DOCSLIB.ORG

Admiralty Jurisdiction in the Aviation Case

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Admiralty Jurisdiction in the Aviation Case Committee Perspectives Aerospace Law Committee Upon takeoff, however, the plane struck a flock Where the Sea Meets the Sky of seagulls, lost power, crashed, and ultimately sank in the navigable waters of Lake Erie. Id. at 250. Executive Jet, invoking federal admiralty jurisdiction, subsequently sued the city of Admiralty Jurisdiction Cleveland, alleging that the crash was caused by their negligent failure to keep the runway free of birds or to adequately warn of their presence. Id. at 251. in the Aviation Case The Supreme Court, in refusing to extend admiralty jurisdiction, noted two principal shortcomings of a mechanical application of by Lisa J. Savitt the “locality of the wrong” test to aviation ac- cidents. First, the fact that a plane crashes into navigable waters is entirely fortuitous and has nothing to do with the underlying tort. Id. at 266. That a plane bound from Boston to Phila- delphia crashes into Boston Harbor instead of Courts and Congress have struggled for de- with respect to maritime accidents and, in more Massachusetts proper should not impact the cades with the question of how to treat aviation recent years, with respect to aviation accidents. recovery of the next of kin of those passengers accidents which occur in or near a body of wa- DOHSA provides: “Whenever the death of a killed. Id. Second, it is impossible to apply the ter. That an airplane crash occurs over “navi- person shall be caused by wrongful act, ne- “locality of the wrong” test with any degree of gable waters” does not automatically turn an glect, or default occurring on the high seas certainty, because in aviation accidents it is airplane negligence case into a general mari- beyond a marine league from the shore of any often unclear where the wrong actually took time action. Deciding which law applies to an State… the personal representative of the de- place. The facts of Executive Jet provide an ex- aviation accident is critical in determining cedent may maintain a suit for damages in the cellent illustration of this second difficulty. such important factors as application of state district courts of the United States, in admi- The plaintiffs contended that the wrong “took liability and damages law, the extent of recov- ralty.” Id. at §761. place” when the plane crashed into Lake Erie. ery for non-pecuniary damages, whether there In the early days of aviation, courts began to The defendants, on the other hand, contended will be a jury trial and whether a plaintiff will be extend admiralty law to aviation accidents on the that the wrong “took place” when the plane hit allowed to seek punitive damages. This article high seas. Aviation cases originally related to ad- the flock of seagulls. As the Court noted, decid- will examine some of the recent developments miralty only to the extent that they were brought ing the dispute is unnecessary: “[it] is enough in this area. in federal court pursuant to DOHSA. The prob- to note that either position gives rise to the lems inherent in extending the application of problems inherent in applying the strict local- Death on the High Seas Act substantive maritime law to non-DOHSA avia- ity test of admiralty tort jurisdiction in avia- The Death on the High Seas Act (DOHSA), tion cases continue to plague the courts. tion accident cases.” Id. at 267. now codified at 46 U.S.C. app.§§761–68 (1994), Consequently, the Court abandoned a me- was enacted in 1920 to provide a remedy to Executive Jet Decision chanical application of the locality of the wrong families who lost loved ones at sea. DOHSA Courts struggled in deciding what law to apply test in favor of a “significant relationship to has been the source of much litigation, both when aircraft crashed in bodies of water. The traditional maritime activity” test. Id. at 268. Supreme Court began to clarify the issue in Specifically, the Court held that unless the Executive Jet Aviation, Inc. v. City of Cleveland, wrong bears a significant relationship to tradi- 409 U.S. 249 (1972). In 1968, an airplane owned tional maritime activity, “claims arising from and operated by the Executive Jet Aviation airplane accidents are not cognizable in admi- Company took off from Burke Lakefront Air- ralty.” Id. In deciding Executive Jet, the Court port in Cleveland, Ohio, bound for Portland, held that no such relationship existed when a Maine, and ultimately, White Plains, New York. land-based plane flies solely between points within the continental United States. Id. at 272–274. Yet the Supreme Court provided little guidance for applying this new “significant Lisa J. Savitt is a partner in the Products Liability/Mass Tort/Insurance Practice relationship” test to other scenarios. Conse- Group of Blank Rome LLP in the firm’s Washington, D.C. office. She has a com- quently, there has been a great deal of litiga- mercial and international litigation practice with an emphasis on aviation and tion on the scope of