Crash victim: Require pilots of private planes to carry insurance

PALM COAST — Three people were killed, a single-engine plane was destroyed and a Palm Coast house was ravaged by fire and eventually demolished.

Susan Crockett and her attorney think the Jan. 4, 2013, disaster could have been avoided if federal regulations prohibited pilots of private planes from flying without insurance.

Pilots of private planes are required to have a license from the Federal Aviation Administration, but they are not required to have insurance coverage. Experts say many pilots of small aircraft don’t purchase insurance because of the high costs and the small risk of accidents.

Crockett and her attorney were surprised to learn that the pilot who smashed into her home didn’t have insurance to help pay to replace it. The pilot of the decades-old plane knew before he flew it over Flagler County airspace that it was leaking oil, according to a report released in May by the National Transportation Safety Board.

“How can you, in good conscience, let someone get into an airplane and fly over houses, schools, day cares?” Crockett asked. “What if that crash had been at a day care? There’s no law to say he had to have insurance before he went up in that plane.”

Crockett’s attorney, Marc Dwyer, said he is prepared to take his client’s case to the Federal Aviation Administration or Congress, or even to the highest elected official in the Executive Branch. At the very least, more light should be shed on a dangerous lack of oversight by the government, he said.

“We know it will take a while,” said Dwyer. “We’re prepared for that.”
During one afternoon 16 months ago, Crockett lost her home to the four-seat Beechcraft H35 Bonanza. The pilot, Michael Anders, tried to make an emergency landing but failed to reach the Flagler County Airport. Before losing contact with the nearest control tower, he radioed that he had lost oil pressure. 

 Crockett, 51, said she remains shaken from the experience of having an airplane crash through her roof while she was inside her Utica Path home, although she realizes it could’ve been so much worse.

“Every day, I think about the outcome ... that I wasn’t under the plane,” she said, “but there are still days when I’m driving down the street and I relive what happened. That’ll never go away.”

Anders, 58, of Albany, Kentucky, and his passengers, Duane Shaw, 59, and Charissee Peoples, 42, died in the crash. Crockett escaped her burning home through a bedroom window and suffered minor physical injuries.

But she said the emotional scars have lingered. She now lives a safer distance from the airport — roughly 11 miles. She said she still gets rattled by the sound of a plane flying overhead.

Crockett’s attorney said he brought the issue to the attention of U.S. Rep. Ron DeSantis, R-Ponte Vedra Beach. A DeSantis spokeswoman wouldn’t comment, saying all constituent correspondence is confidential.

Dwyer said he heard from DeSantis’ office this week and hopes to meet with the congressman next month to discuss the issue.

Kathleen Bergin, an FAA spokeswoman, confirmed the agency doesn’t require private pilots who fly general aviation aircraft to carry insurance.

Roy Sieger, director of the Flagler County Airport, said he has always wondered why pilots aren’t required to purchase liability insurance.

“That always dumbfounded me,” he said. “If they’re flying and they crash, they think they won’t survive it. ... But then the matter is turned over to the estate and the family is left to clean up the mess.”

No one can base an aircraft at the Flagler County Airport without some insurance, he said.

Most general aviation aircraft require annual inspections, according to the FAA. The NTSB report indicated the last annual inspection for Anders’ plane was in September or October 2012.

Pilots who are 40 or older also are required to renew their medical certificates every two years. Records showed Anders most recent certificate was issued four days prior to the crash.

NUMBERS DRIVE INSURANCE MANDATES

The FAA requires pilots of small, private aircraft to have a license to fly. And there are laws in place to punish those who fly without a license.

According to the U.S. criminal code related to aviation, if someone knowingly and willfully flies with a suspended or revoked license, a person shall be fined and face imprisonment of up to three years or both.

But there are no laws requiring those who fly small, private planes to have insurance. Dwyer compares the situation to a motorist driving without liability insurance. Doing so is a traffic violation in Florida.

“Flying without insurance is seen as a risk-management issue,” said S.V. Dedmon, an aviation law attorney and associate professor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach.

Dedmon said laws pertaining to motor vehicle insurance can more easily be put into place because of the significant number of casualties related to car crashes.

In 2012, there were 33,561 highway deaths in the U.S., according to the NTSB. By comparison, there were a combined 1,958 deaths in the U.S. from rail, marine and aviation accidents that year. Aviation fatalities alone totaled 449.

“You’re more probable to hurt someone in your car,” Dedmon said.

Based on a risk-management study published by David Ropeik at the Harvard School of Public Health, the annual risk of being killed in a plane crash for the average American is about one in 11 million.

The same study revealed that 1 out of every 5,000 Americans dies annually in motor vehicle crashes.

Because of the possibility of mass casualties on the ground, Dwyer said he thinks a law should be put into place that requires inspectors at airports. Pilots who let their insurance lapse or who fail to obtain it should stay grounded — and that would be best enforced “at the airport level,” Dwyer said.

Dedmon said pilots decide on their own whether to buy insurance. If a crash happens, the pilot is basically telling people who might be affected to sue him or her. If that pilot is killed, then sue his or her estate, Dedmon said.

Dwyer said he learned of Anders’ lack of insurance through “an exhaustive search of records” related to the 2013 crash in Palm Coast.

