Judge Dismisses Charges Against Pilot For Second Time In Fatal Accident | Aero-News Network
Aero-News Network
RSS icon RSS feed
podcast icon MP3 podcast
Subscribe Aero-News e-mail Newsletter Subscribe

Airborne Unlimited -- Most Recent Daily Episodes

Episode Date

Airborne-Monday

Airborne-Tuesday

Airborne-Wednesday Airborne-Thursday

Airborne-Friday

Airborne On YouTube

Airborne-Unlimited-04.29.24

Airborne-NextGen-04.30.24

Airborne-Unlimited-05.01.24 Airborne-AffordableFlyers--05.02.24

Airborne-Unlimited-05.03.24

Wed, Oct 31, 2007

Judge Dismisses Charges Against Pilot For Second Time In Fatal Accident

Not Enough Evidence To Support Manslaughter Charges

For the second time this year, a judge dismissed charges against the pilot of a Bellanca Viking that crashed into an Oklahoma lake last year, killing three passengers.

As ANN reported, Thomas Brent Caldwell was at the controls of the accident aircraft (type shown below) when it went down in Grand Lake, east of Tulsa, on December 16, 2006. Caldwell was able to escape the plane and swim for shore. Police at the time said Caldwell was intoxicated when they found him, and that he did not possess a valid pilot license.

Caldwell, 30, faced three counts of first-degree manslaughter in Delaware County Court, for the deaths of Mariano Carlos Casas, 15, of Pryor; Eduardo Ortiz Robles, 20, of Mexico; and Campos Gonzalez, 33, also of Mexico.

In May, those charges were dropped, as District Judge Robert Haney found the "cause of the accident was the engine stalling, there is no evidence of why the engine stalled and, more importantly, no evidence of the defendant doing something that was of criminal nature that 'caused' the engine to stall that resulted in the crash that resulted in the deaths."

However, the District Attorney's office refiled charges earlier this month, citing new evidence contained in the National Transportation Safety Board's probable cause report on the accident, which was released in July. The NTSB ruled "loss of engine power for undetermined reasons and the pilot's improper decision to extend the landing gear for the water landing" led to the crash, and "contributing factors were the prevailing night conditions and the lack of suitable terrain for the forced landing."

The NTSB noted authorities detected alcohol on Caldwell's breath, and that his speech was slurred. Five liquor bottles -- four opened -- were found inside the plane, though no trace of alcohol was detected in Caldwell's system, however, when he was given a blood-alcohol test six hours after the crash.

FAA records indicate Caldwell has never held a private pilot license, or a student pilot certificate -- and the NTSB notes Caldwell failed to file an accident report on the crash, or speak to the Investigator-In-Charge.

On Tuesday, Haney once again ruled in Caldwell's favor... saying there wasn't enough evidence submitted by the state to warrant the re-filing of charges in the case, according to KOTV-6.

Assistant DA Bryce Lair was disappointed in Haney's ruling, though he does not plan to appeal.

"Of course, my office, with all due respect to the Court, completely disagrees with his decision, but at some point we have to be realistic and acknowledge the fact that this judge does not believe that what Mr. Caldwell is accused of doing is a crime and that regardless of how we procedurally attack this case we will not be able to get it to trial," said Lair.

FMI: Read The NTSB Probable Cause Report

Advertisement

More News

ANN's Daily Aero-Linx (05.02.24)

Aero Linx: Model Aeronautical Association of Australia MAAA clubs are about fun flying, camaraderie and community. For over 75 years, the MAAA has been Australia’s largest fl>[...]

ANN's Daily Aero-Term (05.02.24): Touchdown Zone Lighting

Touchdown Zone Lighting Two rows of transverse light bars located symmetrically about the runway centerline normally at 100 foot intervals. The basic system extends 3,000 feet alon>[...]

Aero-News: Quote of the Day (05.02.24)

“Discovery and innovation are central to our mission at Virgin Galactic. We’re excited to build on our successful record of facilitating scientific experiments in subor>[...]

ANN FAQ: Contributing To Aero-TV

How To Get A Story On Aero-TV News/Feature Programming How do I submit a story idea or lead to Aero-TV? If you would like to submit a story idea or lead, please contact Jim Campbel>[...]

NTSB Final Report: Cirrus Design Corp SR20

Student Pilot Reported That During Rotation, “All Of A Sudden The Back Of The Plane Kicked To The Right..." Analysis: The student pilot reported that during rotation, “>[...]

blog comments powered by Disqus



Advertisement

Advertisement

Podcasts

Advertisement

© 2007 - 2024 Web Development & Design by Pauli Systems, LC