Opinion ID: 2825255
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Jeppesen and Honeywell

Text: The second appeal addresses the plaintiffs’ case against two companies, Jeppesen Sanderson (“Jeppesen”) and Honeywell International (“Honeywell”). Because cloud cover did not allow the flight crew to make a visual approach on the day of the crash, the pilots used what is called an RNAV instrument approach. An RNAV instrument approach is a nonprecision approach using cockpit instruments, including a global positioning system, to navigate between waypoints along a flight path. Jeppesen produced and sold charts for pilots to use while performing non-visual approaches into the Lockhart River airfield. It received source data for its approach charts from Airservices Australia (“ASA”), an entity owned by the Australian government. ASA designed the approach procedure into Lockhart River airfield. The pilots of the Aircraft subscribed to Jeppesen’s chart service, but we do not know for sure if the pilots actually used Jeppesen’s charts while descending on the day of the crash. Jeppesen’s charts complied with ASA’s requirements, but they did not indicate topography of the terrain below the descent path. That is, they did not show the altitude of the mountain range Nos. 14-1707, 14-2481 7 beneath the flight path. The Aircraft crashed into the South Pap ridge at an altitude of approximately 1,210 feet when it descended at a steeper angle than prescribed in the Jeppesen charts and flew below the 2,060-foot minimum safe altitude for its location. Honeywell manufactured GPWS units. It purchased the GPWS business from Hamilton Sundstrand in 1993. It manufactured a GPWS unit which was fitted on the Aircraft in 2003 (but no wreckage of a GPWS unit was found after the crash). Honeywell also manufactured and sold EGPWS units, but it did not sell the EGPWS to the Aircraft’s operator or tell the operator to purchase an EGPWS. After the crash, the ATSB investigated the potential causes of the accident and published a detailed report. The ATSB report concluded that the plane crashed as a “result of a controlled flight into terrain; that is, an airworthy aircraft under the control of the flight crew was flown unintentionally into terrain, probably with no prior awareness by the crew of the aircraft’s proximity to terrain.” The ATSB could not determine why the Aircraft flew into the ridge, largely because the plane’s cockpit voice recorder failed to record any audio of the cockpit and there were no survivors or witnesses. But the report identified several “contributing safety factors” as well as “other safety factors.” One of the “other safety factors” was that Jeppesen’s approach chart could cause a pilot to lose situational awareness. The report noted several deficiencies in the design of the Jeppesen chart, mostly related to the ways in which the chart’s depictions could be clearer. As mentioned, the report also noted that the accident could have been avoided if the Aircraft had an EGPWS. 8 Nos. 14-1707, 14-2481 The plaintiffs brought strict liability and negligence claims against Jeppesen for its charts and Honeywell for its GPWS. Along with two other defendants (the cases against whom the plaintiffs have not appealed), Jeppesen and Honeywell filed motions for summary judgment. The motions were granted, and this appeal followed.