Los Angeles radio tower crash kills 2

It will be interesting to see if they have to go through the application
process to put up a new tower at the same location.
It will be even more interesting to see if they apply for a taller tower.

G.R. Patterson III wrote:
Seems to me that this is an ideal opportunity for the station to add those
lights, since they have to put up a new tower anyway.

kage ) wrote:

"Larry Dighera" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 21 Dec 2004 15:30:37 -0600, "Bill Denton"
wrote in ::

Since the pilot would be liable for the accident, KFI (or their insurers)
would sue the pilot to recover damages.

In this case, it would be the pilot's estate.


They'll just sue Cessna, TCM, Honeywell, Garmin, Goodyear, Parker Hannifin,
the poor ******* CFI that signed off the pilot, his family, the last
mechanic to sign off the airplane, Etc.
KG

I would bet that a jury would be more sympathetic to a lawsuit brought
on by the dead couple's family.

--
Peter

"Paul Hirose" wrote in message
...
Yesterday morning a Cessna 182 hit the 760 foot (AGL) tower of 50
kilowatt AM radio station KFI in La Mirada, Calif. The married couple
aboard the 182 were killed, and the tower came down. KFI was off the
air about an hour.

According to media reports, the plane took off from El Monte and was
landing at Fullerton Airport to pick up two people. An FAA official
said they were on base leg at the time of the crash.

If I have this figured right, the 182 was coming from the north (El
Monte is 13 nm away at 350 degrees true) and on right base for Runway
6. The radio tower is 1.5 nm from the threshold on my topo, bearing
290 true. I measure it 33 degrees off the extended centerline, offset
to the north.

Has anyone flown into Fullerton? How big a problem is the tower?
Channel 7's story on the 11 a.m. news today had an interview with a
pilot who said the tower is very hard to see from the air. On the
other hand, the other guy they put on the air pointed out the tower is
on the charts and has coexested with the airport since 1947.

http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/news/122...ane_crash.html

--

Paul Hirose
To reply by email delete INVALID from address.


Having never been to Fullerton, I fired up MS FS2004 to see the general
layout of the airport from "the air" and, despite the almost painful dearth
of detail in FS2004, I was stunned to see that the KFI tower is right where
the chart shows it should be (sans guy wires...) when I turned "downwind."

Guess it qualifies as a major landmark since that's the only kind that's in
FS2004.

Jay Beckman
PP-ASEL
Chandler, AZ

"Steven P. McNicoll" wrote

Something else? Do you mean something other than practicing good
airmanship, or maintaining situational awareness?

Better lighting may have broken the chain, proper airmanship would have.
After all, the tower didn't reach up and swat them out of the sky. It
didn't move at all, they ran into it.


I can only wish to be as perfect as you, someday. Jeeeesh. You *are*
hopeless.

"Steven P. McNicoll" wrote:


"Morgans" wrote in message
...

A tower, not where one normally would see a tower, is one more item added
to
the possible "accident chain of events". Want to break the chain? Don't
have the tower there, or light the h^ll out of it!


The tower is charted and properly lighted. One can break the chain by
practicing good airmanship.

I think you miss the point of the "accident chain." The point is that
mini chains form all the time, and you need to work on ALL the
potential links to avoid accidents, rather than picking one and saying
this is the one that I'm going to rely on to avoid accidents.

"Bill Denton" wrote:

Actually, no. The radio station is only required to paint and light the
tower in accordance with FAA regulations. As long as they do that, they are
under no liability if an airplane crashes into the tower, guy wires, etc.

Surely there can be a duty of care that extends beyond complying with
all legislation? Particularly if the tower is located in a place where
it presents a much greater hazard than the average tower.

If the hazard has been brought to the attention of the radio station,
and they decided against taking reasonable precautions due to the
cost, it doesn't look good. I doubt that the cost of installing strobe
lights would be particularly high, either, especially compared to the
cost of replacing the tower, an aircraft, or the cost of people's
lives.

"Andrew Rowley" wrote:
Surely there can be a duty of care that extends beyond complying
with
all legislation? Particularly if the tower is located in a place
where
it presents a much greater hazard than the average tower.

I agree there. Otherwise, they couldn't win against aircraft mfrs who
go through a brutal FAA certification process. TV/radio towers here
in that height range, and not near an airport, have gorgeous and
multiple strobes, so it can be very relevant as to what the industry
considers general practice. A/k/a "expert witnesses," not subject to
much useful rebuttal on cross.

Fred F.

"Morgans" wrote in message
...

I can only wish to be as perfect as you, someday. Jeeeesh. You *are*
hopeless.


Hopeless would be an imperfection.

"Andrew Rowley" wrote in message
...

The tower is charted and properly lighted. One can break the chain by
practicing good airmanship.


I think you miss the point of the "accident chain."


I don't think so.



The point is that
mini chains form all the time, and you need to work on ALL the
potential links to avoid accidents, rather than picking one and saying
this is the one that I'm going to rely on to avoid accidents.


It appears the link that was broken was making themselves aware of the
tower.

"Andrew Rowley" wrote in message
...

If the hazard has been brought to the attention of the radio station,
and they decided against taking reasonable precautions due to the
cost, it doesn't look good. I doubt that the cost of installing strobe
lights would be particularly high, either, especially compared to the
cost of replacing the tower, an aircraft, or the cost of people's
lives.


The radio station did take reasonable precautions. They painted and lighted
their tower in accordance with the regulations.