It will provide for your defense and pay for a judgement if you are found to be liable up to the applicable liability limit in a CIVIL court case. There is no coverage for a criminal case.

This is an entirely new scenario...we are going to have to research it a bit becouse criminal actions usually constitute no coverage under the insurance policy. This is the first accident that I know of where a court ruled it to be criminal so we have not had to face this scenario in the past.

Intentional criminal acts have always been excluded.

Bummer. This is one of those situations that went from "yeehaw" to "aw shit" in a heartbeat. Just a momentary lapse in judgement, that unfortunately ended in tragedy. Gotta agree with others- I've done this sort of thing before myself, so I can't throw stones. Guess I was just lucky nothing bad happened.
I hate to see the guy prosecuted when the pilot obviously had no malicious intent. But I can't say that the guy wasn't negligent. Hope he comes out OK.

Eric

I read the article and feel for the guy, I can also feel for the family of the woman. The prosecutor can just go ____ himself!

I get asked for rides and have always gone out of my way to make it happen, even from perfect strangers that email me.
It really gives me pause, I don't intentionally go out breaking FAR's but I am sure they would have no problem proving I did or getting some kind of reckless endangerment if something went wrong. They would just bring out the dvd Big Rocks & long Props as evidence.
When someone wants a ride from me that is what they want (landing in crazy places as I call it) not a stroll at 1000 ft agl over the State of OR/WA. I have given many of these rides now and will probably think twice before I give another. That is not to say I won't but it really makes me think about all I have to loose sharing what I do with someone who wants to experience the thrill of landing and taking off from what most would not see as a place to crash land.

Greg

I’ve been in law enforcement for 13 years now and in my, very humble opinion, this is the biggest load of crap I’ve seen in a long time. The DA in this case probably gave into peer pressure and filed the charges. Another DA who can not think for himself, he is too worried about the next election.

When I see a “Bad Guy” run from the police, drive at speeds well over 100 mph, and put several people in a potentially deadly situation, and the “Bad Guy” spends less the two days in jail. And then to top it off all the charges are dropped because a DA does not want to spend any money on a “Small case like this.”

Or a “Bad Guy” who has been arrested several times for selling drugs, he spends just a few days in jail. Maybe after the 10th or 12th time he is arrested will he get prison time, and then it will only be a couple of years at the most. Or the “Drug Dealer” works with the detectives and “Helps” them to “Catch a bigger fish” and then all the prior charges are dropped and he is free to start over again.

Or how about the “Bad Guy” who fights with the police during an arrest, one of the officers ends up with a broken foot. How does the deputy DA look at this case???????

I believe the DA only went forward on this case, is because of peer pressure, there was a very unfortunate death, and look at all the publicity he will get, no matter which way it turns out for the pilot. If the pilot is found guilty, the DA looks like “A Great Guy.” If the pilot is not convicted, the DA can say. “Well we tried; we did the best we could on this case.” Or this pilot pleads guilty and the DA can say, “See justice was served.”

My heart goes out to the family of the passenger and to the pilot who will have to live with this unfortunate accident for the rest of his life. But are criminal charges really necessary????????

Yes he may have shown poor judgment. I am very curious who on this forum has shown the same poor judgment a time or two in their flying career? I bet if you say you have never had poor judgment in an airplane, then you are not being very honest with yourself!!!!!!!!!

Lowflybye

In recent cases where there has been the death of a passenger, what has been the average amount of the award? What is the difference between smooth coverage and the normal liability coverage?

Have the attorneys successfully come after the estate of the pilot in addition to the insurance?

flyer

You gotta pick your battles, as well as your passengers.

Up in the Great White North I had completely different flying styles depending on who was riding in the back. Native, going village to village to party with whoever had the bottle for the week, I did what I had to to get from Point A to Point B. They were professional passengers, literally born and raised in the Cessnas, and they couldn't care less. New schoolteachers (the absolute worse passengers in the world) heading off to make Rhodes Scholars out of each kid in Kivalina, for them it was by the numbers to keep from hearing from every Fed in AK because I got too close to a cloud or let the airplane bump as I rolled out on the gravel.