this test. products liability. Ms. Savitt wishes to thank Randi Wolf, an associate in Blank Rome LLP’s Cherry Hill office, for her invaluable contribution to this article, Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act with a note of appreciation to Daniel Shamah for his assistance. DOHSA and the Outer Continental Shelf Lands © 2004 DRI. All rights reserved. For The Defense Aerospace Law Committee Committee Perspectives Act (OCSLA), 43 U.S.C. App. §1331 et seq., tiffs argued that the manner of death was the ants moved to dismiss the plaintiffs’ claims often come into conflict. OCSLA in part makes determining factor for the locality issue under for non-pecuniary damages. In re Air Crash state law applicable to the subsoil and seabed maritime law. Judge Kent, in affirming his earlier off Long Island, New York, on July 17, 1996, of, and the platforms erected on, the Outer decision, noted that the “place” of the victim’s 209 F.3d 200 (2d Cir. 2000). Continental Shelf. This was seen in two related death was not the “lynchpin” for determining The central issue to be decided was whether cases arising out of the ferrying of passengers locality, but again, “whether the alleged neg- the crash occurred on the “high seas” as per from one oil platform to another in the Gulf of ligence ‘became operative while the aircraft DOHSA. Ultimately, Judge Robert Sweet de- Mexico. Williamson v. Petroleum Helicopters, was on or over navigable waters.’” Order Deny- cided that the crash did not occur on the high Inc., 32 F.Supp.2d 456 (S.D. Tex. 1999), and ing Plaintiff Richard’s Motion to Reconsider at 4, seas and that DOHSA did not apply. Defend- Brown v. Eurocopter, S.A., 38 F.Supp.2d 515 Williamson (No. G-97-301) (citing Smith v. Pan ants appealed to the Second Circuit, which af- (S.D. Tex. 1999), were wrongful death actions Air Corp., 684 F.2d 1102, 1109 (5th Cir. 1982)). firmed in a decision that demonstrates the filed in the Southern District of Texas (Gal- A second suit was filed by the family of the role that maritime terminology and historical veston Division) that arose from the crash of a pilot. Brown v. Eurocopter, S.A., 38 F.Supp.2d usage can play in an aviation accident. As shown helicopter ferrying passengers near an oil plat- by the Second Circuit’s reasoning, a few miles form about 25 miles southeast of Galveston. In State law remedies for can vastly impact the damages the plaintiffs an attempt to make an emergency landing, the may recover. pilot lost control of the helicopter, collided with damages, particularly those of In a lengthy decision, the Second Circuit an oil platform and then plunged into the Gulf. reviewed the legislative history of DOHSA, The pilot and two passengers were killed. Texas, are often much greater observing that Congress intended to create a The plaintiffs in both cases argued that the statute that allowed recovery for wrongful death contact with the platform was the same as than damages recoverable on the high seas. Congress also wanted to pre- contact with land and that, therefore, OCSLA serve existing state remedies for wrongful death applied. This would mean that the law of the under DOHSA. by “simply cover[ing] waters that are not now adjacent state—Texas—would govern. State covered.” In re Air Crash off Long Island, 209 law remedies for damages, particularly those 515 (S.D. Tex. 1999). In Brown, plaintiffs also F.3d at 204. To achieve this, Congress passed of Texas, are often much greater than dam- filed a motion for partial summary judgment, a law that created a remedy for wrongful death ages recoverable under DOHSA. making essentially the same arguments for “occurring on the high seas beyond a marine Williamson was brought in 1997 by the fami- application of OCSLA. Judge Kent emphasized league from the shores of any State, or the lies of the two passengers killed in the crash. in his decision in that case that the “mechani- District of Columbia, or the Territories or de- Defendants filed a partial summary judgment cal problems suffered by Brown’s helicopter pendencies of the United States.” 46 U.S.C. motion on the basis that DOHSA, not OCSLA originated and reached the point of crisis above App. §761. was the applicable law. Williamson, 32 F.Supp.2d the high seas.” Id. at 517. The TWA 800 flight crashed about eight nau- at 457. DOHSA would prohibit plaintiffs’ re- tical miles (beyond a marine league) from the covery of non-pecuniary and punitive dam- TWA Flight 800 shore of New York (a marine league is approxi- ages.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Annual Report 2002 Contents Contents
