Demanding Better Judges

In the “Can it possibly get any dumber than this” category, we are going to examine the relationship between an instructor pilot and a student pilot. Why? Because we have learned it is possible for a licensed pilot to sue his former instructor and/or the flight school whenever the idiot flips the aircraft on a set of high-tension wires.

No, you do not have to get your glasses checked.

“Bobby Ray” received his private-pilot’s license (single-engine) after he completed ground school, the basic number of flight hours, and successfully passed the FAA examinaton for his rating. As a rated pilot, Bobby Ray then decided he wanted to pursue a multi-engine rating, so he re-enrolled in flight school. During the solo flight of a multi-engine aircraft, which means that Bobby Ray was the sole occupant of an aircraft with more than one engine, he ran into weather conditions that resulted in severe down drafts. Flying below the minimum altitude, a down draft caused Bobby Ray’s plane to snag a power line, resulting in a very bad accident. It is sufficient to say that if Bobby Ray is still flying today, he’s doing it with the angels.

Bobby Ray’s wife sued the flight school, claiming that it was the flight school’s responsibility to tell Bobby Ray about the kinds of weather conditions that might cause him to lose altitude. The flight school made several good arguments. First, Bobby Ray was a qualified pilot, which meant that Bobby Ray had attended ground school and should have known that (a) flying below the minimum ceiling is inherently dangerous, and (b) certain weather conditions may cause an aircraft to lose altitude without warning. Second, since Bobby Ray was flying solo, the flight school could not exercise any cockpit supervision.

It is not difficult to imagine that the plantiff’s attorney went in to the courtroom with such an argument with a straight face, but there is no understanding the court’s decision. If you guessed that the court decided against the flight school, you would be correct. Believe it or not, the court actually found that even thought there was no supervisory pilot in the aircraft with Bobby Ray, (which is the definition of solo flight, by the way) the flight school was still responsible for ensuring that Bobby Ray understood about weather conditions, minimum flight ceilings, and the existence of high tension wires.

Now pretend for a moment that a teenager attended Phil’s Driving School and subsequently obtained his driver’s license from any state. Following the logic of the court, if the teen were to drive his car into the side of a speeding locomotive, the driving school would be liable for that accident because they may have failed to mention that driving an automobile into the side of a speeding train could be injurious to one’s health.

But, what if the teenager failed to pass the state’s high school graduation test, could he sue the school district or any of his teachers? Um . . . no.

Why the double standard? Could it be that if everyone who failed to pass a graduating test sued their former school district, all school systems in the United States would go bankrupt? Americans are always looking for someone else to pay for their own stupid mistakes, and too many are getting rich doing it. The courts reinforce this mentality through idiotic decisions, and this is why we need better judges in our state and federal courts.