New York Jury Finds Aircraft Did Not Contribute To Fatal Crash

After a four-week trial and and a short period of deliberation, a jury of 4 men and 2 women in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York found that Cirrus Design Corporation’s SR20 aircraft did not cause the 2006 fatal accident that claimed the lives of New York Yankees pitcher Cory Lidle and certified flight instructor Tyler Stanger.

Cirrus SR20 File Photo

Lidle and Stanger were fatally injured when the SR20 Lidle had recently purchased and was flying impacted the side of a 50 story building while executing a 180 degree turn over the Hudson river. The NTSB found pilot error was the cause of the accident

“Our hearts are with the Lidle and Stanger families who are still grieving,” said Bill King, Cirrus’ Vice President of Business Administration, in a statement following the verdict.  “We’re gratified that the jury reached a decision that confirmed what the National Transportation Safety Board found and what we have always believed: the SR20 did not cause this accident. We very much appreciate the hard work of the jury and the court in this matter.”

King noted that the SR-series aircraft have been the best-selling four-seat aircraft for almost a decade.  There are nearly 5,000 SR-series aircraft currently in operation around the world, a global fleet that has logged nearly 5 million flight hours to date.

“Cirrus Aircraft was founded on the principles of designing a new generation of General Aviation aircraft that incorporate the latest technology and safety features available,” said Brent Wouters, President and CEO of Cirrus Aircraft said in the statement. “Our aircraft are designed with safety features that no one else in general aviation incorporates. Furthermore we are very proud of our team of dedicated men and women who are responsible for building the safest aircraft of its kind in the world.”

Aero-Analysis: This was the trial that should never have happened... if America's courts are designed to seek truth, they had only to look so far as the NTSB Probable Cause findings (and simple physics) to see that this was a trial based on greed... not so much for the families involved in this tragedy... but because of the misguided efforts of some attorneys who let dollar signs and convoluted SCIENCE FICTION provide the basis for a case that truly was nothing more than a tragic case of pilot error.

I am amazed at what the families' attorneys put forth as a cause for this accident... when simple physics and factual evidence simply made their arguments nothing more than another case of legal nonsense in search of a big payday. While truth won out... Cirrus spent big bucks it could barely afford (especially at a time when they're not paying their bills to begin with) to defend themselves, the world of GA was trashed in the media, and emotional speculation was placed before the alter of ever-so-fickle public opinion instead of the simple facts... and just the facts.

In the end, Alan Klapmeier's vision of a spectacularly advanced next-generation aircraft won the day... This is happening, sadly, even as other attorneys are trying to tear down those efforts (and the technology they represent) -- while some within what's left of the faltering Cirrus Aircraft effort are trying to rewrite history and take ownership of the dreams of the company's principal founder without due credit... especially Wouters, who doesn't seem to have much of a problem with manufacturing statements to suit his purposes even when he had so little to do with them, to begin with. I was pleased to see Wouters also credit the team that built these amazing airplanes... it's just such a shame that he's put so many of them on the street while continuing to pull down big bucks, personally, for running the company into such dire straits...

So... GA won this one... bloodied, bruised, bedraggled, maligned, slandered and damaged beyond measure... in a case where we clearly won a decisive battle but are still in great danger of losing the whole bloody (expletive-deleted) war.

• GA needs protection from suits that are so clearly in defiance of established fact...
• GA needs protection from any fiction-writing attorney who will postulate wild, barely imaginable, incredible reasons as to why the dirty/filthy nasty GA airplane industry is so obviously at fault,
• ...and finally there needs to be a penalty for those who put forth such flimsy claims without technical/legal merit... whether it be 'loser pays' or something equivalent.

Without that, the product liability issues that plague GA will continue to subject our beloved industry to the death of a thousand cuts... with one of the sharpest blades of any hazard we face. -- Jim Campbell, ANN E-I-C

FMI: www.cirrusaircraft.com, www.nysd.uscourts.gov