Claims Of Long Wait For Fire Equipment Seemingly Contradicted
By NTSB Report
ANN REALTIME REPORTING 01.10.07
1545 EST: A Snohomish County Superior Court jury
has awarded $10.5 million to the family of a pilot who died in a
1999 accident at the Northwest EAA Fly-In in Arlington, WA... and
says both the national Experimental Aircraft Association, as
well as the regional EAA chapter, are responsible for a large
percentage of the damages.
In its Probable Cause report on the July 7, 1999 accident, the
National Transportation Safety Board states pilot Don Corbitt was
attempting to leave Arlington Municipal in his RV-6A just before
the airport closed for an afternoon airshow. He wanted to depart to
the north from runway 34, but controllers said he would need to
depart to the south. Corbitt was allowed to back taxi, and perform
an intersection takeoff on runway 16.
Upon reaching the intersection, Corbitt made a 180 degree turn
on the runway and started his takeoff roll. After a very short
roll, the aircraft climbed at what was described by witnesses as a
"very steep" climb at "an extreme angle of attack," and initiated a
left climbing turn. [ANN E-I-C Jim Campbell witnessed the crash
from a position North of the impact site -- near the airshow
briefing tent -- and can confirm that the takeoff attitude was
excessively steep and that no proper recovery was initiated before
the aircraft stalled and went down hard... looking to all intents
and purposes, like a classic departure stall. -- ANN]
The aircraft's speed slowed significantly as it reached an
altitude of about 100 feet AGL, before it stalled and the nose
dropped toward the terrain. The pilot was unable to pull out of the
ensuing dive, and the aircraft impacted a parallel taxiway, slid
across the pavement, and caught fire.
First responders attempted to extinguish the fire with portable
equipment, and some of the witnesses tried to pull the pilot out of
the aircraft. Within 60 seconds after the accident, a volunteer
fire truck arrived at the scene, and fought the fire. Within 90
seconds after their arrival, according to the NTSB, the fire
was extinguished.
During its investigation, the NTSB determined Corbitt, who
earned his private license less than a year before the accident,
had owned the aircraft for less than two weeks. The Board
determined the pilot's lack of experience in the aircraft
contributed to the accident, while citing the pilot's excessive
climb rate, which lead to his failure to maintain an airspeed above
stalling speed, as the probable cause.
The
Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports Robert Hedrick, one of the
attorneys representing Corbitt's estate in the lawsuit,
said bystanders waited more than five minutes for firefighters to
arrive... an apparent contradiction to the NTSB's findings.
Attorney Frank Smith, who represented Corbitt's widow, asserts
the pilot was still alive following the initial impact... and died
due to the slow response of the Arlington Fire Department,
which NWEAA Fly-In organizers had contracted to provide
emergency support at the airshow.
The Associated Press reports the jury also determined the town
of Arlington, and its fire department, were responsible for 15
percent of the damages. However, Arlington was dismissed as a
defendant in the lawsuit two years ago... so the Corbitt estate and
his widow actually stand to receive $9.8 million in damages --
according to the lawyers for the deceased [Note: we're not sure how
15% of the damages results in Arlington and Arlington FD only
paying some $700K of the $10.5M total, when basic arithmetic
suggests that their share is closer to $1.575M... but then again
lawyer-math may not be the same as normal-people-math... --ANN
E-I-C].
ANN will continue to update this story as more information
becomes available.