PENNSYLVANIA: Chambersburg Skydiving Center to pay $10,000 to end federal dispute over aircraft safety, attorney says

By MATT MILLER, The Patriot-News 
on November 13, 2012 at 1:50 PM, updated November 13, 2012 at 2:18 PM

 Without admitting any wrongdoing, a midstate skydiving center will pay $10,000 to resolve federal claims that it flew an uninspected plane that leaked fuel and wasn’t airworthy, the center’s lawyer said today. The deal was struck because it was simply less expensive for the Chambersburg Skydiving Center to agree to the compromise settlement than to battle to win the case in U.S. Middle District Court, center attorney Robert Feldman said. 

“The Chambersburg Skydiving Center didn’t do anything wrong,” Feldman said. “We’re denying there was any violation.” 

No settlement documents have yet been filed, but the U.S. Attorney’s Office has lodged a complaint seeking a $10,000 civil penalty from the center, which is based at the Franklin County Regional Airport, formerly the Chambersburg Airport. 

In that complaint, the feds claim the center flew a Beech B90 aircraft from October 2007 through April 2008 that had not undergone a required federal safety inspection. 

The plane leaked fuel and its flaps, which are crucial especially for take-offs and landings, were inoperable, according to the complaint. It states that by flying the allegedly deficient aircraft center officials acted “in a reckless or careless manner so as to endanger the life or property of another.”

The feds contend that, despite its alleged mechanical shortcomings, the center flew that plane 153 times with skydiving clients aboard. 

When contacted about the federal suit, center operator J.R. Sides referred questions to Feldman, who said the case should be formally settled before Judge John E. Jones III in a few weeks. 

When asked if the plane at issue had been inspected and was mechanically sound, Feldman replied “The FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) says it wasn’t and we say it was. But we are compromising and we’re not arguing about it.” 

He said the center no longer uses the plane cited in the federal suit. The center’s website states that “our pristine fleet of aircraft are maintained and operated by FAA-certified pilots and mechanics.”

“I’m a skydiver myself. I’ve been defending the industry since 1978,” Feldman said. “I can tell you that these guys (at the Chambersburg center) have a good safety record. They’re interested in running a safe operation.” 

Besides, he said, Sides and his family members use the center’s planes for their own skydiving jumps. In 2010 Sides’ son, Jamie, was a member of a team that won the U.S. Parachute Association National Skydiving Championships.
 
“These are the planes they jump from. And their lives are obviously as important as anybody else’s,” Feldman said. 

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