Reno Air Races 2011.... Serious Crash

[Geico266]

Reports are a plane or planes hit the grandstands.

http://www.myfoxphoenix.com/dpps/ne...ionship-air-races-dpgonc-20110916-kh_15063421

Reports coming in say a P-51 named "Galloping Ghost" hit the box seat area in the grandstands. 75 are injured, 25 critical. No reports on fatalities, but it is being classified as a "Mass Casualty Situation".

Video on FOX News.

Damn.

 

[Jim Logajan]

Let's say you somehow knew the stick-snatch was about to occur and were braced with both hands to push on it. Roll your eyes, I know it's impossible.
What I am trying to discover is, how many lbs of force would the pilot experience at the instant the tab departed?
100? 500? Both arms broken?
Completely a theoretical question, but it would put into perspective for me the events at that moment.

Wouldn't the stick whip back to center? If that is what happened, the movement of the stick might hurt his left hand and that is about it. (I'm assuming his right hand would be on the throttle, trim, or elsewhere - unless the layout of his P-51 controls favored right hand on the stick.)

His head and upper torso probably lurched downward (relative to the fuselage) to the extent the harness would allow body movement. His head would have been forced towards his knees during the entire event I suspect, irrespective of whether he was conscious.

 

[Jim Logajan]

Assume for the moment there was a valid contract between the person who died and the race organizers.

That contract is not binding on any entity not a party to that contract. (Google "privity of contract.")

The family of the deceased was not a party to that contract is therefore not bound by the conditions of that contract.

 

[Jim Logajan]

Let's say I go to the Air Races. I assume the risk of attending, and even assume that the waiver on the back of the ticket is worth something. I'm killed at the event.

Now my daughter...she wasn't there, and even if she was, she lacks the legal capcacity to form a contract, being 8. She is deprived of her father. As she's entered into no contract waiving her rights to sue for negligence, why can't she, or her guardian ad lietem on her behalf, pursue a suit? This has nothing to do with my losses, but hers, both damages that she suffers from being deprived of a, allegedly, loving father, and her pain and suffering at having to deal with her father's death.

I missed this post when I posted about privity of contract; otherwise I wouldn't have bothered posting!