned from increasing the price of tickets or baggage fees after tickets have been bought.

    The 2011 rules say that the price shown in an ad must be “the entire price to be paid by the customer.”

    The case had been brought by Allegiant Travel Co (ALGT.O), Southwest Airlines Co (LUV.N) and Spirit Airlines Inc (SAVE.O), and was supported by the industry’s trade association.

    Consumers have been unable to comparison shop ticket prices since 2008, when airlines began charging fees for services that previously had been included.

    The industry’s trade association does want consumers to know that taxes and government fees make up about 20 percent of a ticket’s total price.

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    Dana Air Interim Payments Offered


    Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
    Contact photographer Peter Tonna
    What: Dana Air McDonnell Douglas MD-83 en route from Abuja to Lagos, Nigeria
    Where: Iju neighborhood, Lagos
    When: June 3, 2012
    Who: 153 passengers
    Why: Dana air stated that it is fully aware of the mandatory requirement by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) and the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), for interim benefits to be paid to the families of the victims within 30 days of the accident.

    Although 68 families have completed their insurance compensation documentation, only nine families were given $30,000 each, having been the only ones to successfully run the legal gauntlet.

    Beneficiaries said the interim payment fell short of their expectations.

    Claim forms must be taken to Yomi Oshikoya & Co, for verification. Yomi Oshikoya & Co was appointed by the insurers in Lagos.

    Dana Air attempted to distribute cheques as interim compensation to some individuals made homeless by the crash. Dana Air prepared N500, 000 for one of the victims, Mr. Daniel Omowunmi, N100, 000, each to two occupants of the boys’ quarters and N200, 000 each to six families in the block of flats. Full payment of the compensation by the insurance company is pending. The lawyer rejected the checks as inadequate and also not all of the victims were included.

    In George’s Point of View

    Interim payments, that is good.

    It’s Lloyds of London.

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    Commission of Inquiry to Begin

    What: Kenya Police Air Wing Eurocopter AS 350B3e Ecureuil
    Where: Ngong Hills, near Nairobi Kenya
    When: June 10, 2012
    Who: 6 aboard
    Update: The Kenyan Commission of Inquiry established to look into the June 10 helicopter crash in the Kibiku Forest in Kenya is set to hold its first formal session on July 16. The container holding the wreckage will be stored at the Kenya Police Air-Wing facility at the Wilson Airport.

    The Kenya Police Airwing Unit Commandant Rodgers Mbithi will be appearing as the first witness.

    The pilots involved, Captain Nancy Gituanja and Luke Oyugi, underwent pilot training in the Ukraine in April 2009.

    According to commission members, the intent of the commission is “…not to apportion blame, but to prevent occurrence.”

    Fatalities included Minister of State for Provincial Administration and Internal Security George Saitoti and his permanent secretary Orwa Ojode, pilots Luke Oyugi and Nancy Gituanja and bodyguards Inspector Joshua Tonkei and Sergeant Thomas Murimi.

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    Husband Files Dana Air Flight 992 Lawsuit


    Joy Chiedozie Allison died on Dana Air Flight 992. Her family has hired attorney Gary Robb. On June 7 (yesterday) Robb filed a 56 page lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Chicago, a discovery motion naming The Boeing Company, McDonnell Douglas Corporation, Pratt & Whitney Canada Corp., United Technologies Corporation and Estate of Peter Waxtan.

    In the Dana Airlines crash, both of the MD-83’s engines failed before it crashed into several buildings in Nigeria

    The chief engineer of Dana Air was also aboard the plane when it crashed. Employees of Dana airlines have said that owners were aware that the jet had mechanical troubles struggling on a Calabar flight;, but the crew was forced fly anyway, and fly it loaded to the hilt with passengers and luggage.

    Captain Oscar Wason is saying there may have been a bird strike. The black boxes have been recovered and will be sent to the US. The black boxes will have the truth.

    Joy Allison worked for Federal Express.

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    No Charges for Woman for Diverting Plane


    Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
    Contact photographer Giovanni Verbeeck

    What: US Airways B767 from Paris to Charlotte
    Where: Bangor Maine
    When: May 22, 2012
    Who: 179 passengers, 9 crew
    Why: Around noon on May 22, two F-15 fighter jets scrambled to intercept a US Airways plane where a French woman from Cameroon had handed a note to a flight attendant claiming that she had a surgically implanted bomb. She was traveling alone and had no baggage.

