doug@terak.UUCP (Doug Pardee) (01/07/86)
> Aviation Consumer just recommended the Citation as the > safest way to fly yourself from A to B. What was the suit > about? This was the crash where pitching star Thurman Munson killed himself and two passengers while practicing touch-and-goes. I don't recall the basis for the lawsuit; through the fog in my head I see vague images of the single-pilot certification for the Citation. Maybe that was it. More clearly, I remember that the immediate cause of the crash was that Munson had failed to lower the flaps, and apparently V(ref) is below V(s1) on the Citation because he stalled while slowing to final approach speed. I also remember that one of his passengers not only wasn't belted in, he wasn't even seated. As a Cessna 120 pilot, I'm no authority on jets, but I've only heard good things about the Citation. -- Doug Pardee -- CalComp -- {hardy,savax,seismo,decvax,ihnp4}!terak!doug
bl@hplabsb.UUCP (01/13/86)
> This was the crash where pitching star Thurman Munson killed himself > and two passengers while practicing touch-and-goes. Munson was killed but his passengers survived. Actually, he survived the impact was burned to death when he couldn't exit the plane. > I don't recall the basis for the lawsuit; through the fog in my head > I see vague images of the single-pilot certification for the Citation. > Maybe that was it. > > More clearly, I remember that the immediate cause of the crash was > that Munson had failed to lower the flaps, and apparently V(ref) is > below V(s1) on the Citation because he stalled while slowing to > final approach speed. I also remember that one of his passengers > not only wasn't belted in, he wasn't even seated. He did forget to lower the flaps but did not stall it. He got into a high rate of sink and was unable to recover before hitting the ground. The lawsuit was based on the tort principle that someone else is responsible for the stupidity of the victim. Cessna was sued for building an unsafe aircraft; (It won't stay in the air at low speed, low power, and no flaps. It burns if it hits the ground at >5000 fpm rate of decent, etc.). The dealer who sold the plane was sued for selling it to someone who could make the stupid mistake of trying to land it without flaps.
ark@alice.UucP (Andrew Koenig) (01/14/86)
> This was the crash where pitching star Thurman Munson killed himself > and two passengers while practicing touch-and-goes. I don't recall > the basis for the lawsuit; through the fog in my head I see vague > images of the single-pilot certification for the Citation. Maybe > that was it. The basis for the lawsuit is almost surely the "deep pockets" theory: sue whoever has the most money and hope they'll settle. Munson didn't lower flaps on the approach, got behind the power curve, and stalled because jet engines don't spool up from idle nearly as quickly as piston engines and because he was carrying less power than he should have as the flaps were up. He would have walked away from the crash had he been wearing his seat belt. As it is, he was knocked unconscious when he hit his head against the controls and didn't get out in time to escape the fire. He also violated the terms of his insurance contract, which requred that for the first N hours (I forget the value of N, but it's about 100) after buying the Citation, he would only fly it with a type-rated instructor in the right seat. I consider his death a suicide.