Parents of Student Killed By Propeller Files Wrongful Death Lawsuit
The parents of a Chinese flight student who was killed when hit by a propeller has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the Sierra Academy Aeronautics at Castle Airport, reports the Merced Sun-Star of California.
In November 2008, the 26-year-old exited a plane before it taxied to a stop running toward the front of the plane and into the turning propeller. An instructor had checked the weather, endorsed the man’s logbook, and OK’d for a solo flight, but before take-off another student boarded the plane and flew the last leg back to the airport. The instructor was unaware another student would be on board. The man killed ran from the plane in hopes of not being seen by the instructors at the school.
The lawsuit claims the school should not have let the man fly without an instructor and that the school acted negligently when it let him fly in bad weather.
The NTSB found the incident was caused by the student’s own failure to see the propeller. Initial investigators thought the incident was partly caused by the two students trying to hide the fact they had piloted the plane together. Further investigation proved this to be the case.
This was the first death of this kind in the school’s 44 years of operation.
Labels: Airplane Accident Lawyer, Aviation Attorney, Wrongful DeathPosted by 2:17 pm