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.

FMI: www.nweaa.org, www.eaa.org, www.air-law.com, Read The NTSB Probable Cause Report