ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, March 8, 1997 TAG: 9703100030
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-7 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: COLUMBIA, S.C.
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
The plaintiffs argued that USAir improperly trained its pilots and knowingly let them fly into storms.
A federal jury Friday ruled USAir was negligent in a 1994 crash that killed 37 people during a fierce thunderstorm near Charlotte, N.C. But it spared the airline from having to pay punitive damages.
Because the jury found that USAir's conduct was not ``willful'' or ``wanton,'' the airline is liable only for compensatory damages.
The first of as many as 18 individual trials to determine damages begins Wednesday before the same jury. Marc Moller, a plaintiffs' attorney, said the crash survivors and victims' relatives will ask for ``seven figures'' in each case.
The DC-9 crashed as it tried to land at Charlotte-Douglas International Airport on a flight from Columbia with 57 people aboard. The National Transportation Safety Board said a strong downward wind, or microburst, slammed the jet into the ground.
The plaintiffs argued that USAir, now known as US Airways, improperly trained its pilots and knowingly let them fly into thunderstorms. USAir said air traffic controllers did not provide the crew with proper weather information.
``I'm glad now they have to acknowledge they were at some fault,'' said Debra Seymour, whose mother, Mildred Louise Welch of Sumter, was killed.
Plaintiffs' lawyers had hoped to show that the airline's conduct was so reckless that those who sued would be entitled to punitive damages, which would be far more costly for the airline.
``Nothing changes how we feel about the accident,'' said Nancy Risque Rohrback, a US Airways vice president. ``The jury's decision underscores that US Airways' actions, there was nothing to punish in those actions. Safety is our first priority.''
The pilot, Capt. Michael Greenlee, testified that he made mistakes and held himself responsible but said he never intentionally endangered the lives of his passengers. First Officer James Hayes, who was at the controls at the time and also survived the crash, did not testify.
The airline also brought in two heroes to support Greenlee: former Apollo 12 astronaut Charles Conrad and Gen. Chuck Horner, air commander during the Persian Gulf War. They said there was nothing the pilots could have done to avoid the accident.
``The weather conditions were such that day that the Empire State Building could've been out there and you wouldn't have seen it,'' Conrad said.
The airline and the federal government settled before the trial, with the government admitting some liability.
LENGTH: Medium: 57 linesby CNB