Soria v. Sierra Pacific Airlines, Inc.
| Decision Date | 26 August 1986 |
| Docket Number | 15818,Nos. 15817,s. 15817 |
| Citation | 726 P.2d 706,111 Idaho 594 |
| Parties | Cherie SORIA, Plaintiff/Respondent/Cross-Appellant, v. SIERRA PACIFIC AIRLINES, INC., a corporation, Defendant/Appellant/Cross- Respondent, and deHavilland of Canada, a corporation; and Western Aircraft Maintenance, a division of Morrison-Knudsen Co., a corporation, Defendants/Respondents, and Transwestern Airlines, Inc., a corporation; Doe I; Doe II; Doe III and Corporate Does I Through X, Defendants. Bernie RYAN, Plaintiff/Respondent/Cross-Appellant, v. SIERRA PACIFIC AIRLINES, INC., a corporation, Defendant/Appellant/Cross- Respondent, and deHavilland of Canada, a corporation; and Western Aircraft Maintenance, a division of Morrison-Knudsen Co., a corporation, Defendants/Respondents, and Transwestern Airlines, Inc., a corporation; Doe I; Doe II; Doe III and Corporate Does I Through X, Defendants. |
| Court | Idaho Supreme Court |
Stephen W. Boller, Hailey, Lloyd J. Webb (argued), of Webb, Burton, Carlson & Pedersen, Twin Falls, and Philip L. Johnson (argued), of Engstrom, Lipscomb & Lack, Los Angeles, Cal. for appellant/cross-respondent Sierra Pacific Airlines, Inc.
Mark S. Geston and Kathleen Perkins Brooks (argued), of Eberle, Berlin, Kading, Turnbow & Gillespie, Chartered, Boise, for respondent The deHavilland Aircraft of Canada, Ltd.
James J. McCarthy, Los Angeles, Cal. (argued), and Rand Peebles, Ketchum, for respondent/cross-appellant Cherie Soria.
E. Lee Schlender (argued), and Michael F. Donovan, Ketchum, for respondent/cross-appellant Bernie Ryan.
Michael W. Moore, of Imhoff & Lynch, Boise, for respondent Western Aircraft Maintenance.
This case involves the crash of a commercial airplane. The facts--extensive as they are--need to be separated into four categories in order that all six issues on appeal can properly be understood. The four categories are: (1) facts relating to the airplane accident; (2) facts relating to the results of post-accident investigations; (3) facts relating to the plaintiffs' injuries; and (4) facts relating to the trial.
Before discussing the facts under each category, however, a brief description of the multiple parties to this case is in order. The two plaintiffs are Cherie Soria and Bernie Ryan. Soria resides in the Sun Valley area, and Ryan lives in Australia. Both were traveling on business when the crash occurred. Both alleged serious injuries resulting from the crash. They are respondents (and cross-appellants) before this Court.
The defendants include: (1) Sierra Pacific, owner of the airplane which crashed with Soria and Ryan aboard. The jury in this case found Sierra Pacific 100 percent liable for the damages caused; it is the appellant (and cross-respondent) here. (2) deHavilland of Canada, manufacturer of the airplane which crashed, and a respondent here. (3) Western Aircraft Maintenance, which had contracted with Sierra Pacific to maintain and repair its airplanes, and a respondent here. (4) Transwestern Airlines, which had sold the tickets to Soria and Ryan, and which had been leasing and operating the plane owned by Sierra Pacific. It is not a party to this appeal.
Transwestern Airlines flight no. 868 departed Boise, Idaho, for Hailey, Idaho, on February 15, 1983. Donald Moline was the pilot and Eric Thorsund the co-pilot. Six passengers were on the flight, including Soria and Ryan. The airplane was a Twin Otter aircraft manufactured by deHavilland. Western Aircraft Maintenance routinely maintained and hangared the plane.
The weather was clear and visibility unrestricted. Because of the perfect weather, Moline switched from instrument flight rules to visual flight rules some 30 miles east of Boise.
On take-off, Moline had used the elevator and elevator trim tabs of the airplane to raise the plane's altitude to some 11,500 feet above ground level. Those same elevator devices would later fail Moline when he attempted to land the plane. There is no dispute that this failure occurred.
Approximately 35 miles west of Bellevue, Idaho, Moline commenced the plane's descent using the elevator trim tabs. At 700 feet above ground level, following ordinary procedure, Moline reduced the engine power, allowing the plane's nose to drop down. In order to level the plane Moline attempted to adjust the aircraft's attitude by use of the elevator, but he received no response. The Hailey airport was less than two miles away.
