A Missed Approach to Death
by Andrew J. Dilk
Category: Law

The aviation public is fascinated by accidents such as American 570, TWA, Egypt Air, and now the Columbia shuttle disaster, as well as the hundreds of private airplane accidents throughout the United States annually, including the pathos of the John F. Kennedy, Jr. flight to Martha’s Vineyard. This audience includes those who take commercial and private flights, those involved in aviation transportation, pilots, air traffic controllers, lawyers, law and aviation students, who will be captured by the events leading to the crash of a private airplane while one of the pilots attempted an instrument approach to a small city airport, after receiving a clearance to land from the FAA’s nearby Boston radar facility. Exposed is the trail of the tragedy, its investigation, and the litigation before an irascible and imperious Federal judge in Boston. Adding to the intensity is the allegation of Government intimidation of an expert, and the provoking air traffic control testimony of a former National Transportation Safety Board investigator hired by the parties suing the U.S., whose testimony contradicts the very radar data utilized by him in his earlier official NTSB accident report.