    Annual Report 2002 contents Contents Address to shareholders 4 Key data 7 Board of Directors and Management 12 Corporate governance 15 Risk management 21 Significant events during 2002 23 Reports from the Divisions • Operations 25 • Marketing 27 • Buildings 29 • Corporate Development 31 Flight statistics 33 • 2002 flight statistics 34 • Market positioning 39 • Trend of traffic volumes 41 • Destinations 43 Financial report 45 • Group financial statements according to IFRS 46 • Audit report 70 • Financial statement pursuant to the Swiss Code of Obligations (OR) 71 • Audit report 79 3 address to shareholders Address to shareholders Dear Shareholders, During 2002, Zurich Airport felt the full impacts of the dissolution of SAirGroup, which gave rise to the need for comprehensive restructuring measures. The fundamental changes in ownership also led to a number of major challenges. Existing structures had to be completely reorganised, a task which Unique (Flughafen Zürich AG) successfully mastered. We were able to extract all the airside functions and infrastructures that are essential for airport business from the operations previously controlled by SAirGroup and now under new ownership, and bring them under our own control.This means that we have eliminated all inter- connections with and dependencies on external providers in the area of airside operations. We can therefore look back on a period of extremely intensive activity. But we still have a very busy time ahead of us, partly due to the step-by-step hand-over of components associated with expansion stage 5, but also in view of the political uncertainties throughout the world and their impacts on international civil aviation, and the ongoing debate on the home front concerning the function, size and operation of Zurich Airport.
    [Show full text]
  • Aircraft Hijacking: Some Domestic and International Responses
    Kentucky Law Journal Volume 59 | Issue 2 Article 3 1970 Aircraft iH jacking: Some Domestic and International Responses John A. Volpe Secretary of Transportation John T. Stewart Jr. Federal Aviation Administration Follow this and additional works at: https://uknowledge.uky.edu/klj Part of the Air and Space Law Commons Right click to open a feedback form in a new tab to let us know how this document benefits you. Recommended Citation Volpe, John A. and Stewart, John T. Jr. (1970) "Aircraft iH jacking: Some Domestic and International Responses," Kentucky Law Journal: Vol. 59 : Iss. 2 , Article 3. Available at: https://uknowledge.uky.edu/klj/vol59/iss2/3 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Law Journals at UKnowledge. It has been accepted for inclusion in Kentucky Law Journal by an authorized editor of UKnowledge. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Aircraft Hijacking: Some Domestic and International Responses By JoHN A. VoLPE* and JoHN T. STEwART, Jn. * * Air piracy is one of the gravest problems of our time. From the domestic reactions to the first symptoms of the malady-the detours to Havana in the early 1960's-to the strengthened do- mestic and internationalresponse to the epidemic at the turn of the decade, Secretary Volpe and Mr. Stewart here catalogue a definitive statement of what has been done and what yet must be done to combat air piracy and international blackmail: the legal and scientific devices employed by the U.S. and urged for other countries, and international cooperation such as in the Tokyo Convention, the Hague Conventiont of December, 1970, and the draft conventions remaining on the internationalagenda.
    [Show full text]
  • The Competitive Position of Hub Airports in the Transatlantic Market
    Journal of Air Transportation Vol. 11, No. 1 -2006 THE COMPETITIVE POSITION OF HUB AIRPORTS IN THE TRANSATLANTIC MARKET Guillaume Burghouwt SEO Economic Research Jan Veldhuis SEO Economic Research Amsterdam, The Netherlands ABSTRACT This article puts forward the argument that the measurement of connectivity in hub- and-spoke networks has to take into account the quality and quantity of both direct and indirect connections. The NETSCAN model, which has been applied in this study, quantifies indirect connectivity and scales it into a theoretical direct connection. NETSCAN allows researchers, airports, airlines, alliances and airport regions to analyse their competitive position in an integrated way. Using NETSCAN, the authors analysed the developments on the market between northwest Europe and the United States (US) between May 2003 and May 2005. One of the most striking developments has certainly been the impact of the Air France-KLM merger and the effects of the integration of KLM and Northwest into the SkyTeam alliance on the connectivity of Amsterdam Schiphol. Direct as well as indirect connectivity (via European and North American hubs) from Amsterdam to the US increased substantially. The main reason for this increase is the integration of the former Wings and SkyTeam networks via the respective hub airports. Moreover, the extended SkyTeam alliance raised frequencies between Amsterdam and the SkyTeam hubs (Atlanta, Houston, for example), opened new routes (Cincinnati) and boosted the network between Amsterdam and France. As a result of the new routes and frequencies, Amsterdam took over Heathrow’s position as the third best-connected northwest European airport to the US. _____________________________________________________________ Guillaume Burghouwt completed his PhD-research ‘Airline network development in Europe and its implications for airport planning’ in 2005.
