Aircraft Sales & Service v. Gantt, 6 Div. 942

Decision Date10 May 1951
Docket Number6 Div. 942
Citation255 Ala. 508,52 So.2d 388
PartiesAIRCRAFT SALES & SERVICE, Inc., v. GANTT.
CourtAlabama Supreme Court

London & Yancey, Geo. W. Yancey and Frank E. Lankford, all of Birmingham, for appellant.

Taylor, Higgins, Windham & Perdue, Birmingham, for appellee.

LIVINGSTON, Chief Justice.

Charles F. Gantt recovered judgment in the Circuit Court of Jefferson County, Alabama, against Aircraft Sales & Service, Inc., for personal injuries received in the fall or crash of an airplane operated or piloted by Gantt, and owned by Aircraft Sales & Service, Inc.

The cause was submitted to the jury in the court below on counts 'B' and 'D'. The legal sufficiency of neither count is questioned on this appeal.

In substance, count 'B' claimed damages for that, defendant negligently furnished to plaintiff an aircraft with which to make a practice flight which was defective in that the controls would not and could not be operated so as to control the aircraft in flight and that as a result the aircraft crashed or fell. Count 'D' is in similar language but specifically alleges that the aircraft was defective in that it had a screwdriver beneath the floor board of the aircraft, which screwdriver was not a part of the aircraft, in a place where it was likely to and did catch or wedge in the controls of the aircraft while in flight and that as a proximate result the aircraft was caused to fall or crash.

Defendant interposed a plea of the general issue in short by consent with leave, etc.

Assignments of error 1, 2 and 3 are predicated upon the refusal of the affirmative charge, with hypothesis, requested in writing by defendant as to each count in the complaint.

Where the affirmative charge is refused the rule is axiomatic that the entire evidence must be viewed in its most favorable aspect for the adverse party and where, from it, a reasonable inference may be drawn adverse to the party requesting it, the charge is properly refused. Sullivan v. Alabama Power Co., 246 Ala. 262, 20 So.2d 224.

It is not denied that prior to, and at the time appellee was injured appellant was conducting a flight school in which students were trained as airplane pilots. Appellee was enrolled as a student in this school under the so called 'G. I. Bill,' the essential features of which provided that the United States Government, through the Veterans Administration, paid appellant for the instruction and airplanes furnished to appellee. Prior to being injured appellee had received about 12 or 13 hours of instruction with an instructor in the airplane with him. In addition, he had about 15 hours solo time. His instructors had taught him how to make, and handle the airplane in, 'S' turns, stalls, spins, landings and take offs and patterns. Prior to his being allowed to fly solo, appellee's instructors taught him how to pull out of spins and stalls, and his ability in these respects had been checked by his instructors before he was allowed to fly an airplane by himself and he had been found competent in that regard. On the afternoon the appellee was injured he was furnished with a Aeronica airplane, powered by a 65-horsepower motor, by appellant for the purpose of a practice flight.

Further, the evidence tended to show that on the afternoon he was injured appellee, after giving the airplane the customary ground check as to condition of wings, gas and oil, oil pressure, revolutions per minute of the motor, controls on the plane, etc., he 'took off' from the airport and maneuvered the plane to get out of the pattern, climbed to about 1500 feet and then flew the plane to a training area, with which appellee was familiar, some 15 or 18 miles from the airport: that he did some 'S' turns over a road he knew, and in making these turns, lost some 800 feet in altitude: that he then climbed to an altitude of about 3000 feet, put the plane into a spin, and after three revolutions or turns pulled the plane out of the spin at about 1500 to 1700 feet: that when he started to pull out of the spin the stick 'was kind of gritty; a little grab in there,' but it came back all right: that he then flew on and lost more altitude: that when he was flying at about 900 feet he went into a left bank and that when he tried to straighten up from this left bank his rudder would stick and the plane would hardly straighten up: that he finally got the wing up a little but he was still going down at an angle: that he tried to pull the stick back--he jiggled it first and then pulled back on it hard but the stick would not come back: that he then tried to push the stick forward and gave the plane more gas, but the plane continued downward at about a forty-five degree angle: that when he found that he could not right the plane he cut the motor off: that the plane continued down at about a forty-five degree angle and struck the ground at about that angle. Appellee was severely injured. The evidence further tends to show that there were three eyewitnesses to the crash who immediately went to the plane and extricated appellee, and that the plane did not catch fire or burn: that employees of appellant arrived at the scene of the accident some two hours after it occurred, and that one of them guarded the plane all night and until it was dismantled the next day. The evidence further tended to show that in dismantling the plane the wings were taken off and the engine was sawed off at about the plane's windshield: that after the engine had been sawed off the front part of the fuselage of the plane was visable and a screwdriver about ten inches long was discovered in the area between the floor board and the bottom and the surface of the plane: that the screwdriver was of the same type and make as used by appellant's mechanics in working on its aircraft.

The evidence is further to the effect that the screwdriver, when found, was not in contract with any part of the controls but was wedged in front of the fire wall between the pilot's seat and engine of the plane, but was under the floor board of the plane and in a compartment, space or area housing a part of the controls. In other words, in a place where it could have come in contact with the controls before it became wedged in the place where it was found.

Here the relationship between the parties was...

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    • November 14, 1957
    ...adverse to the party who requested the charge, the action of trial court in refusing the charge must be affirmed. Aircraft Sales & Service v. Gantt, 255 Ala. 508, 52 So.2d 388; Hasty v. Hasty, 260 Ala. 90, 69 So.2d 282; Adams v. Queen Insurance Co. of America, 264 Ala. 572, 88 So.2d The evi......
  • Berhow v. Kroack
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    ...Iowa 1292, 1305, 147 N.W.2d 824; Russell & Co. v. Polk County Abstract Co., 87 Iowa 233, 238--239, 54 N.W. 212; Aircraft Sales & Service v. Gantt, 255 Ala. 508, 52 So.2d 388, 391; 8 Am.Jur.2d, Bailments, §§ 150, 285; 8 C.J.S. Bailments § 25; Annot. 46 A.L.R.2d 404, 408; cf. Blakeley v. Esta......
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    • May 24, 1956
    ...the action of the trial court in refusing the charge must be affirmed. Hasty v. Hasty, 260 Ala. 90, 69 So.2d 282; Aircraft Sales & Service v. Gantt, 255 Ala. 508, 52 So.2d 388. The evidence for the plaintiff is to the effect that he purchased the automobile in question from one J. H. Blanne......
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    ...Adams v. Queen Ins. Co. of America, 264 Ala. 572, 88 So.2d 331; Hasty v. Hasty, 260 Ala. 90, 69 So.2d 282; Aircraft Sales & Service v. Gantt, 255 Ala. 508, 52 So.2d 388. Several Alabama cases have been concerned with the problem presented on this rehearing. Following are In Britling Cafeter......
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