As for Anders’ estate, Dwyer said it is “insolvent,” therefore his client wasn’t able to claim any compensation.

Dedmon said he is unaware of anyone else locally or nationally who is fighting to have new laws put into place regarding private pilots carrying insurance.

Dedmon said it is common for airports to include provisions about insurance in their leasing agreements. But such “ground insurance” protects only an aircraft owner in the event of damage that happens on the ground, whether by natural disaster, fire, vandalism, or other unforeseen events.

Flight insurance is another matter. An all-inclusive policy often is an expensive purchase, said Dedmon.

“Generally, $1 million is the lowest liability people get,” he said.

Prices on such premiums vary widely. The factors that come into play include, but are not restricted to, the pilot’s age, health, experience and flight hours, as well as the age of the plane and where it is hangared.

Dedmon, who is 59 and has close to 2,000 hours of total flight time, said his insurance for one of his aircrafts costs him about $1,000 per year.

NOT JUST TANGIBLE ITEMS DESTROYED

Crockett was talking on the phone with her eldest daughter when the explosion happened in the next bedroom.

“What was that noise?” her daughter asked.

“A plane just hit my house.”

“What did you say?”

“Call 9-1-1, a plane just hit the house.”

Susan Crockett, wearing trouser socks, wasted no time running to the nearest window to escape out of her burning home. She injured her shoulder when she tumbled out and suffered a few minor scrapes, she said.

Someone later asked her whether she had walked through fire; there were holes in the bottom of her socks. That’s when it hit her just how close she had come to being killed.

“It was just like being in a movie and someone says, ‘Cue the plane,’ ” Crockett said. “Then came the boom and then the fire.”

Dwyer said Crockett did have homeowner’s insurance, which helped her replace some of the material possessions she lost.

Crockett’s daughter Jessica, 21, had lived in the house off Utica for eight years. She said the family lost most of their tangible possessions, but it’s the intangible things she misses most. Her mother’s home today doesn’t feel like home to her.

“You just think of the memories,” she said. “You think about the Christmases, the birthdays, the Thanksgivings and the things we experienced in that house. The home we had is gone.”

Among the items that burned were Crockett’s daughters’ diplomas. That stings her.

“I lost everything,” she said. “We lost everything. Yes, I have my life, but ...

“I think there’s a reason I’m still here to tell my story. If something can be done, if something can come from it ... I’m willing to tell it every day.”

Source: http://www.news-journalonline.com

http://registry.faa.gov/N375B 


NTSB Identification: ERA13FA105
14 CFR Part 91: General Aviation
Accident occurred Friday, January 04, 2013 in Palm Coast, FL
Probable Cause Approval Date: 05/08/2014
Aircraft: BEECH H35, registration: N375B
Injuries: 3 Fatal.

NTSB investigators either traveled in support of this investigation or conducted a significant amount of investigative work without any travel, and used data obtained from various sources to prepare this aircraft accident report.

The airplane departed under visual flight rules and was at an altitude of about 7,500 feet when the pilot reported vibrations and an “oil pressure problem.” Airports in the area were under instrument meteorological conditions with cloud ceilings of 900 to 1,000 feet above ground level (agl). An air traffic controller provided the pilot with radar vectors for an airport surveillance radar (ASR) approach to a nearby airport that did not have a published ASR procedure. The airplane was about 2.5 miles northwest of the airport, at an altitude of about 5,300 feet agl, when the pilot reported that the engine oil pressure was “zero” with “cool cylinders.” The controller did not obtain nor did the pilot provide any additional information about the engine’s power status. During the next approximately 7 minutes, the airplane continued past the airport to a point about 6.5 miles northeast before the controller vectored the airplane to the south and then west to the final approach course. The airplane subsequently struck trees and a residence about 3/4 mile from the approach end of the runway. A postcrash fire destroyed the airframe and engine.
Postaccident examination of the airplane revealed that the engine sustained a fractured No. 4 connecting rod due to oil starvation. The connecting rod punctured the crankcase, which resulted in a total loss of engine power. The crankshaft oil transfer passage at the No. 4 journal sustained mechanical damage during the accident sequence and contained displaced journal material. All other oil passages were unrestricted. The airplane’s maintenance logbooks were destroyed during the accident. Maintenance performed on the airplane about 1 month before the accident included the replacement of the Nos. 1 and 4 cylinders; however, it could not be determined if this maintenance played a role in the accident. The reason for the oil starvation could not be determined.

Review of the air traffic control transcripts and interviews with the controllers revealed that they vectored the airplane such that it was unable to reach the airport. This was likely due to the weather conditions and the controllers’ incomplete understanding of the airplane’s mechanical condition (complete loss of power), which the pilot did not provide.

At the time of the accident, the pilot was using medication for hypertension and had well-controlled diabetes. It was unlikely that either condition significantly affected the pilot’s performance at the time of the accident.

The National Transportation Safety Board determines the probable cause(s) of this accident to be:
A total loss of engine power after the failure of the No. 4 connecting rod due to oil starvation, which resulted in a subsequent forced landing. Contributing to the accident was the pilot’s failure to clearly state that the aircraft had lost all power and the air traffic controllers’ incomplete understanding of the emergency, which resulted in the controllers vectoring the airplane too far from the airport to reach the runway.

http://www.ntsb.gov