This case is kind of the same deal. A demo/intro ride with a civilian isn't the same as heading off with a pilot/drinking buddy looking for coyotes to scare. You gotta raise the bar and act like a professional sometimes. It's those "trusting eyes" that Ellen Paneok was talking about, and a huge responsibility.

On the other hand, when Mr Scout and I are bombing along, wheels in the sagebrush... I figure it is my sacred duty to make him say "Holy Shit, we're gonna die!" And then do some of that pilot stuff to keep us from ending up a smoking hole in the sand.

Gump

flyer wrote:Lowflybye

In recent cases where there has been the death of a passenger, what has been the average amount of the award? What is the difference between smooth coverage and the normal liability coverage?

Have the attorneys successfully come after the estate of the pilot in addition to the insurance?

flyer

Most of the time a fatal loss (as it is referred to in the insurance industry) means a policy limit claim. This means that whatever limit of liability applicable to the situation that the policy carries is what will be paid out. The standard pleasure & business policies that most of us carry has a $1 Million limit of liability and that is usually limited to $100,000 per passenger. Some of us qualify for and/or purchase the "smooth" limit meaning that the passenger sub limit as was mentioned above is removed. The $100,000 sub limit is pretty standard and the smooth limit is not always offered.

Some companies limit the $1 Million on a per person basis instead of a per passenger basis. This is not what you want...this means that persons injured on the ground are limited to $100,000. The passenger limitation is not as bad because they knowingly chose to accept some risk by getting on the aircraft...limiting someone on the ground who may be hurt in an accident is a different ball game since they were not given the choice to take the risk.

With regard to successful suit of an estate...that is a hit or miss deal depending on the circumstances of the accident and how well the estate was protected through legal holding companies, etc. Was it obvious negligence or was it an honest accident? Did the pilot purchase what was available concerning insurance coverage and thereby prepare as best he could to protect / "comfort" his passengers or their surviving family.

Depending on the judge, in an obvious accident, if the insurance company already paid out the limit of the policy to the deceased parties family...how much is enough? It all depends on the court systems and the lawyers at that point. Unfortunately in America there seems to be no such thing as an honest mistake or accident any longer...someone must be held responsible and someone must pay X amount of dollars to make the effected party feel better.

Lowflybye

Most policies will pay the $100,000 per passenger. I assume most attorneys will sue for millions in the case of a dead passenger. They first check to see how much the estate is worth. I would think that any court would award more than $100,000 per passenger making up the difference in the estate. Are you saying that if we do not have protection such as holding companies, etc. our estate could be sacrificed also? Our families left with much less?

flyer

I have seen how the attorneys check the estate to see the value before they do the lawsuit.

flyer wrote:Lowflybye

Most policies will pay the $100,000 per passenger. I assume most attorneys will sue for millions in the case of a dead passenger. They first check to see how much the estate is worth. I would think that any court would award more than $100,000 per passenger making up the difference in the estate. Are you saying that if we do not have protection such as holding companies, etc. our estate could be sacrificed also? Our families left with much less?

Like I said previously...Was it obvious negligence or was it an honest accident? Did the pilot purchase what was available concerning insurance coverage and thereby prepare as best he could to protect / "comfort" his passengers or their surviving family. How much is enough? What is a person's life worth?

flyer wrote:I have seen how the attorneys check the estate to see the value before they do the lawsuit.

lowflybye wrote: It all depends on the court systems and the lawyers. Unfortunately in America there seems to be no such thing as an honest mistake or accident any longer...someone must be held responsible and someone must pay X amount of dollars to make the effected party feel better.

It is not the insurance companies that are causing the problem...it is the lawyers. They will go after whatever/whomever they can in order to get the highest amount of money possible. The more they can get a court to award, the more money they make. They will name as many parties in the lawsuit that they can in order to get into as many deep pockets as possible. This includes your estate if they think they can get to it legally. The trick is that the estate has to somehow be proven to be a contributing liable party involved with the accident as well. Was the pilot acting on behalf of the estate, did the estate own the airplane, etc?

The best thing to do is talk with an aviation attorney and find out how to best protect yourself and your estate from suit...insurance can only do so much...the rest is up to the court system.