The Lawsuit Mentality

[CraginS]

Bill's ex-wife sent us a note begging all of us to take care of advance planning as pilots. We should heed that.
Chris just scolded Scott for assuming pilots are or should be in lawsuit mentality too much.
I think we need to combine those two points, and each of us be sure our families know our desires related to flying accidents, to include potential litigation.
Personally, I have told my wife, and will remind her, that if I am ever incapacitated by a flying accident I do not want ANY litigation initiated against any person or company in the HG community involved with my flying.
The need for such declaration was just driven home when I read that the family of Arlan Birkett's student are suing his flight school just so they can find out what happened. (see below) This is a new tragedy for all involved.
The famliy hurts and grieves, and they don't understand. They are lashing out with the only tool they think they have - the lawsuit. Their lawsuit will accomplish nothing positive for anyone, and will cause much turmoil and cost for Arlen's partners and family. This is a real shame.
Another lesson... on every one of our accidents in the sport, it is essential that the community give as complete and as accurate information to the family as fast as possible. Joe G., over to you for comment on that topic.

Cragin

http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst ... ide06.html

Family's suit seeks answers in deadly hang-gliding crash

October 6, 2005

BY STEVE PATTERSON Staff Reporter


Four weeks after a horrific hang-gliding crash killed two people in LaSalle County, one victim's family is demanding answers.

Jeremiah Thompson was killed Sept. 3 while on a tandem hang glider, learning the hobby from Arlan Birkett, owner of Sheridan-based Hang Glide Chicago.

An airplane towed the hang glider into the air, with plans to reach 3,000 feet before the cable was released and their tandem hang glide began, an attorney said.

But 200 feet into that ascent, the cable snapped, and the hang glider plummeted to the ground, smashing to pieces and instantly killing Thompson and Birkett.

On Wednesday, Thompson's family filed a negligence lawsuit against the company, demanding unspecified damages but also hoping to find out how the crash happened.

"They're 200 feet in the air, and while normally they would glide to the ground, this hang glider nose-dived to the ground," attorney Matthew Rundio said. "We need to find out why that happened."

Rundio is now collecting witness accounts of the crash, including a possible videotape of it happening.

Thompson's family said, in his obituary, that he died in "the last of a series of lessons" with Birkett.

Birkett, 47, had been hang gliding since 1987, according to his obituary, and was certified by the U.S. Hang Gliding Association as an advanced hang-glider pilot and as a tandem instructor.

Thompson, 32, was a Montana native who came to Chicago to work as a computer programmer at Epiphany Capital Management.

In his obituary, his family said he was a member of the U.S. ski team and was nominated as a Rhodes Scholar before graduating from Dartmouth College.