    [Show full text]
  • The Collapse of DOHSA's Historic Application to Litigation Arising from High Seas Commercial Airline Accidents, 65 J
    Journal of Air Law and Commerce Volume 65 | Issue 4 Article 7 2000 Flying over Troubled Waters: The olC lapse of DOHSA's Historic Application to Litigation Arising from High Seas Commercial Airline Accidents Jad J. Stepp Michael J. AuBuchon Follow this and additional works at: https://scholar.smu.edu/jalc Recommended Citation Jad J. Stepp et al., Flying over Troubled Waters: The Collapse of DOHSA's Historic Application to Litigation Arising from High Seas Commercial Airline Accidents, 65 J. Air L. & Com. 805 (2000) https://scholar.smu.edu/jalc/vol65/iss4/7 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Law Journals at SMU Scholar. It has been accepted for inclusion in Journal of Air Law and Commerce by an authorized administrator of SMU Scholar. For more information, please visit http://digitalrepository.smu.edu. FLYING OVER TROUBLED WATERS: THE COLLAPSE OF DOHSA'S HISTORIC APPLICATION TO LITIGATION ARISING FROM HIGH SEAS COMMERCIAL AIRLINE ACCIDENTS JAD J. STEPP* MICHAEL J. AUBUCHON** TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION .................................. 807 II. D O H SA ............................................ 809 A. THE STATUTE ................................... 809 B. LEGISLATIVE HISTORY ........................... 810 III. TRANS WORLD AIRLINES FLIGHT 800 LITIGATIO N ....................................... 811 A. INTRODUCTION ................................. 811 B. BACKGROUND ................................... 811 C. MOTION TO DISMISS NONPECUNIARY DAMAGES- SDNY's DECISION ............................... 811 D.
    [Show full text]
  • Prof. Paul Stephen Dempsey
    AIRLINE ALLIANCES by Paul Stephen Dempsey Director, Institute of Air & Space Law McGill University Copyright © 2008 by Paul Stephen Dempsey Before Alliances, there was Pan American World Airways . and Trans World Airlines. Before the mega- Alliances, there was interlining, facilitated by IATA Like dogs marking territory, airlines around the world are sniffing each other's tail fins looking for partners." Daniel Riordan “The hardest thing in working on an alliance is to coordinate the activities of people who have different instincts and a different language, and maybe worship slightly different travel gods, to get them to work together in a culture that allows them to respect each other’s habits and convictions, and yet work productively together in an environment in which you can’t specify everything in advance.” Michael E. Levine “Beware a pact with the devil.” Martin Shugrue Airline Motivations For Alliances • the desire to achieve greater economies of scale, scope, and density; • the desire to reduce costs by consolidating redundant operations; • the need to improve revenue by reducing the level of competition wherever possible as markets are liberalized; and • the desire to skirt around the nationality rules which prohibit multinational ownership and cabotage. Intercarrier Agreements · Ticketing-and-Baggage Agreements · Joint-Fare Agreements · Reciprocal Airport Agreements · Blocked Space Relationships · Computer Reservations Systems Joint Ventures · Joint Sales Offices and Telephone Centers · E-Commerce Joint Ventures · Frequent Flyer Program Alliances · Pooling Traffic & Revenue · Code-Sharing Code Sharing The term "code" refers to the identifier used in flight schedule, generally the 2-character IATA carrier designator code and flight number. Thus, XX123, flight 123 operated by the airline XX, might also be sold by airline YY as YY456 and by ZZ as ZZ9876.
