Will Receive $700,000 From FAA, Fly-In

The widow of a pilot killed at Florida's Sun-N-Fun Fly-In in 2002 has reportedly settled her lawsuit against the organization and the FAA.

The Lakeland Ledger reports Deborah Morrison received $650,000 from the FAA -- and another $50,000 from the fly-in's insurance carrier -- in a settlement of a lawsuit over the death of her husband Jerry in a midair accident on April 5, 2002.

As Aero-News reported at the time, Morrison was in the pattern over Lakeland-Linder Regional Airport in his RV-6A, when it collided with a Piper PA-16 Clipper also on approach to land on Runway 27R. The two planes tangled at between 50 and 100 feet in the air.

Morrison was killed. The pilot of the Clipper, Stephen Pierce, was seriously injured.

Controllers told investigators that both Morrison and Pierce failed to heed their instructions in a pattern that was chock full of fly-in attendees, as is typical in the days leading up to a major airshow.

The NTSB ruled that Pierce failed to maintain a visual lookout and yield the right-of-way to a lower airplane while on approach. The safety board also reported that the failure of both pilots to follow ATC instructions contributed to the accident.

So if the fault was with the pilots and ATC... why did Sun-N-Fun also pay up? The fly-in's lawyer, John Wendal, says settling was strictly a business decision, as it would cost less than bringing the case to trial.

"Sun 'n Fun, throughout, has denied any responsibility whatsoever," Wendel said. "Sun 'n Fun does not do anything at all to control air traffic."

FMI: Read The NTSB Probable Cause Report On The Accident