Stationair Vs. Lamborghini... Nobody Won

In May of 2006, Marlowe Treit was driving his prized car, a pristine 1985 Lamborghini Countach, on a taxiway near a hangar at the Aurora State Airport (UAO.)

At the same time, three Federal Bureau of Investigation special agents, two of which are pilots, had just completed a "familiarization flight" in a Cessna 206H and were taxiing on the same taxiway heading toward their hangar.

Then, according to one of the Cessna pilots, "We were moving down the taxiway about to enter our hangar area, moving at about a fast walk and crossing a narrow inner taxiway perpendicular to us when the aircraft crunched to a sudden stop. Out the left side window of the aircraft I saw a small black sports car dart from under the prop moving to my left, gushing fluid," according to a report by the National Transportation and Safety Board.

The Cessna had collided with Treit's black Lamborghini, the propeller chewing up the driver's side of the car. Treit purchased it in 1998 as a 60th birthday present to himself after spending two years searching for just the right car, according to the Oregonian newspaper.

All three walked away without injury, but Treit says his car sustained about $100,000 in damage. The damage estimate to the 206 is unknown.

Treit, also a pilot, insists he had the right of way, and that the Cessna pilots should have spotted him and reacted accordingly.

So, he filed a lawsuit against the US government, for $105,500 in damages and is accusing the pilots of negligence.

An FBI spokeswoman declined to comment to the Oregonian.

The NTSB stated in its probable cause report the accident was caused by, "The failure of both the pilot of the aircraft traveling on a taxi lane and the operator of the automobile driving on a taxi lane to maintain an adequate visual lookout and their failure to see and avoid one another."

FMI: http://willametteair.com/auroraairport.shtml, www.ntsb.gov