    [Show full text]
  • Letter to the 9-11 Commission
    National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States 301 7th Street, SW Room 5125 Washington, DC 20407 July 17, 2003 Dear Members of the 9-11 Commission: Recently, I wrote to you about Terrorist Missile Activity in the NY – Washington metropolitan areas. A copy of this correspondence is attached at the end of this letter. In that earlier correspondence I suggested that you reexamine missile activity which was reported both prior to and following the TWA 800 crash. On this anniversary of the TWA crash I would like to submit for your consideration a detailed summary of the eyewitnesses’ statements to the FBI, NTSB and other investigative agencies and media. These statements refute the government’s conclusion that the initiating event for the TWA 800 crash was an explosion of the center wing fuel tank. For example, you will find in the reports below the testimony of several pilots who flew over the smoke cloud from the center wing fuel tank detonation. TWA 800 was flying at just over 13,000 feet when the initiating incident leading to its destruction occurred. The center wing tank subsequently exploded (and generated a smoke cloud) at several thousand feet below 13,000 feet while TWA 800 was already on its way down to the ocean. In the discussion below I have interspersed items from newspaper articles, my own comments, and references to each of the eyewitness descriptions. August 25, 1996 Times of London U.S. officials are investigating reports that Islamic terrorists have smuggled Stinger ground-to-air missiles into the United States from Pakistan.
    [Show full text]
  • Aviation Safety and Security: Challenges to Implementing The
    United States General Accounting Office Testimony GAO Before the Subcommittee on Aviation, Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, U.S. Senate For Release on Delivery AVIATION SAFETY AND Expected at 10 a.m. EST Wednesday SECURITY March 5, 1997 Challenges to Implementing the Recommendations of the White House Commission on Aviation Safety and Security Statement by Gerald L. Dillingham, Associate Director, Transportation Issues, Resources, Community, and Economic Development Division GAO/T-RCED-97-90 Mr. Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee: We appreciate the opportunity to share our views on the recommendations contained in the recently released report of the White House Commission on Aviation Safety and Security. The Commission’s 57 recommendations broadly cover safety, security, air traffic control, and disaster response. As you know, 1996 was a bad year for aviation safety. Last year, 380 people died in air accidents involving large U.S. air carriers, the highest number in 11 years. The crashes of TWA Flight 800 off New York and ValuJet Flight 592 in Florida accounted for most of those deaths. Although the nation’s air transportation system remains the safest in the world and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) the model for other nations, these tragic events have served to raise the Congress’s, the administration’s, the aviation industry’s, and the flying public’s consciousness of the need to continuously increase the existing margin of safety. During the past several years, we have reported to the Congress on the status of a wide range of programs and initiatives intended to expand that margin of safety.
    [Show full text]
  • Meritorious Service Medal (Msm)
    MM E R I T O R I O U S S E R V I C E D E C O R A T I O N S MERITORIOUS SERVICE CROSS (MSC) MERITORIOUS SERVICE MEDAL (MSM) Z - MSC - 2021 UPDATED: 06 March 2021 CURRENT TO CG: 06 March 2021 (Civil) PAGES : 91 28 FEBRUARY 1998 19 JULY 2008 (CG) 29 AUGUST 1998 29 NOVEMBER 2008 (CG) 27 AUGUST 1999 20 JUNE 2009 (CG) 18 DECEMBER 1999 27 MARCH 2010 (CG) 01 APRIL 2000 03 JULY 2010 (CG) 27 MAY 2000 18 DECEMBER 2010 (CG) 30 SEPTEMBER 2000 07 OCTOBER 2000 04 MARCH 2011 (GH) 05 OCTOBER 2001 02 JUNE 2011 (GH) 30 MARCH 2002 13 AUGUST 2011 (CG) 14 SEPTEMBER 2002 07 DECEMBER 2011 (GH) 01 FEBRUARY 2003 26 APRIL 2003 (CG) 11 FEBRUARY 2012 (CG) 18 OCTOBER 2003 (CG) 04 AUGUST 2012 (CG) 08 NOVEMBER 2003 (CG) 18 SEPTEMBER 2012 (GH) 1 MSM 20 MARCH 2004 (CG) Military Only 08 DECEMBER 2012 (CG) 17 JULY 2004 (CG) 27 APRIL 2013 (CG) 25 SEPTEMBER 2004 (CG) 22 JUNE 2013 (CG) Not Named 13 NOVEMBER 2004 (CG) Military Only 27 JULY 2013 (CG) Hadfield civil 07 MAY 2005 (CG) 12 OCTOBER 2013 (CG) 13 AUGUST 2005 (CG) Military Only 16 NOVEMBER 2013 (CG) 2 mil MSMs 24 SEPTEMBER 2005 (CG) 04 FEBRUARY 2006 (CG) Military Only 08 MARCH 2014 (CG) 2 mil MSM 08 APRIL 2006 (CG) 25 OCTOBER 2014 (CG) 3 mil MSC 14 SEPTEMBER 2006 (GH) Military Only 20 DECEMBER 2014 (CG) 3 Not Named MSM 27 OCTOBER 2006 (GH) Military Only 15 JUNE 2015 (GH) 07 APRIL 2007 (CG) 01 OCTOBER 2015 (GH) 23 JUNE 2007 (CG) Military Only 26 JANUARY 2008 (CG) Lady Patricia MSC 02 JANUARY 2016 (CG) 21 JUNE 2016 (GH) 07 JANUARY 2017 (CG) 17 JUNE 2017 (CG) – 2 MSCs 06 JANUARY 2018 (CG) – 30 MSC 16 JUNE 2018 (CG) – 5
