Foreigners Hit Jackpot in US Court: Garuda Crash Settles | 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-02.10.25

Airborne-NextGen-02.11.25

Airborne-Unlimited-02.12.25

Airborne-AffordableFlyers-02.13.25

Airborne-Unlimited-02.14.25

Thu, Sep 25, 2003

Foreigners Hit Jackpot in US Court: Garuda Crash Settles

You may remember it, almost six years ago (September 26, 1997): Flight 152, a Garuda Indonesia Airlines A300, went through a horrible crash, cartwheeling down a mountainside in Sumatra, Indonesia. All 234 aboard, including two Americans, died.

Chicago's Nolan Law Group figured out a way to have the trial in the US, despite there having been just two Americans aboard the foreign-made plane, flown by foreigners for a foreign airline, that crashed in a foreign country. The money's just too good, from the juries and courts in the USA...

The settlement for 28 victims' families, reached Tuesday, minutes before trial, does not cover the two Americans' deaths.

Sundstrand (now part of Honeywell) is being sued jointly and severally, for everything the lawyers can think of. Sundstrand manufactured the early-1980s-design Mk II GPWS (ground proximity warning system); and plaintiffs claim that some malfunction, or the design itself, caused the crash. In fact, reports say, lawyers say the crash would have been totally avoidable, had the system worked as designed. The more-common theory of the crash (the official investigation hasn't released conclusions; but those well-researched reports are excluded from American court proceedings, as they tend to deflate lawyers' wallets) is that smoke from extensive forest fires obscured visibility, and that some ATC communications with the crew were misunderstood.

The flight left Jakarta, and was headed for Medan. the crash was about eighteen miles short of the destination airport, which had been closed on and off in the preceding days, due to that fire activity.

The confusion in the cockpit was exacerbated by confusion on the ground. 'Left' and 'right' were not clear -- directions to turn one way, were followed by confirmations of turns in the other direction. But, of course, it was all Sundstrand's fault.

FMI: www.honeywell.com

Advertisement

More News

Aero-News: Quote of the Day (02.15.25)

“Our continued growth, both domestically and internationally, is a testament to the strength of our product lineup and the trust our customers place in Piper. The increase in>[...]

ANN's Daily Aero-Linx (02.15.25)

Aero Linx: Cradle of Aviation Museum The Cradle of Aviation Museum is an aviation and spaceflight museum located in East Garden City, New York on Long Island to commemorate Long Is>[...]

ANN's Daily Aero-Linx (02.16.25)

Aero Linx: Museum of Flight - Seattle The Museum of Flight is the largest independent, non-profit air and space museum in the world! With over 175 aircraft and spacecraft, tens of >[...]

Airborne 02.14.25: MASSIVE Year 4 Piper, Martin Mars Fini, EA-18G Down

Also: Chinese Spy Balloon, Astro Homecoming Speeded Up, Flexjet Deal, Laser v Sheriff Chopper Piper Aircraft reported impressive company growth in 2024, hitting its highest deliver>[...]

Aero-News: Quote of the Day (02.16.25)

“The FAA is modifying FAA regulations in a way to help the industry do business with today’s technology...” Source: Scott McCreary, a member of NBAA’s Tax C>[...]

blog comments powered by Disqus



Advertisement

Advertisement

Podcasts

Advertisement

© 2007 - 2025 Web Development & Design by Pauli Systems, LC