Pilots being jailed or detained for accidents/incidents
 

This thread is created to allow the Kalitta thread to remain solely about the airplane crash.

There was an interesting "thread drift" in that thread where people started to question whether the crew would be detained after it was reported that civilians had been killed. This is a growing worry, and I wanted to start a thread that dealt with these issues. Another poster brought up the AOPA article in the last issue that was about the Stearman pilot that crashed and his passenger was killed and he served time.

I will start the questions - I was personally shocked with the mid-air in Brazil and how the American pilots were detained - even before knowing whether the accident was their fault or not. I was under the assumption that the radar coverage in Brazil was spotty at best and I also recall much strife amongst the brazillian AT controllers around the same time. the factthat two airplanes came together and the American crew was detained for a long time was chilling for me. Does anyone know anyone that may know the real story and how the legal issues are progressing for these guys?

Here's one way I look at it- if you die on a surgeon's table, because of complications, you don't detain the surgeon? Now loot at a pilot- if there's a problem, it's not only the customer's life on the line, it's his too. He's working extra hard to ensure a good outcome- certainly more so than the surgeon (self preservation is on of the most powerful forces). Who in his/her right mind would think of charging a pilot? It's an inherently dangerous activity, and the safety that we now enjoy is a result of heavy training and a lot of rules- all this paid for in the blood of past accidents.

I wish it were so Skipper, but I'm afraid the society we live in sues first, then asks questions later. I would hope that we never get to the kind of action that occurred in Brazil, but I wouldn't be totally surprised anymore. Between the litigious nature of American society, lack of personal responsibility, and vast public ignorance/misunderstanding of the pilot's job, I could see how angry people could do something that unthinkable.

However, we have an incredibly safe system here. The last major accident I can recall was the Lexington Comair crash. The copilot survived, but I don't believe he was detained at all.

My biggest worry is that we as pilots have to use 1/3 of our salary for malpractice insurance. Isn't this what some doctors pay?

There was a post in another thread that said:

a) the pilot was dong something reckless
b) the pilot crashed while doing something reckless and a lady died
c) his responsibility as PIC is to not be reckless and kill people

I can absolutely understand the reasoning behind that line of thinking, but the accident as detailed in AOPA was not a malicious recklessnes...it was simply a screw up that was tragic. I guess my appetite for jailing pilots is not Strong enough...take the license - absolutely. Civil proceeding - sure, that is how things work. But jail, for an accident that didn't involve a crime (fleeing a robbery) or alcohol...I just can't feature it.

I do think punishment was warrented...just not jail.