    [Show full text]
  • Increased Antiterrorist Federal Activity and Its Effect on the General Public and the Airport/Airline Industry Michael J
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Southern Methodist University Journal of Air Law and Commerce Volume 64 | Issue 3 Article 11 1999 Choosing How Safe Is Enough: Increased Antiterrorist Federal Activity and Its Effect on the General Public and the Airport/Airline Industry Michael J. AuBuchon Follow this and additional works at: https://scholar.smu.edu/jalc Recommended Citation Michael J. AuBuchon, Choosing How Safe Is Enough: Increased Antiterrorist Federal Activity and Its Effect on the General Public and the Airport/Airline Industry, 64 J. Air L. & Com. 891 (1999) https://scholar.smu.edu/jalc/vol64/iss3/11 This Comment is brought to you for free and open access by the Law Journals at SMU Scholar. It has been accepted for inclusion in Journal of Air Law and Commerce by an authorized administrator of SMU Scholar. For more information, please visit http://digitalrepository.smu.edu. CHOOSING HOW SAFE IS ENOUGH: INCREASED ANTITERRORIST FEDERAL ACTIVITY AND ITS EFFECT ON THE GENERAL PUBLIC AND THE AIRPORT/AIRLINE INDUSTRY MICHAEL J. AuBUCHON* "We must choose between freedom and fear-we cannot have both." -Justice William 0. Douglas, United States Supreme Court1 I. INTRODUCTION MANY AMERICANS fear the United States can never be completely safe from terrorism. 2 This apprehension is likely fueled by a recent wave of terrorist activity on American soil, such as the bombings of the World Trade Center and the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City.' The Oklahoma City bombing spurred federal action increasing se- curity standards at federal buildings susceptible to a terrorist at- tack.4 The increased security measures include: control over * J.D., Drake University Law School, Des Moines, Iowa; B.S., Aviation Sciences, with honors, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, Oklahoma.
    [Show full text]
  • Did British Intelligence Down Swissair Flight 111?
    Click here for Full Issue of EIR Volume 25, Number 41, October 16, 1998 Did British intelligence down Swissair Flight 111? by Dean Andromidas On the evening of Sept. 2, off the coast of Nova Scotia, 229 According to EIR information, the possibility that it was a people died when Swissair Flight 111 crashed into St. Marga- bomb attack is in fact part of the investigation, but this has rets Bay. On Sept. 3, within hours of that disaster, EIR’s Wies- not been revealed to the public. baden office received a phone call from one of our most reli- The known sequence of events is briefly as follows: At able sources. around 10:14 p.m., the pilots communicated with air traffic “Did you know that Richard Tomlinson was booked on control the “Pan Pan Pan” code words for declaration of an Flight 111?” the source asked. “He’s not dead. He never got emergency, announced they smelled smoke in the cockpit, on the aircraft.” and requested an emergency landing. They were directed to Richard Tomlinson is the former agent of MI6, Britain’s Halifax International Airport in Nova Scotia, and told to im- foreign intelligence service, whose revelations over recent mediately implement emergency procedures for smoke in the weeks have been making headlines in the international press. cockpit, for which they had been trained and had just recently He recently testified before Judge Herve´ Stephan, the judge conducted exercises. They prepared for an emergency land- in Paris who is investigating whether Princess Diana and Dodi ing, including maneuvering aimed at dumping fuel over the Fayed where the victims of a traffic accident or an assassina- water and reducing speed.
