Four lawsuits filed in Reno air race crash as organizers move forward with this year's race

Organizers began selling tickets for Reno National Championship Air Races this week, but they also were busy responding to lawsuits, including one that was filed in federal court Thursday by a spectator injured in last year’s horrific crash.

Edward Larson’s lawsuit brings to four the number filed after a vintage P-51 slammed into the tarmac in front of the box seats during a race on Sept. 16.

Organizers announced in January that they planned to host an event in 2012, and said they formed a “blue ribbon panel,” charged with finding safety problems and recommending solutions. Their report is expected in mid-April, said Mike Houghton, president and CEO of the Reno Air Racing Association.

He declined to comment on the lawsuits, but said “all we hope is the right thing is done for all of the victims.”

Although the panel’s report is still being written, the air racing association acted on one of its early recommendations: the appointment of a safety director to its board, Houghton said.

Michael Stollings, with 40 years of commercial and military aviation experience, was appointed to the board last month, Houghton said.

“Everybody involved is concerned with safety, but safety will be Mike’s total focus,” Houghton said. Stollings is a retired flight deck chief engineer for Boeing and was responsible for everything from flight deck safety to operations for all in-service Boeing airplanes, he said.

There is no word yet on when the National Transportation Safety Board will release its findings on the probable cause of the crash, which killed the pilot and 10 spectators, and injured dozens.

NTSB spokesman Terry Williams would only say on Thursday that “this is still an ongoing investigation.”

Meanwhile, three lawsuits in U.S. District Court in Reno and one in a Texas federal court are slowly moving forward. In most of the cases, the defendants are working on their responses.

Larson, a 59-year-old part-time Reno resident who lives in San Diego, initially filed his lawsuit in Washoe District Court last month, but it was moved to federal court.

Larson was not available for comment, but his lawyer, John Kirsch, said he sends his condolences to everyone who lost family members in the crash.

“And his prayers are with those who have been injured for their speedy and full recovery,” Kirsch wrote in an email. “He is a supporter of the air races and hopes that they will continue, albeit with some modifications.”

Larson was the first injured crash victim to speak to the media. He held a press conference at Renown Regional Medical Center days after the accident to tell his story.

Larson was munching corn dogs and drinking beer in Box No. 50 with his back turned to the tarmac, when pilot Jimmy Leeward’s plane, the Galloping Ghost, began to spin out of control, he told reporters in September.

“It veered over, and now it’s coming right at us,” Larson said then.

The next thing he remembered was being loaded into a helicopter with other crash victims, he said. The blast had knocked him down face-first and shrapnel from the plane cut into his head, back and legs, he said.

In his lawsuit, Larson alleges that he was injured because of “negligence and carelessness” on the part of all of the defendants, including the racing association, pilot, and his company, Aero-Trans Corporation, doing business as Leeward Aeronautical Sales in Florida.

“The grandstand area appeared to (Larson) not to be part of the race course designated by RARA and was impliedly represented by (the association) to be a relatively safe place from which to view the event,” the suit said. But while seated there, the aircraft crashed into the ground adjacent to the seats and injured or killed people sitting there, the suit said.

Source:  http://www.rgj.com