Smith v. United States
| Decision Date | 26 April 2012 |
| Docket Number | Case No. 3:95cv445 |
| Parties | MARJORIE SMITH, etc., Plaintiff, v. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, et al., Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Southern District of Ohio |
FINDINGS OF FACT AND CONCLUSIONS OF LAW; EXPANDED
OPINION; JUDGMENT TO BE ENTERED IN FAVOR OF DEFENDANTS
This litigation arises out of the November 24, 1993, crash of a Piper Arrow IV, PA 28 RT-201 aircraft ("Piper Arrow") at the Portage County Airport, near Ravenna, Ohio, which took the life of Donald Smith ("Smith"). The Plaintiff, Smith's surviving spouse and the Executrix of his Estate, seeks to recover from the Defendant, United States of America ("Defendant," "United States" or "Government"), for the allegedly tortious actions of its employees.1 In particular, the Plaintiff contends that the employees of the Government negligently maintainedand inspected the Piper Arrow, which permitted carbon monoxide to travel into its cabin, causing Smith to become impaired and the plane to crash. In contrast, the Government maintains that the accident was caused when Smith became disoriented, while attempting to return to the Portage County Airport, in order to close the top latch on the right cabin door of the aircraft, which he had inadvertently left unlatched before taking off.
The Plaintiff's claim, under the Federal Tort Claims Act ("FTCA"), 28 U.S.C. §§ 1346(b) and 2671, et seq., was tried to the Court.2 The parties subsequently filed voluminous post-trial memoranda and proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law. Final arguments were had some eight months after the conclusion of the trial. Pursuant to Rule 52 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, the Court now makes its Findings of Fact. In an Opinion which follows, the Court rules on the parties' objections to the introduction of certain exhibits and deposition testimony, as well as addressing the Plaintiff's request that the Court draw a negative inference against the United States as a result of its alleged spoliation or destruction of evidence and her request that the Court strike and disregard testimony of some of the Government's expert witnesses. Finally, the Court will set forth its Conclusions of Law.3
1. The Plaintiff is the surviving spouse of Donald Smith ("Smith") and the duly appointed Executrix of his estate. The Plaintiff and Smith were married in 1959.
2. Smith was a licensed pilot and flight instructor. He practiced his trade as an independent contractor, with aircraft operated by the Aero Club at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base ("WPAFB").4 The Aero Club is a non-appropriated fund instrumentality of the Defendant.
3. On November 24, 1993, Smith flew the Piper Arrow, one of the aircraft which was operated by the Aero Club,5 from WPAFB to the Ohio State University Airport, located in Columbus, Ohio,. At that facility, he was joined by a student pilot,Dr. Edward Rugh ("Rugh"), to whom Smith was providing lessons.6 Smith and Rugh then flew that aircraft from Columbus to the Portage County Airport, located in Ravenna, Ohio. During the flight, Rugh sat in the left front seat, while Smith was seated in the right front seat.7
4. Smith and Rugh flew to Ravenna using instrument flying rules ("IFR").8 Since one purpose of the flight was to allow Rugh,9 who had little experience at flying an airplane under IFR, to become a more proficient pilot, he flew the plane most of the way to Ravenna. During the flight, Rugh noticed a discrepancy between certain of the plane's instruments, to wit: the attitude indicator and the turn and bank indicator.10 Smith told Rugh to ignore the former and to concentrate on the latter.
5. Before they reached Ravenna, Smith took over the controls of the plane and landed it at around 5:15 p.m. The landing was uneventful.
6. Smith remained at the Portage County Airport for approximately 45 minutes. While at that facility, Smith added oil to the Piper Arrow, after having checked the oil level. In addition, he spent between 20 and 30 minutes inside Chinn Aviation, while at that Airport. Therein, the proprietor used kerosene space heaters, which caused Smith to be exposed to carbon monoxide.
7. Although he would travel alone on his return trip to WPAFB, Smith once again sat in the right front seat when he reentered the Piper Arrow, even though the pilot of an aircraft normally flies from the left front seat. Flying from the former is more difficult than flying from the latter, because the primary instruments are farther from an individual sitting in the right front seat, and there is a greater angle between those instruments and such an individual.11 The problem of viewing the primary instruments was magnified by the limited lighting in the Piper Arrow and the fact that it was growing dark outside.