    [Show full text]
  • Airline Alliances
    AIRLINE ALLIANCES by Paul Stephen Dempsey Director, Institute of Air & Space Law McGill University Copyright © 2011 by Paul Stephen Dempsey Open Skies • 1992 - the United States concluded the first second generation “open skies” agreement with the Netherlands. It allowed KLM and any other Dutch carrier to fly to any point in the United States, and allowed U.S. carriers to fly to any point in the Netherlands, a country about the size of West Virginia. The U.S. was ideologically wedded to open markets, so the imbalance in traffic rights was of no concern. Moreover, opening up the Netherlands would allow KLM to drain traffic from surrounding airline networks, which would eventually encourage the surrounding airlines to ask their governments to sign “open skies” bilateral with the United States. • 1993 - the U.S. conferred antitrust immunity on the Wings Alliance between Northwest Airlines and KLM. The encirclement policy began to corrode resistance to liberalization as the sixth freedom traffic drain began to grow; soon Lufthansa, then Air France, were asking their governments to sign liberal bilaterals. • 1996 - Germany fell, followed by the Czech Republic, Italy, Portugal, the Slovak Republic, Malta, Poland. • 2001- the United States had concluded bilateral open skies agreements with 52 nations and concluded its first multilateral open skies agreement with Brunei, Chile, New Zealand and Singapore. • 2002 – France fell. • 2007 - The U.S. and E.U. concluded a multilateral “open skies” traffic agreement that liberalized everything but foreign ownership and cabotage. • 2011 – cumulatively, the U.S. had signed “open skies” bilaterals with more than100 States. Multilateral and Bilateral Air Transport Agreements • Section 5 of the Transit Agreement, and Section 6 of the Transport Agreement, provide: “Each contracting State reserves the right to withhold or revoke a certificate or permit to an air transport enterprise of another State in any case where it is not satisfied that substantial ownership and effective control are vested in nationals of a contracting State .
    [Show full text]
  • TWA Flight 800 WJE Aircraft Reconstruction | Long Island, NY
    PROJECT PROFILE TWA Flight 800 WJE Aircraft Reconstruction | Long Island, NY CLIENT The NTSB objective was to reassemble the recovered pieces of the plane's fuselage, as well as the National Transportation main fuel cell, keel beam, cargo areas, and pressure deck, in a manner that permitted viewing of Safety Board the reassembled surfaces and installation of the passenger seating in the reconstruction. In addition, it was essential that the reassembled aircraft structure could be rolled out of the hangar BACKGROUND after completion. Additionally challenging, the reconstruction had to be completed under a very WJE was retained by the National rigid schedule of just over four months. Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) to carry out the reconstruction of a 94-foot segment of the TWA Flight SOLUTION 800 Boeing 747 aircraft that WJE’s first objective for the reconstruction was to design, fabricate, deliver, crashed off of Long Island, New and erect a skeletal framework capable of supporting the recovered pieces York on July 17, 1996. of the plane's fuselage and related elements. The framework design had to satisfy several criteria: minimize alterations to recovered pieces of the aircraft; minimize viewing obstructions; accommodate substantial dimensional distortions; and allow installation of recovered cabin components. Then, a team of two WJE engineers and two technicians rigged, positioned, and attached the pieces of the damaged aircraft on the truss to reconstruct the airliner to its approximate original geometry. Finally, the WJE team designed a system to permit the reconstructed segment to be moved. WJE designed a support system and outlined procedures that met the project objectives in a timely and cost-effective manner.
    [Show full text]