Small plane makers not usually at fault in crashes: Local pilots

After Scott Burns died in a 2003 plane crash in Livingston County, his brother filed a wrongful death lawsuit against several people and businesses connected to the accident, including airplane maker Piper Aircraft.

The suit cited possible cracks in the Piper Cherokee’s rudder bar assembly as one of several potential causes of the crash. In the end, Scott’s brother, Lance, dropped the lawsuit as more facts emerged, including a federal report that found a flight instructor’s error probably caused the plane to crash in the town of Conesus.

“Ultimately, there was nothing to sue anybody about. It happened,” Lance Burns said. “As much as I and my nieces were very upset and my sister-in-law was very upset, it’s an accident.”

A USA TODAY investigation found that while federal investigators frequently cite pilot errors as the causes of small plane and helicopter crashes like the one that killed Scott Burns and two others, defective parts and poor designs may be to blame more often than acknowledged.

Civil court judges and juries have ordered major manufacturers to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in damages for fatal crashes in which they were found to be liable, and aircraft makers also have paid out large sums in settlements, the investigation found.

Examples in the Rochester area, however, are scarce. Several local pilots and flight instructors said part failures are more often a result of poor maintenance, rather than any systemic defects, and that pilots are heavily trained to spot problems before takeoff.

“They go to great lengths to make things safe in aircraft design,” said Hadrian Dailey, a Chili resident who works as an aircraft mechanic for a charter flight company in Buffalo and also owns his own plane.

Burns maintained this week that the facts in his brother’s case show that pilot error caused the crash.

Scott Burns, who was from Sparta, Livingston County, died along with Shaun Bohrer of Greece and Bruce Kenyon of Wayland. The National Transportation Safety Board found that the crash was likely the result of an instructor’s “failure to maintain adequate airspeed which resulted in an inadvertent spin.”

In a separate case, former Gates residents Michael Robinson and his wife, Wendy, also filed a lawsuit in 2002 against Textron Lycoming, a company that made the engine in a Mooney M20E plane involved in a crash in Prattsburgh, Steuben County, in 1999.

According to the lawsuit and federal investigation, Michael Robinson was piloting the aircraft from Elmira to Brockport when a propeller blade broke off in midair.

Robinson, who now lives in Florida, said that he broke his back while making an emergency landing. He now walks with a cane.

“When it first happened, I was in a wheelchair, never to get out of it again,” he said. “I owe my surgeon a great debt of gratitude, I think.”

Federal investigators found that “intergranular corrosion,” not pilot error or lack of maintenance, probably caused the propeller to break.

“There was a defect in the (propeller) from day one,” Robinson said.

He said the case was resolved behind closed doors and he could not discuss the outcome.

Local pilots and instructors said such incidents are rare and not evidence of widespread defects.

Dailey said manufacturers issue service bulletins when they uncover problems. The Federal Aviation Administration also requires plane owners to address certain safety deficiencies when they are identified in order to continue flying.

Most small plane designs were well-developed decades ago, Dailey said. “Systems on aircraft are both redundant and simple, and that’s to make reliability,” he said.

Todd Cameron, group commander of the Civil Air Patrol in Rochester and a volunteer with a local FAA Safety Team, said pilots are trained to be responsible for ensuring safety. That includes detecting any mechanical problems or flaws before they leave the ground. If a mechanical problem occurs, pilots are trained to address them, he said.

“What we spend a lot of time on in the aviation industry is that a mechanical failure doesn’t have to and shouldn’t impact the safety of the crew and the passengers,” said Cameron, who also is a flight instructor.

After hearing a list of problems cited by critics of plane manufacturers, Dan Robinson, treasurer of the Greater Rochester International Airport-based Artisan Aviation Flying Club, said many are likely caused by a lack of maintenance or are known problems.

“Those are known things,” he said. “They’re not that new.”

Story and photo:  http://www.stargazette.com