8. The two cabin doors on the Piper Arrow had both upper and lower latches. Prior to departing from the Portage County Airport, Smith successfully fastened the lower latch on the right cabin door; however, he failed to close the upper latch on that cabin door, before taking off.
9. At the time of Smith's departure from the Portage County Airport, the weather conditions at that facility required that Smith obtain clearance. In particular, thesky was low overcast, meaning that Smith would be in the clouds shortly after take off and would, at that point, be required to fly with IFR. Therefore, before taking off, Smith communicated with personnel in the control tower, which was operated by the Federal Aviation Administration ("FAA"). Smith's communications with the control tower were normal.
10. At approximately 6:00 p.m., Smith took off from the Portage County Airport, in order to return to WPAFB. Almost immediately, the Piper Arrow entered the clouds. Within a matter of minutes, Smith's flight ended when the plane crashed.
11. At approximately 6:00 p.m., Gerald Novak ("Novak"), an aircraft mechanic, was working in a hanger at the Portage County Airport. He heard the engine of an airplane making power changes. In other words, the engine was repeatedly slowed, after which it was brought back to its normal speed. Novak went outside to investigate.12 Because of the low overcast clouds, Novak was not able to see the plane, although he did hear one or two additional power changes. When the plane came through the clouds, Novak saw that its landing light had been turned on. Although the plane was level, it did not appear to Novak to have any forward motion. It also appeared to be falling vertically. Shortly thereafter, Novak saw the nose of the plane tip toward the ground and the plane fall to the ground nose first.
12. The Piper Arrow first made contact with trees, then with a hanger and finally with the ground. The force of the crash caused the plane's engine to be torn from the aircraft, once the plane had come into contact with the ground.
13. Smith was killed instantly when the Piper Arrow impacted the ground.
14. As indicated above, the upper latch on the cabin door of the Piper Arrow was not latched when Smith took off from the Portage County Airport. As a consequence, the door came partially open when the plane took off, and Smith was distracted from piloting the Piper Arrow by the noise of the wind and buffeting by it caused by the partially open door.
15. The upper right door latch is located above the ear of the person sitting in the right hand front seat, where Smith was seated. According to the instructions in the Piper Arrow Manuel, one must turn his head and body away from the instrument panel in order to close the upper right hatch. Attempting to close that hatch during flight, while seated in the right front seat, can cause a pilot flying on instruments to become disoriented.
16. Rather than closing the door while in flight, Smith was attempting to return to the Portage County Airport, in order to land and accomplish that task, when the Piper Arrow crashed. In addition, he had become disoriented, because he was flying on instruments due to the weather conditions, when he attempted to close the upper hatch on the right cabin door.
17. The Piper Arrow was powered by a four-cylinder engine, manufactured by Textron Lycoming ("Lycoming"). The four cylinders are numbered 1 through 4. Cylinder 1, from the perspective of the pilot, is located on the right side of the engine closest to the propeller and, thus, is also called the right front cylinder. Cylinder 2, also called the left front cylinder, is located on the left side of the engine, closest to the propeller. Cylinder 3, also referred to as the right rear cylinder, is located on the right side of the engine, closest to the firewall, which separates the engine compartment from the cabin. Cylinder 4, also referred to as the left rear cylinder, is located on the left side of the engine, closest to the firewall.
18. Each cylinder has an exhaust port, through which the exhaust gases generated within the cylinder are discharged. Attached to each exhaust port is one end of an exhaust stack.13 The exhaust stack attached to each cylinder has a unique size; therefore, they are not interchangeable. An exhaust stack is connected to an exhaust port through the use of a flange on the stack and two studs on the cylinder. Nuts are placed on the two studs, in order to secure a stack to a port. An exhaust gasket is placed between each stack and port, in order to ensure that exhaust gases do not leak from the connection between them.
19. The other end of each exhaust stack (i.e., that which is not connected to an exhaust port) is attached to one of the engine's two mufflers.14 Each muffler is, in turn, attached to one of the aircraft's two stacks; therefore, two exhaust stacks are attached to each muffler. Thus, exhaust gases generated in one of the four cylinders travel therefrom through an exhaust port, where the gases move...
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