By MONTE PAULSEN
Staff Writer
Charlotte - The public hearing into the crash
of USAir Flight 1016 is similar to a trial - except
the gallery sits behind long tables spread before
the witness, while the lawyers are held at the
back of the room.
The National Transportation Safety Board,
the federal agency conducting the hearing, will
never assess blame for the July 2 crash that
killed 37 of the 57 people aboard. It won't even
determine what caused the crash until it issues
its final report some time next year.
But most of the people in the four-day hearing
will face one another again in various courtrooms.
There, blame will be decided and millions of dollars in damages assessed.
"We don't yet know exactly who is at fault,"
attorney Larry Richter Jr. said. "But we intend to
show that somebody is at fault."
Richter. a state senator from Mount Pleasant,
is one of dozens of lawyers attending the
hearings.
The 25 witnesses scheduled to testify sit to
the left of a platform where the four-man board
sits. At the foot of the platform, representatives
of each of the 11 "interested parties" sit at tables
spread out like a flotilla crossing the ballroom's
aqua carpet.
The official parties include: USAir, the Airline
Pilots Association, the Association of Flight
Attendants. Transportation Workers Union, The
International Brotherhood of Machinists, Federal
Aviation Administration; National Air Traffic
Controllers Association, National Weather Service,
Douglas Aircraft, engine manufacturer
Pratt & Whitney and wind-shear warning system
manufacturer Honeywell.
Each wants to put the best foot forward to
minimize its future exposure in the courtroom.
The Airline Pilots Association, for example,
does not want Flight 1016's pilots blamed for the
crash. ALPA. a union and self-professed "air-
line- safely watchdog," brought a half-dozen
staffers and another dozen volunteer pilots to
work the halls and help put the right spin on
stories filed by the dozens of reporters covering
the hearing.
ALPA held its first press briefing two hours
before the hearing even began, and stocked an
upstairs suite with food and drink to entice
hungry reporters.
ALPA wants to get this message out: If only
The Air Traffic Controllers had provided Capt.
Michael Greenlee with complete weather Information,
Flight 101 never would have flown into a thunderstorm.
But the National Weather Service, the National
Air Traffic Controllers Association and
the Federal Aviation Administration, which is
responsible for air traffic control, want a different
story to emerge.
|
They suggest that it was not their failure to
inform Greanlee, but the captain's failure to follow
procedure that put Flight 1016 at risk.
When Greenlee took the witness stand, an
FAA representative confronted him with NTSB
data refuting his claim to have aborted the landing
while 450 feet above the runway. The flight
data recorder showed he was only 200 feet up.
And the FAA pried at Greenlee's decision to
turn right instead of climbing straight out after
aborting the landing. That decision may have
taken Flight 1016 directly into a microburst.
As the official parties bicker, the dozens of
lawyers crowded in the back of the room and
circling in the hotel halls feed on every detail. To
the attorneys and their clients, It does not matter
who's at fault - as long as someone is.
Richter and Columbia attorney Jack Swirling
represent the families of crash victim Charles
Jeter and his two young daughters.
"We represent a 2-year-old and a 6-year-old.
Both of those girls are dead now. They don't care
who is at fault." Richter said.
Swerling said the NTSB hearing is a "big
benefit" to preparing their case.
Swerling said the opportunely to meet and
informally compare notes with so many other
attorneys working on crash cases was helpful.
But he was also scornful of the way some out-of-
state attorneys recruited clients after the crash.
Thirty-four of the 37 people killed were from
South Carolina.
Two of the nation's most successful lawyers
specializing in air disasters. Robert Baizer and
David Rapoport of Chicago, also attended the hearing.
They have handled or are currently
handling 26 cases from four major airline
disasters.
Baizer and Rapoport represent perhaps the
largest group of Flight 1016 plaintiffs: survivor
Jason Sturkie as well as the estates of victims
Christopher Bowles, Stephen Mattox, Freddie
Sue Sturkie and Mildred Louise Welch. The lawyers
said they are close to filing additional cases.
It won't be the first lime Baizer and Rapoport
go against USAir. They recently won an $8.1
million jury settlement for the Ohio widow of a
victim In USAir'a 1992 crash at New York's La-
Guardia airport.
"Our clients are victims of a disaster that
should never have occurred," Rapoport said.
"It's up to a jury to decide who's at fault," he
added. "In order to recover compensatory dam-
age, we need to prove that someone's negligent
conduct caused the crash."
As Rapoport spoke in the hotel hallway, a
USAir attorney brushed past and greeted him
curtly. "Well that was rude," Baizer exclaimed.
Rapoport smiled. "We do get a few scowls,"
he said, "We're not all that popular around
here."
|