Moline tried the elevator controls again, but still received no response. Trying then to level the plane by use of the elevator trim tabs, he again obtained no response. At this point in time--approximately 300 feet above the ground--the aircraft was rapidly descending downward in a nosefirst attitude. Moline, with only seconds in which to react, increased engine power in an attempt to raise the plane's nose. This tactic partially succeeded; the added engine power raised the plane's nose to an almost level position when it hit the earth. The plane's speed at impact was approximately 140 knots. (This compares to a normal landing speed of 55 knots.)
As the nose came up, Moline aimed it toward a nearby highway where it hit the road and began skidding. The plane skidded some 250 feet before striking a snowbank whereupon it began to cartwheel.
Soria vividly described the terrifying accident as follows:
[SORIA]: I heard the pilot say "fasten your seat belts" very abruptly. And I looked out the window and it appeared to me that we were traveling real fast and we were very close to the ground. And I was really surprised to see how fast we were going and how close to the ground we were, so I checked my seat belt and I saw that it was fastened. And just within the amount of time that I had to do that, it was really seconds, we hit the ground.
....
A. ... [A]s soon as we hit the ground, I knew we were crashing, not landing. It was very obvious because it was an incredible impact.
And it felt to me that we hit on the nose of the plane and possibly over to the right of one wheel of the right side. And as soon as we hit, the impact was so strong it felt--I felt an incredible compression in my back like something just went in my back. It was such a strong impact with the ground.
....
A. And then all of a sudden the plane just started going all over. I was--I felt as though--the only way I can describe it is I felt like I was a rag doll and someone was holding me below the hips and shaking me like this. And people were screaming and there was stuff flying through the air. And I saw what I now know to be Bernie Ryan strapped to his seat and he was bouncing off of the walls. And I thought my mind was playing tricks on me because it looked like he was strapped to his seat so how could he be bouncing off the walls.
There was a lot of things flying through the air. And I was just--I was trying to keep myself relaxed by taking a lot of deep breaths because everyone was screaming, there was panic. And--
Q. The aircraft was still cartwheeling?
A. It seemed to go on forever. It just went on and on. And when it finally came to rest, this man who had been bouncing off the wall was in a heap next to me. He had hit me when he bounced toward me, some part of him hit me, and I was cut here from that, not badly, but I was cut from him. I believe it was from him.
And when the airplane came to rest, I was hanging upside down from my seat belt and I immediately unfastened my seat belt and fell to the floor. And the first thought as I hit the floor, the first thought I had was I smelled gasoline very strongly. My clothes were soaked with gasoline and all I could think of was fire and explosion....
....
A. ... I looked for an emergency exit ... and I couldn't find one. It was very dark in there. And it was very confusing to me because when I boarded the plane, the emergency exit was right on my side, I was sitting right next to the emergency exit, but I couldn't locate it. And that sent more panic through me that I couldn't find a way out.
So I looked toward the front and I saw light coming through the front. For some reason it was very dark in there which I really didn't understand, but it was very dark and light was streaming through the front of the plane where the cockpit had been was quite bright and I saw someone crawling through that space.
I was in a lot of pain at that point and I started dragging myself through the length of the plane.
....
A. So as I crawled through what had become the aisle, and I don't really even know what part of the plane it really was, perhaps the roof of the plane, I had to crawl over someone. No one was moving. I thought everyone was dead. And I felt terrible that I couldn't stop to help anyone. I felt very guilty. I knew I couldn't help anyone because I could barely help myself.
....
A. So I crawled through the plane and over these people, and I said, "Someone will be here to help you in a minute." And I crawled out through all the wires and bits of metal and everything onto the snow and crawled through the snow. And I kept looking back at the plane to see if I was far enough away that I would be out of the way if it exploded. And I just kept going until I got to the road and then I just collapsed in the snow. R., Vol. 6, pp. 1359-63.
Ryan described the accident in this way:
The rate of descent was still very, very fast. I knew it was far too fast to be a normal landing. And I still was hoping it was all right....
....
Q. Do you recall feeling the impact?
A. Yes, sir. It hit with a great deal of force as I recall what happened, but we hit the ground and the plane--I think I was still in my seat, but the plane was a lot of noise going on, scraping. Could have been wailing. I could have been screaming, I don't know. Just a lot of noise. And it was quite terrifying.
....
A. ... I thought I was still in my seat, but I can recall slapping around the plane and hitting various parts...
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