Opinion ID: 456170
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Use of Radar

Text: 47 The evidence showed that the two radars on the SUMMIT VENTURE when operated together at short range tended to interfere with one another. The district court found that the interference between the two radars, while not a statutory violation was a well-known fact, and consequently established negligence on the part of Hercules for allowing the ship to proceed to sea without correcting the known problem. Moreover, the district court found that Captain Liu had little knowledge and inadequate training in the use of the two radars aboard the SUMMIT VENTURE. The district court further found that contrary to company policy, none of the crew members aboard the SUMMIT VENTURE had a radar observer certificate, and that on the morning of the allision, Captain Liu failed to use the radar effectively by using one to track or monitor the approaching weather and the other to aid in navigation. 48 We find that while negligence existed because the two radars tended to interfere with one another and the owners of Hercules failed to have a crew member with a radar observer certificate aboard the SUMMIT VENTURE, this negligence was not a contributory and proximate cause of the allision. Though none of the crew members of the SUMMIT VENTURE had a radar observer certificate, both Pilot Lerro and Pilot Trainee Atkins had radar observer certificates and the evidence showed that Atkins was monitoring the radar. The evidence also showed that while the radar could detect rain it could not indicate the intensity of a storm. Furthermore, the severity of the storm was visually evident by buoy 14 when the bow could no longer be seen. Soon thereafter, approximately two tenths of a mile from buoys 1A and 2A, the radar scope became completely obliterated. It was at buoy 14 and beyond that the decision of whether to stop or slow the vessel was critical and proximately related to the ultimate allision with the bridge. There is no evidence that the lack of radar observer certificates among the crew members, Captain Liu's inexperience with the radars aboard the SUMMIT VENTURE, or the potential interference between the two radars at short range, had anything to do with the failure of the crew members aboard the SUMMIT VENTURE to properly slow or stop the vessel between buoy 14 and the bridge. That is, there is no evidence to suggest that the negligence with respect to the radar contributed to the series of events occurring between buoy 14 and the bridge. Accordingly, we hold that the district court's findings relating to radar interference and the lack of radar observer certificates as a contributory cause of the allision between the SUMMIT VENTURE and the Sunshine Skyway Bridge to be clearly erroneous. 49