Minn. jury awards $16M+ in crash of Cirrus plane

JEP

JEP

Does It Really Matter....?
Staff member
Associated Press
Last update: June 5, 2009 - 3:30 PM
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GRAND RAPIDS, Minn. - A jury in northern Minnesota has awarded more than $16 million to the families of two Grand Rapids men who died in a plane crash near Hill City in 2003.

The jurors decided that Duluth-based airplane maker Cirrus Design Corp., the University of North Dakota Aerospace Foundation and pilot Gary Prokop were all negligent in the crash.

Cirrus made the plane that crashed on Jan. 18, 2003, killing Prokop, 47, and his friend and passenger, James Kosak, 51. Their families alleged that the pilot was negligent and that Cirrus was negligent for not adequately training him.

The Itasca County jury agreed, and ruled Thursday night. Jurors awarded Kosak's family $7.4 million and Prokop's family $9 million — it would have been $12 million had he not been found to be 25 percent negligent for the crash.

Bill King, vice president of operations for Cirrus, said the company was surprised and was investigating its options. He said the company would stay open.

"It's certainly disappointing to us but we continue to operate as we had planned," he said. "We've got a lot of work to do. This is just one circumstance we have to face in the process of operating and we will continue on."

Prokop and Kosak were flying in a Cirrus SR22 on their way to St. Cloud to watch their sons play in a hockey tournament when the plane crashed. Prokop was active in economic development in Grand Rapids; Kosak had served on the United Way and YMCA boards.

"I'm happy and relieved that it is all over," said Mary Kosak, wife of James Kosak. "Our family is very, very thankful to the jury and to the judge for all of their time and effort. It was an unbelievably complicated case, and they just gave it their 100 percent attention, and we're just very thankful to them."

Blair Prokop, Gary's daughter, said the family's attorney summed the situation up well in closing arguments. "We didn't want sympathy. We wanted justice," she said. "We're happy to receive that justice but it doesn't replace our loss."
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The Cirrus SR-22 aircraft was destroyed upon impact with trees and terrain following a loss of altitude during a turn.
...
The National Transportation Safety Board determines the probable cause(s) of this accident as follows:
Spatial disorientation experienced by the pilot, due to a lack of visual references, and a failure to maintain altitude. Contributing factors were the pilot's improper decision to attempt flight into marginal VFR conditions, his inadvertent flight into instrument meteorological conditions, the low lighting condition (night) and the trees.
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Let me get this straight. The dumb (censored) took off before sunrise, leveled off at 100' AGL, accelerated to nearly Vno, and then presumably lost control and crashed.

Sure, that sounds like a Cirrus training problem to me. I suppose all the CSIPs can expect "low level night time maneuvering" to be added to the syllabus in the very near future.

God bless (sue happy) America
 
Cirrus just got totally screwed by a < . > good lawyer. Sure looks like a Cirrus aircraft and training problem to me...:sarcasm::sarcasm:

RD
 
Can you imagine how the jury selection went?

"Mr. Smith, do you currently hold a pilot's license or otherwise received ANY training in an aircraft?"

"Yes, I have..."

"Your Honor, this potential juror is unsuitable as his having any sort of knowledge whatsoever of how an aircraft operates and how a pilot is trained would bias his opinion in this case..."

Not much is scarier in today's litigatous society than an ignorant jury...
 
But, But........Cirrus didn't tell him he needed the IR rating......:sarcasm::rolleyes:

.......He had logged 248.0 hours total time, including 57.0 hours of instrument time and 18.9 hours of night flight time. The pilot was the owner of the aircraft and had taken delivery nearly six weeks prior to the accident. He had completed a flight training program specific to the SR-22 aircraft. This resulted in a VFR-only completion certificate and a high-performance aircraft endorsement. The pilot had logged a total of 19.0 hours in the SR-22. This included 0.3 hour of actual instrument time and 2.3 hours of night flight time. The remaining flight time logged, with the exception of 1.0 hour, was in a Cessna 172 aircraft.
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Well i'm sure that the discrepencies between witness reports and radar had an impact on the outcome:

Several witnesses reported seeing and/or hearing the aircraft shortly before the accident. An individual who resided approximately 4-1/2 miles south of Grand Rapids reported seeing an aircraft flying southbound past his residence. He stated the aircraft appeared to be following the road. He estimated the aircraft's altitude as 100 feet above the trees, and its speed as 150 miles per hour. He noted the engine sound was smooth, it "wasn't laboring." He added: "That thing was moving." He recalled the weather conditions at his location as clear and moon lit.

