Plane Crash into Building in NY

[svanarts]

Looks like they were flying along the river, went to make a U-turn but turned with the wind rather than into it. This caused their turn to cover more ground than they were planning on (speculation) and put them into the building. The radar tracks indicated they were no more than 500' AGL.

[LettersFromFlyoverCountry]

Originally Posted by lucky333

Aviation news by someone who knows something about aviation. Whotta concept!

NY Times

A plane landed at my airport today and didn't crash into a building. what a concept.

How does that attitude make you feel? Yeah, me too, when I see something like that.

[gmcjetpilot]

It was only a matter of time. Dentist sues Cory Lidle's estate over plane crash and widow sues Cirrus over pitcher's crash. Apparently the plane was not designed to withstand flying into a building or could no turn fast enough?

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Lidle's Wife Files Suit Against Plane Manufacturer, March 02, 2007

Investigators have yet to determine exactly what caused former Yankee pitcher Cory Lidle's plane to crash into an Upper East Side apartment building last fall, but his wife says the plane itself is at fault.

Melanie Lidle has filed a lawsuit against the plane's manufacturer, Cirrus Design, claiming product liability and negligence.

The issue of fault is key to determining if Lidle's family will be able to collect a $1 million insurance policy from Major League Baseball.

Meanwhile, a man whose apartment was damaged in the crash has filed a $7 million claim against Lidle's estate.

Both Lidle and his flight instructor were killed when their plane crashed into an Upper East Side high rise last October.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

This is why you should not let you kids get into making light planes or parts for them. I feel for Lindle's wife and both men's family, but if she sues and does not win, she should pay all cost. Its too easy to sue for anything. There is no penalty to bring frivolous lawsuits it seems to me, but I'm not a lawyer.

I suspect the wife wants to live in the life style she expected to live in the future, and she is going for as much money as she can to recover the loss of her income (husband). I guess she may have to get a job? There are no guarantees in life. Mrs. Lindle probably figures she is owed it? She married a pro baseball player and therefore is owed it? The more you have the harder it is to lose it I guess.

Cirrus is not rolling in money. I bet they make a few pennies profit on every dollar of sales (if any after legal cost). If they stay in business they will have to raise the price of their planes to pay for "product liability from pro athletes". No doubt Cirrus will spend millions defending against this. Even if Cirrus wins, they lose.

Life is not guaranteed. People die and we have to take responsibility for that. STUFF HAPPENS. We don't have the NTSB report yet, but if the plane was fine (likely), Cirrus should counter sue for a ridiculous lawsuit and all legal cost. Unfortunately I don't think they can. At this point the best they can do is win and not spend too much on their legal defense.

The more potential life time earnings you have (pro baseball player), the more value you have in the court system. Does not seem fair, but that is how it works. They look at his potential life earnings and what he COULD have made. Great, but if he flew himself into a blind (urban) canyon, tough noogies. (sorry life is not fair sometimes.) It seems like the more people have, the more expectation they should continue to always have it.

When you die it does not matter how much money you have, at least to you.

They are not suing the flight instructor because his estate has no money, so they will go for the deepest pockets. I'm waiting for a lawsuit against New York and construction companies for allowing high-rise buildings. I'm not trying to be disrespectful, but this is a crazy litigious world we live in. LIFE is precious. Live life to the fullest and enjoy your family while you can, it may be gone tomorrow.

[Stephen Lindberg]

Cirrus markets their sophisticated, high performance airplane directly to high income, low time/no time, wanna be/gunna be pilots with very high expectations. They and their families expect this thing to PERFORM by golly and look at the money they spent so it better. And it's safe, too, 'cause if things go sour all you have to do is pull the big red handle and the insurance cleans up the mess while you step into a new airplane. So, in their mind, it can't be their fault if it flies into a building in NYC. All it takes is twelve good men and true, raised on television and selected for their lack of technical knowledge who feel your pain and -PRESTO- your husband's legacy is cleaned up, you can make statements the press about how you, personally, have helped make the world a safer place and, incidently, got the insurance company to pay up. The lawyers take at least a third of the loot to the bank. Cf: Parker Hannefin/vac pumps. Better we tell our students that this airplane business is a hard business that can kill you and there are no guarantees but it sure is fun and if done well can provide transcendent experiences just short of nirvana. Bottom line: I can't ever sell this thing I am building because of the unreasonable risk of product liability. I'll leave it to my sons. But I am going to have a ball with it. And yes, I know it could kill me but I am not going to let it. As for Cirrus? Looks like a pretty good airplane, bad marketing strategy. Way out of my league. New Cirrus owners and their families should be made to talk with a crusty old aviator who can paint a realistic picture of aviation, warts and all. As for the big red handle? Feh. Be an aviator and you won't need it. Didn't help in this case, did it?

[CraigH@KRPH]

Anyone want to take a bet that Cirrus settles? Widow walks away smiling, lawyers walk away smiling more, and the rest of us make up the difference with higher insurance premiums and increased cost of parts / completed airplanes.

[AlexPeterson]

Cirrus actually does have a loss in value due to the pilot caused accident - their image goes down a bit with each accident. Wouldn't it be nice to see that sort of aggressiveness on the part of Cirrus? I'd put in some money for that.

Elect lawyers = more lawsuits.

[Low Pass]

Yep. In so many cases it's all about the greedy lawyers. In my opinion, they've biased and manipulated the entire legislative, judicial and criminal justice system to to enable their ability to make insane amounts of money.

Look at the case with the EAA and the NW Regional Fly in. A pilot crashes (100% pilot error BTW) and the fly in sponsor is held responsible becasue the fire response didn't get there "in time". And that cost $10.5 million.

I'm no doctor, but I can easily imagine that a crash with no personal protective gear, ruptured fuel tanks and fire will result in fatal (burn) injuries in about 10-20 seconds. Not even a professional airport crash response crew could get to the plane that quickly.

Also, would he have departed in the first place knowing he might not get rescue services for 5 minutes?! I feel certain he would. For goodness sake, he was flying an experimental airplane!

And yes - we keep electing them every year. Vote out the incumbents and don't vote for lawyers!!

[8CW]

[quote=Stephen Lindberg]

As for the big red handle? Feh. Be an aviator and you won't need it. Didn't help in this case, did it?

Good Point!

Bill Settle
WInston-Salem, NC
-8 Wings

[RV8iator]

What's so great about this country is when one person screws the pooch, instead of blaming that person, or as the case may be punishing that person, our government in it's infinite wisdom just makes whatever they did against the law. That will protect us all from everything.
And we just keep on electing them.
We deserve what we get.

[TSwezey]

Why not just make everything that is fun to do illegal and maybe nobody will get hurt? Pretty soon we will be the United States of France, full of liberal wimps. Maybe Cirrus should add "Flying into buildings is hazardous to your health" on the instrument panel.