A Beechcraft 400 Beechjet is barely visible in the woods and brush after it skidded off a Macon Downtown Airport runway in 2012.
Macon-Bibb County lawyers have asked a judge to rule that the Macon Downtown Airport isn’t required to have certain improvements and doesn’t operate negligently without them.
In 2012, a million-dollar jet owned by Dewberry Air hydroplaned and skidded down the runway there, crossed Ocmulgee East Boulevard and crashed into trees. The plane was insured by Old Republic Insurance Co.
The company filed a lawsuit in 2013 accusing the city of negligence and claiming the airport runway was about 200 feet shorter than advertised.
The lawsuit was later dismissed, but John Hoff, a lawyer representing Macon-Bibb County, said the insurance company has said it plans to refile the suit in Fulton County.
By filing a request for declaratory judgment Wednesday, Macon-Bibb County is trying to pre-empt the re-filing and have a local judge decide whether Macon-Bibb County is obligated to perform runway grading improvements and install a runway safety overrun area, as the insurance company has contended.
“I want to show that there is an absence of any duty requiring that anything other, better or different be done,” said Hoff, a Chicago attorney and retired Air Force colonel who specializes in aviation cases. “The Macon Airport is a safe airport. It met all the requirements and criteria either by statute or by contract.”
The airport improvements are discretionary, he said.
Attempts to reach an attorney representing Old Republic Insurance Co. were unsuccessful Friday.
The complaint, which doesn’t seek any monetary damages, also names Dewberry Air as a defendant.
Hoff said the Macon Downtown Airport doesn’t have a Federal Aviation Administration air traffic control tower. It’s up to a pilot to determine whether it’s safe to land.
“There was no duty owed to the pilot of this airplane to groove the runways,” he said.
The pilot, who should have known about rain at the Macon Downtown Airport, could have chosen to land at the nearby Middle Georgia Regional Airport, which has a grooved runway, Hoff said.
He likened landing on a grooved runway to having new tires on a wet road. Landing on a runway without grooves is like driving with bald tires, Hoff said.
Source: http://www.macon.com
Beechcraft 400 Beechjet, Dewberry Air LLC, N428JD: Accident occurred September 18, 2012 in Macon, Georgia
http://registry.faa.gov /N428JD
NTSB Identification: ERA12FA567
14 CFR Part 91: General Aviation
Accident occurred Tuesday, September 18, 2012 in Macon, GA
Aircraft: BEECH 400, registration: N428JD
Injuries: 2 Minor,1 Uninjured.
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.
HISTORY OF FLIGHT
On September 18, 2012, about 1003 eastern daylight time (EDT), a Beech 400, N428JD, was substantially damaged when it overran runway 28 during landing at Macon Downtown Airport (MAC), Macon, Georgia. The airplane departed from Charleston Air Force Base/International Airport (CHS), Charleston, South Carolina, about 0930. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and an instrument flight rules (IFR) flight plan was filed. Both Airline Transport Pilots (ATP) and one passenger sustained minor injuries. The airplane was owned by Dewberry, LLC and operated by The Aviation Department. The corporate flight was conducted under the provisions of Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 91.
http://www.ntsb.gov
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