Opinion ID: 1264810
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Specialist Havelka Provided Mr. Prokop with an Accurate and Complete Summary of the Relevant Weather Information

Text: The undisputed facts establish that Specialist Havelka properly apprised Mr. Prokop of the relevant weather information the morning of his flight. Among other things, he warned Mr. Prokop of the possibility that he would encounter IFR conditions, accurately conveyed the current conditions and forecast for the Grand Rapids airport (where Mr. Prokop's flight began), provided the current conditions and forecast for the St. Cloud airport (where Mr. Prokop hoped to land), and provided additional information about conditions along Mr. Prokop's intended route. At 2:45 a.m. on the morning of the crash, an AIRMET Sierra, which indicates IFR conditions, was issued calling for [o]ccasional ceiling below 1,000 feet/visibility below 3 miles through 9:00 a.m. (Aplt. Appx. at 546); in other words, occasional IFR conditions. Specialist Havelka conveyed the information contained in the AIRMET Sierra by telling Mr. Prokop there was an AIRMET for the area warning of the potential for some i f r. ( Id. at 557.) Specialist Havelka did not need to state explicitly that this AIRMET called for occasional ceilings below a thousand feet and visibility below three miles. Every VFR pilot should be familiar with the VFR cutoffs, and it would be gratuitous and counter-productive to demand that FSS specialists reiterate those cutoffs during every VFR weather briefing. Thus, Mr. Havelka's statement that there was an AIRMET warning of potential IFR conditions along Mr. Prokop's flight was sufficient to convey the fact that the AIRMET called for occasional ceilings below a thousand feet and/or visibility below three miles and, if Mr. Prokop wanted more details or clarification, the onus was on him to request them. Cf. Moorhead, 828 F.2d at 282 (noting that weather [b]riefers are instructed not to read weather reports and forecasts verbatim, unless it is specifically requested by the pilot); ( see also Affidavit of Cirrus's Expert, W. Jeffery Edwards, Aplt. Appx. at 397 (agreeing that [i]f Mr. Prokop did not understand what the briefers were saying to him, it was his responsibility to say so and ask for clarification)). Cirrus argues that Specialist Havelka was negligent in describing the warnings provided by this AIRMET Sierra in part because Havelka stated that there was a potential for IFR conditions, and that he should, instead, have informed Mr. Prokop that occasional IFR conditions had been forecast. The FAA's internal memos define the term occasional to describe conditions where there is a greater than 50% probability of a phenomenon occurring, but for less than ½ the forecast period. (Aplt. Appx. at 74.) This AIRMET was in effect from 2:45 a.m. through 9:00 a.m. Specialist Havelka's warning of the potential for IFR along Mr. Prokop's route sufficiently conveyed the AIRMET's warning of a greater than 50% chance of IFR conditions for less than half the time between 2:45 a.m. and 9:00 a.m. over the area covered by the AIRMET. Specialist Havelka also accurately conveyed the forecast for the Grand Rapids airport, stating that Grand Rapids would have occasional lower stratus [clouds] and possible light snow through 6:00 a.m., but that the ceilings were predicted to lift to about five to six thousand [feet] later in the day. ( Id. at 557.) Specialist Havelka's description of the forecast for Grand Rapids was based, at least in part, on the Area Forecast. An Area Forecast predicts general weather conditions over an area the size of several states. ( Id. at 162.) The Chicago Area Forecast covers the location of Mr. Prokop's proposed flight, as well as Illinois, Wisconsin, the entire state of Minnesota, and other locations. The Aviation Weather Center issued a Chicago Area Forecast at 4:45 a.m., approximately ten minutes before Mr. Prokop's first briefing. That forecast called for [c]eiling overcast to broken at 1,500 feet to 2,500 feet, tops 5,000 feet. ( Id. at 547.) Although Specialist Havelka did not specify the precise ceiling levels predicted by the Area Forecast, his description to Mr. Prokop of occasional lower stratus clouds ( Id. at 557), was sufficient to convey the material information contained in the Area Forecast, given that the forecast did not predict ceiling levels below 1,000 feet. Specialist Havelka also based his forecast for Grand Rapids on airport-specific forecasts, or TAFs, for two nearby airports, Hibbing and Brainerd. Brainerd's forecast called for visibilities of four statute miles in light snow with ceilings broken to 1500 until 7:00 a.m. with visibility of six miles and scattered clouds at 5,000 feet afterwards. ( Id. at 157-58). Hibbing's forecast called for more than six miles of visibility and scattered clouds at 6,000 feet. These forecasts predicted conditions well within the VFR range, and Specialist Havelka's description of occasional lower stratus clouds through 6:00 a.m. is clearly defensible in light of the forecasts for those nearby airports. Specialist Havelka also accurately described the current conditions at the Grand Rapids airport. Cirrus's meteorological expert, Dr. Elizabeth Austin, submitted a report concerning the briefings that Mr. Prokop received that morning and the weather that day. She stated that the surface weather conditions at Grand Rapids were, inter alia,  Visibility: 3 statute miles;  Sky Cover: 100 feet Scattered, 1,300 feet Broken, 2,900 feet Overcast. ( Id. at 81, 91.) These descriptions precisely mirror the account that Specialist Havelka conveyed to Mr. Prokop. Havelka stated that grand rapids is ... visibility three [miles] one hundred scattered [clouds] thirteen hundred broken [clouds] and twenty nine hundred overcast. ( Id. at 557.) By Cirrus's expert's own account, Specialist Havelka could not have provided a more accurate description of the cloud conditions in Grand Rapids. [5] Finally, Specialist Havelka accurately conveyed the current conditions at airports along Mr. Prokop's route and the current conditions and forecast for the St. Cloud airport (Mr. Prokop's intended destination), and informed Mr. Prokop that some lights were out at the St. Cloud airport. He closed by giving Mr. Prokop an opportunity to request any additional information, suggesting that the ceilings would likely lift if Mr. Prokop waited a couple hours ( id. at 557), and instructing Mr. Prokop to call back before [he left] and get an updated briefing. ( Id. at 558.) Therefore, Specialist Havelka did not breach his duty to provide Mr. Prokop with an accurate and complete summary of weather information.