    Update US attorneys told the court they would not be filing a criminal complaint against Marigot 41-year-old French citizen and native of Cameroon,Lucie Zeeko Marigot, appeared in federal court in Bangor. Marigot was described by other passengers as “a full-figured, light-skinned African woman with hair “almost down to her waist.”

    The note she handed to a flight attendant said in French that she was “a victim of a group of doctors” and that she had “an object in her body that is out of my control” and she also handed her a book she had written about her personal story.
    Read More Passenger Claims Bomb Implant

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    AirBlue in Defiance of Court

    Although the court has ordered compensation, a spokesman of victims told the Peshawar High Court that “AirBlue has communicated to petitioners that compensation will be given to them once they step down and cases are withdrawn from court.” AirBlue also asked for a “universal relief agreement” release form for the 152 companies potentially responsible banning victims from suing.

    The chief justice advised the victims rep to file an application of contempt of court, and promised to continue the case until every heir is compensated.

    In George’s Point of View


    AirBlue should be taking the high road on this, and stop dragging their feet. The tragedy brought to a halt the lives of too many, robbed families of their futures. How can any of these families affected ever have any peace? Why—after already causing the ultimate harm to the victims, and the families of victims—must the airline do everything in their power to make the situation even worse?

    From the moment we are infants who learn to trust our feet to carry us, standing at the sides of our cribs, toddling across our parent’s floors into schools, and adulthood and life beyond, we are only able to stand on our own feet, to walk on our own feet, to negotiate the ground beneath us because we learn a sense of control. We know where the ground is, which way is up. We learn where we can place our feet just so, how to move, to balance, and how to negotiate the rules and laws and physics of the real world so that we can take the next step in our lives, and the next, and the next. All of this occurs because we learn to trust our environment, to trust ourselves in it.

    A tragic event like a plane crash turns our perceptions, our world, our lives inside out. It turns the ground to the ceiling. Our perception of reality is instantly distorted, turning peace and family into an ongoing horror. How can we take the next step when the ground beneath us has been stolen away?

    A tragedy like this shocks everyone–not just the families, but everyone who learns of the event–we are all left with the sense of being a boat unmoored, with the knowledge of a loss of control of the setting and circumstance of our lives. Everyone who learns of a crash like that of Air Blue faces a realization of the frailty of life. The word “shock” is appropriate, for the sensation is not unlike a zap of electricity that sizzles our nerve endings. For those of us who did not lose anyone, we may have an instant jolt, an instant awareness an instant empathy of the depth of grief, horror, pain suffered by survivors; but for survivors that jolt is no instant. It stretches on indefinitely into a future rendered bleak and dead.

    Healing may come; a sense of life may return, or even a sense of carpe diem. But even with healing, there is a loss of innocence, a loss of trust in life, in belief of “the future” because, after all, how grim the future is without our loved ones in it.

    For the families, reparation can never be made. How can they truly be “repaired” if the loved ones they lost can never be returned? The sense of the wholeness of their lives is forever a shattered glass. It is the responsibility for Jet Blue (and even for any of the 152 companies who are indeed partially responsible) to deliver promise instead of excuse, blessing instead of denial, empowerment instead of refusal, expedition instead of delay.

    There is a lot of guilt and responsibility sitting squarely in the lap of Air Blue.

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    Jury Awards 2008 Helicopter Crash Victims, GE Loses $177 million Judgment

    What: GE Engines in Sikorsky S-61N helicopter
    Where: Portland Courtroom
    When: Aug. 5, 2008 crash, March 28, 2012 Jury decision
    Who: 9 crash fatalities
    Why: The Aug. 5, 2008 crash occurred after a loss of power in the No. 2 engine shortly after takeoff from a nearly 6,000-foot-high mountaintop in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest.

    Co-pilot William Coultas of Cave Junction, his wife, Chris, and the widow of pilot Roark Schwanenberg, 54, of Lostine were awarded $37 million and his wife $4.3 million by the jury, while the estate of Schwanenberg was awarded $28.4 million, according to The Associated Press. The jury placed 57 percent of the blame on GE, but also found the helicopter’s owner and its manufacturer partially at fault. Coultas is the only surviving crewman.

    Fatalities include David Steele, 19, Ashland; Shawn Blazer, 30, Medford; Scott Charlson, 25, Phoenix; Matthew Hammer, 23, Grants Pass; Edrik Gomez, 19, Ashland; Bryan Rich, 29, Medford; and Steven “Caleb” Renno, 21, Cave Junction; U.S. Forest Service check pilot Jim Ramage, 63, of Redding, Calif.. Richard Schroeder Jr., Jonathan Frohreich and Michael Brown survived with injuries.

