Ferguson v. NTSB
Ferguson v. NTSB is a landmark aviation ruling by the United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit handed down on June 2nd, 1982.
on July 31, 1979 Lowell G. Ferguson was the captain of Western Airlines Flight 44 from LAX California to seven locations, including Las-Vegas, Nevada, Denver, Colorado, and Sheridan, Wyoming. Ferguson, with over 12,000 hours of flying experience, had never been found in violation of any Federal Aviation Regulations.
It was the first officer, James Bastiani, who flew the aircraft, while Ferguson handled radio communications. However, due to Aviation Regulation, Ferguson was considered the PIC (Pilot in Command) as Captain of the aircraft.
At approximately 10:00 pm, the plane mistakenly landed at Buffalo, Wyoming thinking the airport to be their destination airport of Sheridan. While there was no emergency and no injuries, some damage was done to the airport tarmac that was not constructed to hold the weight for a commercial airliner. (the aircraft was a Boeing 737)
On November 28, 1979 the FAA suspended Ferguson's ATP (Airline Transport Pilot) certificate for 60 days, and charged Ferguson with violation of four sections of the Federal Aviation Regulations: (1) § 91.75(a) (14 C.F.R. § 91.75, deviating from an air traffic control clearance; (2) § 121.590(a) (14 C.F.R. § 121.590), landing at an airport not certificated under part 139 of the Federal Aviation Regulations; (3) § 121.555(b) (14 C.F.R. § 121.555), landing at an airport not listed in the Western Airlines Operations Specifications; and (4) § 91.9 (14 C.F.R. § 91.9), operating an aircraft in a careless or reckless manner so as to endanger the life or property of another.
Ferguson appealed the suspension and claimed he was entitled to a waiver of punishment under the "inadvertent and not deliberate" provision of an Aviation Safety Program referred to ASAP (Aviation Safety Action Program).
While the NTSB agreed the Ferguson's actions were not deliberate, his appeal was rejected when the court decided his actions reckless and in violation of a key Federal Aviation Regulation FAR § 91.5 that require a pilot to familiarize him/her self with all available flight information, and a company policy (Western Airlines Flight Operation Manual, P 5.3.3.C)that required him to use a radio navigational instrument to identify the airport before landing. Ferguson claimed he "saw the runway and assumed it was the right airport".
The ruling coined the phrase "inadvertent and not deliberate actions cannot encompass reckless conduct".
In essence, Ferguson was suspended even though he made an "honest mistake", because as a professional pilot he was expected to do whatever he could to avoid that mistake. That, by his own admission, he failed to do.
External links
- Dave Carroll at Soccerbase
- Chairboys on the Net: Dave Carroll profile