Notes
Zenith CH701 pilots took all three trophies at third annual STOL and Precision Landing
Competition in New Zealand. Winner Chris Anderson was able to takeoff in just 22.8m and with
his carrier-style landing used up a mere 26.5m of runway, without arrestor wires! The event is
staged annually as part of the Healthy Bastards Bush Pilot Championships, sponsored primarily
by Dr David Baldwin of Bulls Flying Doctor Service. For video visit: facebook.com/video.php?v=
31794776836223&permPage=
Record dama
for fatal accident
in USA
A California jury has awarded
$13.36 million in damages and
compensation to the family of
doctor who died in the crash of
his Cessna 182 in 2009, citing
negligence and false
representation on the part of
the mechanic who had signed
out the aircraft’s annual
inspection days before
the crash.
Although the National
Transportation Safety Board’s
report cited pilot error as the
cause of the crash, the family’s
lawyer convinced the jury that
the doctor lost control moments
after takeoff when his seat slid
to the fully aft position and
jammed as a result of an earlier
‘jury rigged’ repair to the seat
track mechanism by mechanic
Faride Khalaf, who had lied
about it to the aircraft’s owner.
The lawyer told the jury that if
Khalaf had done a proper
annual inspection, he might
have discovered that his earlier
repair was about to fail.
The doctor, who was an
instrument rated and
experienced pilot and had flown
an IFR proficiency check a few
days prior to the accident, took
off in darkness with a 600ft
ceiling and ten miles visibility,
but rather than following the
runway heading for six miles as
cleared by ATC, immediately
turned left before hitting terrain
a mile south of the airport. The
NTSB determined that ‘loss of
situational awareness and
failure to follow the prescribed
instrument departure clearance/
procedure’ caused the accident.
The pilot’s family’s lawyer
contended that examination of
the wreckage showed the fully
retracted pilot’s seat and
unclipped seatbelt, suggesting
that the pilot had been trying to
crawl forwards to reach the
control yoke. Khalaf represented
himself at the trial after his
lawyer resigned. The damages
award is the highest ever in the
State California for the death of
someone aged over 65 years.http://www.pilotweb.aero Pilot April 2015 | 11
As this issue went to press American airshow pilot
Spencer Suderman (right) was about to attempt to
break his own Guinness Book of World Records ‘most
inverted flat spins in an aircraft’ record. Last year he
performed 81 rotations, starting at 23,000ft and
recovering to straight and level at 950ft above the
Naval Air Facility at El Centro in the California desert.
This year’s flight will take place over the US Marine
Corps base at Yuma, Arizona, where a block of airspace up to 50,000ft has been reserved.
Suderman will fly his Sunbird S-1x, a modified Pitts Special.
PHOTO: NIGEL HITCHMANIn an inverted
flat spin...
Zenith STOL comp triumph