Injured Flyers Also Sue Cessna For Seat Catch Failure

A man and his daughter, injured in a June 2005 plane crash on Martha's Vineyard are suing their pilot, and planemaker Cessna -- among others -- for damages, stemming from the accident they say was caused by lack of communication with a hearing-impaired aviator.

According to The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, a lawsuit filed last week in US District Court states Jeffrey Willoughby, 42, and his 13-year-old daughter were passengers in a Cessna 172 flown by Alec Naiman on June 23, 2005. Naiman and Willoughby are both members of the Deaf Pilots Association.

The three were flying to Katama Airpark, a non-towered airport near Edgartown, MA. The field had been notified numerous times of the arrival of the deaf pilots, according to the lawsuit, so that precautions could be taken by other pilots in the area.

When their plane was on final to land at Katama, however, a WACO biplane was already on the runway. Naiman pulled up to avoid a collision... at which point the pilot's seat catch broke, causing Naiman's seat to slide back. With Naiman's hand still on the yoke, the plane's nose pitched into a steep climb attitude, which led to an aerodynamic stall.

The aircraft fell about 100 feet onto the ground, and all three onboard were seriously injured. Jeffrey Willoughby suffered a concussion, back and leg injuries, which according to the lawsuit prevents him from working as a field engineer.

There are differing accounts as to whether the airport manager and pilots at Katama knew when the deaf pilots were planning to fly in. According to the National Transportation Safety Board's final report on the accident, the manager of Katama Airfield told investigators he was contacted only once about the deaf pilots flying in, and that the interpreter failed to provide him with an exact date and time the aviators planned to land at Katama.

The DPA secretary offered a differing statement. "On June 3 and June 11, the Secretary's sister spoke to the airport manager via telephone to coordinate the fly-in, and agreed to call again the night before arrival to provide the exact date and estimated time of arrival," the report states. "Via an interpreter, the Secretary called Katama on the evening of June 22, and the afternoon of June 23, to provide updates on the group's arrival. The Secretary could not recall who received the most recent telephone calls, but his wireless telephone invoice revealed a 3-minute call to Katama on June 22, and a 1-minute call to Katama on June 23."

The pilot of the WACO told investigators he attempted several times to notify traffic on the common traffic advisory frequency of his plans to take off from runway 3... and twice had to pull off the runway when he saw other planes approaching the airport. "The pilot of the Waco attempted to contact both pilots that landed, but received no response," the Probable Cause report states. "The pilot again announced his intentions of the CTAF, received no response, and resumed the back-taxi on runway 3. As the pilot approached the runway threshold, he observed another airplane turning on final approach for runway 3. The pilot taxied the Waco off the runway, and the landing airplane began a go-around. The pilot of the Waco further stated, "I saw him pull the nose way up and observed the left wing drop, and the airplane hit the ground."

The NTSB ruled the Probable Cause of the accident was "the pilot's failure to maintain airspeed during a go-around, which resulted in an inadvertent stall and subsequent impact with terrain. A factor was the pilot's hearing impairment," which prevented him from transmitting or receiving radio calls, or hearing the plane's stall warning horn.

Jeffrey Willoughby's lawsuit seeks over $1 million in damages from Naiman, Edgartown, the biplane's owner and pilot, Katama Airpark and the field manager, and Cessna.

FMI: Read The Probable Cause Report