A second individual who resided at the north end of Hill Lake stated that he stepped outside and saw an airplane come over a hill northeast of his home. The aircraft's flight path appeared to be northeast-to-southwest, passing slightly east of his location. He remarked that he thought the aircraft was "too low" and the pilot "better pull that thing up." He recalled weather conditions at his location as partly to mostly cloudy, with a fair amount of moonlight.

A third individual, located in Hill City at the time, reported seeing an aircraft similar to the accident aircraft fly over. He stated the airplane "seemed to be following the highway." He added, "If he'd been two blocks east, he'd have hit the water tower," estimating the aircraft's altitude as 100 feet agl. He noted the engine seemed to be at full throttle and that it "wasn't missing." "He was going fast," he added. He recalled weather conditions at his location as clear and cold.

A fourth individual, located about ½ mile south of the accident site, heard the aircraft fly over. He stated that it "sounded like the prop wasn't catching any air. It was just screaming." Approximately 3-4 seconds after the aircraft flew over, he stated that he heard what he considered to be the impact. He noted that as he was looking out his window, he saw a "fireball" up over the trees. He recalled the weather conditions at his location as clear, with a full moon.

The weather report had it overcast at 2800' agl. Radar reports showed him as high as 3400' msl. So either he's really confused or we have some issues with ground spotters, which we know happens. How many of your students said it's looked like overcast at 1,000 and it's really about 2500'?
 
who cares what the witnesses said about weather...

here we have a VFR pilot:

The pilot, age 47, held a private pilot certificate with an airplane single-engine land rating. He held a third class medical certificate issued on October 28, 2002, with a limitation of "Must wear corrective lenses."
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with flight into marginal vfr, hitting trees, etc....

and it's the fault of Cirrus....:rolleyes:

But I did see this in the full narrative for what it's worth:

The flight lesson entitled "IFR Flight (Non-rated)" was not conducted.
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This more than any other factor(s), by a very huge margin is what killed (is killing) GA. Everything else combined is an insignificant blip.

The Lawyer induced destruction of GA since the mid 70s serves as a small parakeet in the mineshaft of what cause and effect phenomena will destroy the US economy.

Once GA is completely gone because no one is willing to produce anything with unlimited liability, they will move on to another area. A day will come when no one is willing to employ anyone or produce anything in this country. When that happens the joke will be on the Lawyers. They will have won it all but there will be nothing to buy and the entire economy will be a shadow of its former self.

They will have won it all and all will then be nothing.
 
This brings up an interesting problem for Cirrus. A big part of their demogrpahic are wealthy people that want an airplane. I think you might see more and more of owners and families suing. Why? Well because they can.
 
I can see the line of ambulance chasers forming from here. Someone died in a crash? Don't worry! We can make the manufactures pay you no matter what happened. :banghead:
 
WTF? the parachute didnt save him?





Really tho, look at how cirrus builds and markets these things. They're basically taking a porsche and giving it to a 16 year old driver. a 16 year old driver with more money than brains. What did they really think was going to happen?
 
fly22 said:
This brings up an interesting problem for Cirrus. A big part of their demogrpahic are wealthy people that want an airplane. I think you might see more and more of owners and families suing. Why? Well because they can.
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Ding, Ding, Ding......... We have a winner!

That's exactly why they focus where they do. When the 15 year old kid from the mobile home park gets killed on his dirt bike the Lawyer goes humm..... Mobile home park renter vs Suzuki....... umm no case sorry.

When the owner of a machine tool company with 300 workers crashes his new toy the Lawyer goes humm..... successful business owner estate vs Cirrus...... umm, yes we have a case!


Fault; Negligence.... Lawyers do not care. It matters not.

Right; Wrong.... Lawyers do not care. It matters not.

Justice; Injustice.... Lawyers do not care. It matters not.


The ONLY thing that mattters to them is:

Can I win?

Can I collect?

How much time?

How much money?
 
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