Laying the blame

September 1, 2007

I’d like to think that if the captain of Comair Flight 5191 wasn’t dead and the co-pilot wasn’t recovering from his serious injuries, they’d have put the brakes on this stupidity and taken the blame that they deserve for their mistake. Their wives are suing the airport, Jeppesen, the FAA, and the squirrels who looked at the pilots wrong as they taxied to the wrong runway, failed to check their compass against their assigned runway heading, and then failed to abort the takeoff in a timely and safe manner.

This reminds me of the accident at Westerly, Rhode Island that was a battle of the stupids — Stupid #1 taxied onto a runway with an aircraft on short final, and then Stupid #2 continued to land on that runway, despite the presence of another aircraft. Their widows then commenced suing each other, the airport, the FAA, the state of Rhode Island, et cetera. Pilots make mistakes, and sometimes with tragic results. The tragedy is only compounded when their families try to lay the blame where it doesn’t belong, harming the aviation economy for everybody else.

Note to my family: if I crash and die, and it’s even the least bit attributable to error on my part (which it will be — almost every general aviation crash is), please do not sue anybody. Do not compound the injury to my piloting memory by engaging in totally frivolous lawsuits that harm the rest of the aviation community. Thanks.