    The case hinged on a problem with the engine’s fuel control valve. Evidence included a GE internal email from Aug. 6, 2008 discussing the size of the fuel filter, noting that the military version removes much smaller particles than the commercial version.

    Official NTSB Report:
    On August 5, 2008, about 1941 Pacific daylight time, a Sikorsky S-61N helicopter, N612AZ, impacted trees and terrain during the initial climb after takeoff from Helispot 44 (H-44), located at an elevation of about 6,000 feet in mountainous terrain near Weaverville, California. The pilot-in-command, the safety crewmember, and seven firefighters were fatally injured; the copilot and three firefighters were seriously injured. Impact forces and a postcrash fire destroyed the helicopter, which was being operated by the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) as a public flight to transport firefighters from H-44 to another helispot. The USFS had contracted with Carson Helicopters, Inc. (CHI) of Grants Pass, Oregon, for the services of the helicopter, which was registered to CHI and leased to Carson Helicopter Services, Inc. of Grants Pass. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident, and a company visual flight rules flight plan had been filed.

    The National Transportation Safety Board determines the probable cause(s) of this accident as follows:

    The following actions by Carson Helicopters: 1) the intentional understatement of the helicopter’s empty weight, 2) the alteration of the power available chart to exaggerate the helicopter’s lift capability, and 3) the practice of using unapproved above-minimum specification torque in performance calculations that, collectively, resulted in the pilots relying on performance calculations that significantly overestimated the helicopter’s load-carrying capacity and did not provide an adequate performance margin for a successful takeoff; and insufficient oversight by the U.S. Forest Service and the Federal Aviation Administration.

    Contributing to the accident was the failure of the flight crewmembers to address the fact that the helicopter had approached its maximum performance capability on their two prior departures from the accident site because they were accustomed to operating at the limit of the helicopter’s performance.

    Contributing to the fatalities were the immediate, intense fire that resulted from the spillage of fuel upon impact from the fuel tanks that were not crash resistant, the separation from the floor of the cabin seats that were not crash resistant, and the use of an inappropriate release mechanism on the cabin seat restraints.

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    Concorde Involuntary Manslaughter Verdict of 2010 At Trial

    Remember Air France Flight 4590— Charles de Gaulle International Airport near Paris to JFK—the July 2000 crash of an Air France Concorde supersonic transport (SST) in Paris? A hundred passengers and 9 crew died.

    A piece of debris ruptured a tire, debris going 310 mph struck the wing led to a tank rupture. Engines one and two lost power on ignition. To make a long story short, the terrible conundrum ensued that the plane was going too fast to stop, unable to ascend, and on fire even before it took off. The plane crashed into the Les Relais Bleus Hotel killing everyone aboard and five in the hotel.

    In France, the French court may be on the road to overturning the verdict against Continental Airlines. Opening arguments were heard in an appeals court in Versailles to consider the U.S. carrier’s request to purge the involuntary manslaughter verdict of 2010. Some of the “not guilty” findings may also be overturned.

    See Part 1

    See Part 2

    See Part 3

    See Part 4

    See Part 5

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    Airbus A380 Wing Cracks at root of Emirates Compensation Plan.


    Emirates Airline is seeking compensation from Airbus for loss of revenue due to grounded Airbus A380s.

    Safety engineers found cracks in almost all Airbus A380 planes inspected.

    Emirates is not alone. Qantas Airways grounded one of its planes for up to a week following the discovery of 36 separate cracks in wing parts. European Air Safety Agency (EASA) recommended examination of all Airbus A380s in the Qantas fleet and 20 aircraft operated by Singapore Airlines.

    The Airbus list price is $390 million. France-based Airbus is not expected to turn a profit before 2015.

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    Charges Dropped against Surviving Pilot

    Lt. Lance Leone, the co-pilot aboard Coast Guard helicopter 6017 on July 7, 2010 when it struck some wires between the mainland and an island near La Push, Washington, was charged with negligent homicide and destruction of government property, and dereliction of duty.

    Those charges have been dropped.

    The crash killed the chopper’s pilot, Lt. Sean Krueger, along with Aviation Maintenance Technicians Brett Banks and Adam Hoke. The charges had been levied in accordance with the strict culture of discipline and accountability. The inherent danger of Coast Guard operations is a given, but the three fatalities warranted a full investigation.

    Lt. Lance Leone hopes to be in retraining soon in accordance with the Coast Guard mission, pass retraining, and securing a new Coast Guard assignment flying and rescuing.

