Backcountry Pilot • Pilot sues Sun 'n Fun over "skinny runway"

Pilot sues Sun 'n Fun over "skinny runway"

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Pilot sues Sun 'n Fun over "skinny runway"

In the US, you have to sue somebody when you mess up. Although to be fair, it could just be a response to Lakeland airport suing him for damages of roughly the same amount. It just seems stupid either way.

http://www.avweb.com/avwebflash/news/GlasairPilotSuesSunnFunForSkinnyRunwayCrash_197691-1.html

Avweb.com wrote:A Florida pilot is suing the Sun ‘n Fun Fly-in for a crash that occurred four years ago while he was trying to land at Lakeland Linder Regional Airport. The pilot, Terry Edward Morris, is seeking more than $15,000 in damages. Morris was attempting a go-around in his Glasair III homebuilt when, according to the NTSB, he failed "to maintain airspeed and establish a climb during an attempted go-around" and “nosed over” onto the runway and adjacent grass after stalling. Air traffic control called Morris's go-around because they observed him landing on Runway 9R instead of “skinny runway” 9L.

This “skinny runway” is the 75-foot wide parallel taxiway to Lakeland’s runway 9/27 that is used during the fly-in as a temporary runway. Morris claims in his lawsuit that the taxiway as a runway is “ultrahazardous, abnormally dangerous.” The lawsuit also states that, “only during the week of the Sun ‘n Fun Fly-In is the taxiway used as a landing runway.” Morris’s lawsuit comes two and a half years after the city of Lakeland filed its own lawsuit against Morris for his crash. The city’s lawsuit seeks $16,283.44 for airport property damage and the cost of a fuel spill cleanup that ensued after the crash. The city’s lawsuit claims that Morris was negligent for attempting to land on the wrong runway.
Last edited by Zzz on Mon Apr 21, 2008 5:56 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Zzz offline
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Remind me to never invite him, or any of his friends to our place.
mr scout offline
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F#*kin' dork.
I absolutely, positively HATE morons like that. They should be lined up and shot. It is their kind that are ruining it for the rest of us.
Only 75 feet wide, oooooo quit scarin' me. Boy I bet the gear of that Glasair would barely fit on that. He should pay for the spill clean up, shut up, and learn how to fly like a man.
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If you're not scarin' yourself, you're not scarin' the crowd!

http://www.airnav.com/airport/KMHN Landed here on way back from PVD. The weather the way it was I was happy to find it. Also this the place that I liberated the lobsters.

Also, if I were too slow for the go arround, I would have just landed on the fat runnway.

Tim
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He couldn't land at any of the places we call great runways. What a idiot he is.
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I was just looking up the width of most of the runways that I land at. It is 30 to 50 ft. :roll:
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There has to be something more to this story. 75 feet is really wide for a small aircraft. I am going to speculate that he made an honest mistake in lining up for the 9R runway, and when the tower asked him to go around, he wasn't able to pull it off, and had an accident. That's unfortunate, but it could happen to any taildragger pilot too who has a ground loop incident.

I think maybe where the story gets ugly is that Lakeland went after him or his insurance for damages to cover the cleanup, and his insurance must not have paid out. Lakeland goes after him personally for $16,000, and he is forced to counter-sue and leverage the "safety" issue of the adhoc runway 9 "Left" in order to break even.

It's an ugly litigious world, and nobody is immune. If you were to get pulled into a stupid ordeal like this, you might counter-sue too.

I am only speculating, I have no further details to back this up.
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Half a century spent proving “it is better to be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.”

Zane,

That was precisely the scenario that went through my mind when I read that. Looks to me as if he's maybe trying to check mate their suit.

I know a fellow who was fined a substantial amount because he wrecked an airplane, the fuel leaked out, and his neighbor reported it to EPA. They fined him, not so much for clean up costs, but for NOT reporting it.

If you do have a fuel spill and your neighbor hates your guts, you probably want to call EPA. Generally on these little deals, EPA says its light fuel, don't worry about it, but thanks for the call.

MTV
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I dont know the rules down there but in canada it is the sole responsibility of the pilot in comand to get the plane on the ground safely! it dont mater what the tower tels you or what they are calling a runway if you cant land it DONT LAND! I once used the taxi strip as a crosswind strip at a international airport, they wernt verry impresed but the plane was on the ground in one piece so they can pound sand for all I care.
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75 feet?? Geeze, I get all stupid trying to land on that much pavement. No runway edge in peripheral view! I'll take brush and trees whizzing by to keep me honest and the plane straight.

Sue me, sue you, sue the dog, the cat, sue everybody.

Just another day.
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I suppose a 2 track road would be asking to much. Done that with the 180, but not the 182.

However the 182 has had it's share of gravel, grass, and dirt.

C ya, Bub
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Robert "Bub" Wright, aka Skylane, passed away in November of 2011. He was a beloved community member and will be missed.

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