Earlier this week, USA Today caused uproar, particularly among members of the aviation defense bar, with an inflammatory article titled, “Unfit for Flight: Hidden defects linked to small-aircraft crashes over five decades.” The article quickly has been denounced by many as one-sided, biased and sensationalist media. For those who may have seen that USA Today article, there is another side to the story – one that the author apparently had no interest in reporting.
In fact, the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (“AOPA”), General Aviation Manufacturing Association (“GAMA”) and aircraft manufacturer Textron all provided safety statistics and information to the author prior to publication of the article. The author did not include any of that information in his article, nor did he even mention these industry representatives’ candor and cooperation. AOPA’s response can be foundhere. Click hereto read GAMA’s response. At least one media outlet has called the USA Today article “editorial malpractice.”
Consider just a few points:
The article claims that “Nearly 45,000 people have been killed over the past five decades in private planes and helicopters.” That naked statistic fails to consider there are over 21 million private flights carrying 170 million passengers annually. Fatalities from private aviation are far fewer than other means of private and recreational travel, such as automobiles, boats and motorcycles.
The article disparages the work of the National Transportation Safety Board, contending that civil litigation leads to evidence the NTSB “never discovered,” and that plaintiffs’ verdicts contradict the NTSB’s findings. It does not mention, however, that NTSB Probable Cause reports are inadmissible in civil litigation, where rulings and verdicts involving complex scientific and technical concepts are made by judges and juries with little or no scientific or technical education or training.
While highlighting a small handful of large plaintiffs’ verdicts and settlements, the article completely fails to mention any of the defense verdicts and dispositive pretrial rulings obtained by the manufacturers and their counsel.
Those of us who represent aviation professionals and manufacturers know that the industry is filled with conscientious individuals who are skilled, take much pride in their work, and make safety their number one priority. Those of us in DRI will continue to give them a voice. If you would like to know more, please contact a DRI Aviation Law Committee member today.