    Read More

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    Air Australia Passengers Stranded

    Brisbane’s budget airline Air Australia just announced that flights are canceled and there will be no more new bookings because it can’t pay its bills. The company is now in Australia’s version of bankruptcy protection (voluntary administration). A portion of 4000 passengers were left stranded in places like Phuket and Honolulu. Jetstar and Qantas are considering selling return seats to passengers. Passengers will likely be able to recoup their Air Australia purchase price through their credit card company. The airline has only been in operation for two months. 300 jobs were just lost if the business is unable to recover.

    In George’s Point of View


    Good for Air Australia. It’s the responsible thing to do.

    Frankly, it is better for the operators who are running short of cash to get out fast. Maybe this bankruptcy will uncover some well-heeled investors. If not, getting out fast is the right thing to do. A shortage of cash can result in scrimping where there is no room for cost-cutting, like maintenance, etc. Cash shortages can cause budget cuts that can too easily result in loss of life.

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    Judge Interprets Widow as Unentitled. Canadian Charter is No Common Carrier


    Mark McLean had a million dollar life insurance policy under Canadian Premier Life Insurance Company, through Sears Canada Inc. When he was killed in a Vancouver Island plane crash three years ago, it seemed an open and shut case that his widow would get an accidental death benefit of $1 million under the 2007 policy. McLean was one of four Seaspan employees on an amphibious Grumman Goose flight from Port Hardy to Chamiss Bay.

    But the policy was only valid for the fare-paying passenger of common carrier. The charter restricted to employees or contractors of Seaspan does not qualify as a common carrier. The The Honourable Mr. Justice Bracken found that “In this case, the aircraft was not operating as a regularly scheduled airline and was instead under a charter restricted to employees or contractors of Seaspan. It was a flight where Seaspan determined who the passengers were, the time of the flight and its destination. Thus, it did not fit within the definition of “common carrier” under the accidental death benefit rider.”

    The widow was denied the accidental death benefit of $1,000,000 under the policy.

    In George’s Point of View


    Unfortunately, a judge must base his opinion on the wording of the policy.

    The Judge had no choice. The policy excluded a non fare paying trip. Everyone should take advice from Insurance 101 and get out the magnifying glass. Read the fine print. It is still valid advice.

    Insurance Companies salivate when they win a case like this. The agents who sell these policies, even they don’t know what they are selling and if they do, fail to explain all the fine print that will be included in the policy if the proposed insured buys a policy, or fail to use a combination of Life Insurance and Accidental Death Insurance that combine to cover all eventualities.

    No doubt when Mark McLean got on that plane, he was confident of his coverage. I believe that as Seaspan regularly chartered that flight exclusively for their employees, either they should have provided insurance coverage, or made certain that the employees are otherwise covered. Perhaps they too needed to take a magnifying glass to their policies as well.

    Stupid, almost a scam, my opinion, misleading, overall.

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    Unqualified Pilot Sued for Daughter’s Death

    Accidents are what happen when you think they won’t.

    If Steven Fay had known Jessica Malin would die in the flight and he would survive, he never would have taken her on the twin engine Cessna on Jan 1, 2011. At 4:30 p.m. on on Jan 1, 2011, the day of the crash, the plane’s wings clipped treetops while landing in Orange about 90 minutes after sunset.

    He shouldn’t have flown her. He was not certified to fly the plane, which crashed approach to Orange Municipal Airport. His license was revoked after the crash. He was arraigned on Feb 1 2012 for involuntary manslaughter for Jessica Malin’s death. Malin was his daughter. She was 35.

    Fay denied the charges. He returns to court on Feb 24.

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    Sugar Grove Family Sues Deceased Pilot

    On January 23, 2010, there was fog at the time of takeoff and visibility was a half-mile. Gary Bradford and his passenger Drago Strahija were killed when Bradford’s plane crashed in a neighborhood eight minutes from the Aurora Municipal Airport.

    The Doyles, the family in whose yard the plane crashed are suing the pilot’s widow. On April 5, the Doyle family will face Gary Bradford’s estate in court.

    Rita Bradford and her deceased husband owned ENS Corp., a Florida IT firm. At the time of the crash, he had owned the plane for three months after 98 hours of instrument experience, and 52 hours of flight instruction in seven days.

    The meat of the suit is that the Doyles say the pilot did not properly inspect, maintain or know how to land the Cessna.

    When the Cessna crashed in the Doyle’s yard, the plane did not strike the house, but debris started a fire in the north side of the garage.