A U.S. District Court judge ruled Wednesday [Sept 8th] that air-traffic controllers were not responsible for the Hendrick Motorsports plane crash that killed 10 people, including four members of team owner Rick Hendrick’s family, on the way to a Sprint Cup race at Martinsville in October 2004. The judge’s ruling came about 14 months after the conclusion of a non-jury trial in Winston Salem, N.C., that covered five lawsuits. Linda Turner (widow of HMS general manager Jeff Turner) and Dianne Dorton (widow of HMS engine builder Randy Dorton) had sought money from the government, as did Hendrick Motorsports for the destruction of its plane and for the government to contribute to the settlements with the families of victims Scott Lathram (a pilot for Cup driver Tony Stewart who was a passenger on the plane) and DuPont executive Joe Jackson. The crash resulted when the Hendrick pilots, who had delayed the flight by 86 minutes because of the weather, became disoriented and began their landing five miles past where they should have at Martinsville/Blue Ridge Airport. A witness said he saw the plane about 1,500 feet in the air two miles past the airport and about three miles from the start of the runway approach. The pilots, who never lowered the plane’s landing gear, continued to fly for at least another minute before executing the mandated missed approach procedure, which they conducted for two miles without making the mandatory right-hand turn, and slammed into Bull Mountain about 27 minutes before the start of the race. Blaming pilots Richard Tracy and Elizabeth Morrison, Judge Thomas Schroeder awarded nothing to the widows or Hendrick. The 98-page ruling, issued Wednesday, can be appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals. While the judge was critical of the pilots, he said his decision did not contradict a jury, which in an earlier trial had determined that the pilots were not willfully and recklessly negligent in the crash and therefore their estates did not owe any of the victims money. In addition to the pilots, Dorton, Turner, Jackson and Lathram, killed in the crash were Rick Hendrick’s son, Ricky, Hendrick’s brother, John, and John’s daughters Kimberly and Jennifer. There was no immediate comment on the ruling from Dorton’s attorney. When contacted, a Hendrick Motorsports spokesperson declined comment.(see full story at the SceneDaily)(9-9-2010)
