Originally Posted by
JungleBus
Yep, I always thought it was strange this aspect of the accident didn't get more press. It was an accident caused by distraction, and that distraction had a very specific cause.
A pilot worried sick about money, job security, and other personal issues is not a safe pilot. With the DCI shuffle game that Delta plays, there have been an awful lot of pilots with reasons to be distracted flying paying Delta passengers around.
Delta brought some very good legal representation to the table, who accepted liability on behalf of the Company. By accepting responsibility, that argument ceased and the attorneys moved on to damages.
Only a very few Plaintiff attorneys understand our industry and understand the relevance of what that tape indicates. They never had the chance to go that far... . Delta's Counsel avoided a compensatory case becoming potentially a punitive case.*
It takes a lot of authority (between half a billion and a billion) to make that call. We employed a similar strategy in the ASA losses.
* Airline management fundamentally misunderstands the Courts. When our language speakers get on the PA and announce "We are flying into severe turbulence" when we announce "We're awarding flying to the best of the worst" ... these statements would be indefensible in front of a jury. It is very common. Look at the mess American got into on the Cali case.