Lawsuits Settled In 2010 Accident In Palo Alto | 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-10.28.24

Airborne-NextGen-10.29.24

Airborne-Unlimited-10.30.24

Airborne-Unlimited-10.24.24

Airborne-Unlimited-10.25.24

Tue, Oct 23, 2012

Lawsuits Settled In 2010 Accident In Palo Alto

Two Employees Of Tesla Motors Fatally Injured When Cessna 310 Went Down

Three lawsuits filed as a result of a February 17, 2010 accident in Palo Alto, CA, have been settled, court documents reveal. The accident resulted in the fatal injury of two employees of Tesla Motors. Terms of the settlements have not been released.

The accident occurred when pilot Douglas Bourn departed Palo Alto Airport in a heavy fog at 0755 PST despite being told by ATC he was not cleared for takeoff due to the restricted visibility. He was told by the controller that he was departing at his own risk. A few minutes after takeoff, the plane, a Cessna 310R, struck powerlines near an East Palo Alto neighborhood and went down among the houses about a half mile from the airport. There was a post-impact fire. Bourn, as well as passengers Brian Finn and Andrew Ingram who were employed by Tesla Motors, were fatally injured in the accident. No one on the ground was hurt, though there was some property damage due to the fire. The NTSB found that pilot error was the probable cause of the accident, though the board's reports are not admissible as evidence in court.

The Palo Alto News Online reports that Ingram's and Finn's families had filed the lawsuits against Air Unique, the company owned by Bourn, and the pilot's estate. They said that Bourn willingly undertook the flight in unsafe conditions. Lawyers for Bourn's estate tried in July to have the suits dismissed, saying that Tesla's worker's compensation plan covered their deaths. but that was not allowed by the court.

The trial had been set for November. The families have filed a request for case dismissals, which will be considered by the judge in January, 2013.

(Cessna 310 image from file. Not accident airplane)

FMI: Probable Cause Report

Advertisement

More News

Senator Pushes FAA to Accelerate Rocket Launch Licensing

States That Current Process is Damaging National Aerospace Development US Senator Jerry Morgan is pushing the FAA to speed up the process for rocket launch licensing. He argues tha>[...]

Classic Aero-TV: RJ Gritter - Part of Aviation’s Bright New Future

From 2015 (YouTube Edition): Model Aviator Aims For Full-Scale Career While at the 2015 Indoor Electric RC Festival, referred to as eFest, ANN CEO and Editor-In-Chief, Jim Campbell>[...]

Aero-FAQ: Dave Juwel's Aviation Marketing Stories -- ITBOA BNITBOB

Dave Juwel's Aviation Marketing Stories ITBOA BNITBOB ... what does that mean? It's not gibberish, it's a lengthy acronym for "In The Business Of Aviation ... But Not In The Busine>[...]

ANN's Daily Aero-Linx (10.27.24)

Aero Linx: Cardinal Flyers Online The Cardinal Flyers Online Web site was created and is maintained by me, Keith Peterson. My wife Debbie and I have owned a 1976 RG since 1985. Wit>[...]

ANN's Daily Aero-Term (10.27.24): Clearance Void If Not Off By (Time)

Clearance Void If Not Off By (Time) Used by ATC to advise an aircraft that the departure release is automatically canceled if takeoff is not made prior to a specified time. The exp>[...]

blog comments powered by Disqus



Advertisement

Advertisement

Podcasts

Advertisement

© 2007 - 2024 Web Development & Design by Pauli Systems, LC