Aircraft accidents

News Update: Wednesday, April 4 - Plane Crash Trial Ends Abruptly as Pilot Settles

The long trial that pitted Cessna Aircraft Company against a pilot who suffered crippling injuries in a 2005 plane crash at Katama airfield ended abruptly Wednesday in a confidential settlement, lawyers said.

After nearly a month of testimony and on the eve of closing arguments, lawyers conferred during a sidebar with Dukes county superior court Judge Cornelius Moriarty 2nd and Alec Naiman, pilot of the Cessna 172-N plane that crashed on June 23, 2005.

News Update: Friday, March 30 - Two Settle in Plane Crash Trial

Jeffrey and Jessica Willoughby, two of the plaintiffs suing Cessna Aircraft Company in a civil trial over a 2005 plane crash at Katama Airfield, have settled with the company and are no longer involved in the trial that has been underway in Edgartown for the past three weeks.

Cessna Claims Pilot Error Caused Crash

Cessna Aircraft Company began its defense this week in a civil trial over the 2005 crash of one of its airplanes at Katama, calling witnesses who defended the plane’s seat-locking system, raised questions about the pilot’s actions, and disputed future medical costs and lost income the pilot and passengers could incur.

Alec Naiman

Pilot in Plane Crash Testifies to Fuzzy Memories, Harsh Reality

Testifying in a crowded makeshift courtroom Thursday, the pilot in a 2005 plane crash at Katama airfield gave his account of the accident that left him confined to a wheelchair without the use of his legs.

“I remember at first my morale was very high,” Alec Naiman — who is deaf and was communicating through a sign-language interpreter — said of his subsequent hospitalization. “I was teasing everybody and flirting with all the nurses.”

Plane crash

Plane Crash Trial Involving Deaf Pilot and Passengers Poses Courtroom Challenges

A civil trial stemming from a 2005 plane crash at Katama Airfield began this week, with jurors hearing emotional testimony from one of the survivors, venturing to the airfield to examine the plane’s wreckage and pondering technical evidence about key parts of the plane at the center of the case.

Damaged Wreckage

News Update: Monday, March 12 - Plane Crash Trial Begins at Edgartown Town Hall

A civil trial started today stemming from a 2005 plane crash at Katama Airfield, with jurors hearing from one of the crash survivors and taking a trip to the airfield to look at the plane’s wreckage.

The plane’s pilot, Alec Naiman, and his passengers, Jeffrey and Jessica Willoughby, are suing Cessna Aircraft Company in Dukes County Superior Court, claiming that the accident was the result of faulty rails on the pilot’s seat. Cessna is arguing that the crash was due to pilot error.

Two Pilots Lost in Plane Crash Remembered for Good Deeds

A training flight that departed from the Vineyard ended in tragedy Sunday when the single-engine plane crashed into the icy waters of Cape Cod Bay, killing flight instructor Oulton Hues of Norwood and Edgartown and his student, Robert Walker of East Falmouth.

Brewster Plane Crash

News Update: Monday, Jan. 16 - Edgartown Flight Instructor Killed in Cape Cod Plane Crash

Brewster police chief Richard J. Koch Jr. said in a statement Monday that Oulton Hues, 73, of Norwood and Edgartown, and Robert Walker, 68, of Falmouth, were the victims who died in the single-engine plane crash in Cape Cod Bay on Sunday.

Mr. Hues was the pilot and a flight instructor; Mr. Walker was his student and co-owner of the plane, a Piper fixed-wing aircraft.

plane

Chef Lands Plane on State Beach in Life-Saving Feat of Flying

When the engine on Jean Dupon’s light plane died on approach to Martha’s Vineyard Airport on Saturday night, he had two things going for him: almost 30 years’ experience as a pilot and the biggest full moon in 20 years.

Mr. Dupon, 67, of Edgartown, did exactly what he should have under the circumstances, said fellow pilot and Martha’s Vineyard Airport manager Sean Flynn. He pointed the plane towards State Beach.

plane crash on beach

News Update: Sunday, March 20 - Plane Crash Lands on State Beach

Two Vineyard residents were treated for minor injuries after their plane crash-landed between the bridges on Joseph Sylvia State Beach on Saturday night.

Jean Dupon, 67, and Susan King, 45, both of Edgartown, were treated and released from Martha’s Vineyard Hospital, state police trooper David Parent confirmed.

The single-engine Piper aircraft was pointed out to sea, propeller blades slightly bent, no undercarriage evident, with obvious damage under the fuselage but otherwise remarkably intact on state beach on Sunday.

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