A snowmobiler who crashed into a parked Black Hawk helicopter is awarded $3 million
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
B OSTON (AP) — The federal government was mostly responsible for a nighttime collision involving a snowmobiler who nearly died after hitting a Black Hawk helicopter that was parked on a Massachusetts trail, a judge ruled in awarding him $3.3 million in damages.
U.S. District Judge Mark Mastroianni blamed both parties for the March 2019 crash in his ruling Monday, but said the government was 60% responsible for parking the helicopter on a snowmobile trail. He criticized Jeff Smith for not operating the snowmobile safely, for speeding and for wearing tinted goggles.
The government has 60 days to pay Smith or appeal, Desjardins said. The government did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.
Smith’s lawyers argued that the crew of the Black Hawk helicopter that flew from New York’s Fort Drum to Worthington, Massachusetts, for night training was negligent for parking a camouflaged 64-foot (19.5-meter) aircraft on a rarely used airfield also used by snowmobilers.
“The court finds the government breached its duty of care in failing to take any steps to protect against the obvious risk of a camouflaged helicopter parked on an active snowmobile trail, in a somewhat wooded area, as darkness set,” Mastroianni wrote. “The helicopter and area where it was parked were not illuminated or marked in any way.”
Smith also sued the owner of Albert Farms airfield in Worthington, accusing them of both giving permission to snowmobilers to use the trail and the Black Hawk crew to land in the same area. He settled with the farm owner for an undisclosed sum.
Smith, who was airlifted to a trauma center with a dozen broken ribs, a punctured lung and severe internal bleeding, has been surviving on disability assistance. The 48-year-old struggles with simple tasks, including putting on socks or pulling up his pants. He no longer golfs or snowmobiles.
“It was a mess,” he said.
His lawsuit argued that the helicopter crew didn’t do enough to protect him, including failing to warn snowmobilers of the Black Hawk's presence on the trail, leaving the 14,500-pound (6,577-kilogram) aircraft briefly unattended and failing to illuminate it. The helicopter landed on an air strip approved by the Federal Aviation Administration and the crew members testified that trainings are often conducted in similar locations. But Smith, who said he had snowmobiled on the trail more than 100 times, said the last time an aircraft used it was decades ago when he was a child — and never a military aircraft.
The government attempted to dismiss the case several times, arguing that it could not be sued under the Federal Tort Claims Act because a policy decision was involved. But the judge disagreed and said the act allows for exceptions.
The government also argued that the court lacked jurisdiction and that the crew members weren't told that they were landing on a snowmobile trail. The government also pushed back on claims that it could have prevented the accident and said the crew was not required to illuminate the helicopter. The government also attempted to cast blame on Smith, claiming he was driving his sled more than 65 mph (105 kph) and that he had taken both prescription drugs and drank two beers before his ride.
The night of the accident, Smith said he was over at his mom’s helping fix a computer. He had a beer with dinner and another with his dad before setting off to meet his brother, Richard Smith, on the trail. Jeff Smith drove in the dark alongside farm fields and forests before going over a ridge. His headlights reflected off “something,” he said, but Smith only knew it was a helicopter after the cr“I found him face down in the snow,” Benjamin Foster, one of the crew members, told the court. “We rolled him on his back and I might remember yelling or telling one of my crew chiefs to grab some trauma shears and space blankets from the aircraft. ... I remember him gasping for breath.”
Michael Casey, The Associated Press
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Apparently it pays to be stupid
Read the whole article and it seems like a fair decision to me. My question would be just how dark was it.
To each their own, but to me he was obviously going too fast and outdrove his lights resulting in being unable to stop in time. Other articles say he had been drinking as well
The helicopter shouldn't have been there, granted.
But the snowmobile driver couldn't see something as big as a helicopter?
I believe if you hit a parked car while driving, even if it is parked illegally, it is still your fault.
I wonder why the judge didn't apply that logic?
US district judges are usually locals that could factor in .
reading the article , the driver did a number of things wrong , like overdriving his lighting , might have had the lights set from what we normally call high or low beam to the wrong setting , that could factor in on how much light he had to see . wearing tinted eye protection , he wore his sun glasses at night , that never works out and cuts vision when its needed .
lets talk about the aircraft , yeah its big , but painted with a light absorbing paint the military uses , , making it appear as a big hole in the air ..as a military AC it did what it was suppose to do , it became very non visible to an untrained eye. i see that all over the west , especially here in Wyo.
location was a seldom used airfield , likely decommissioned from regular use , but usable by private local entities that has over the years been repurposed for other multiple uses .
conditions ? at dark or after dark , if it were overcast there would be no star or moonlight , from what i read of the locale , not much light pollution, so how dark was it , likely dark enough you could walk withing 50 ft of something and never know it was there unless you were familiar with the area .
It was a training mission the crew was on , i have seen where either guard or active training for dispersals or deployments have used places and locales not of government ownership or under government control, and i have seen ac landing on highways locally for training . but never have i seen a crew just leave their ac or equipment.
Now some can argue this , but training is just that , train as you will fight and all , but in training , the number one thing will always be safety , safety of the asset , in this case the AC , its crew , and the public so yes they could have landed , shut down and taken magnetic stickers of a reflective nature , and placed them on the AC and removed them before flight .
I think that also was in the judges mind .
This isnt the first time i have heard of something like this happen , i witnessed it happen while overseas , only it was a belgian local that rode his bicycle into the back of one of our pieces of equipment , a TEL for the ground launched cruise missile system , the thing is as big as a semi rig , cant miss it , and pretty much the same conditions of dark with no ambient light , and painted in that woodland camo of the era , but basically the same type of paint . the only thing the guy said after we made sure he was ok , was ,"I never saw it ".
That is 60% of the problem right there, in my opinion.
I can see what you wrote.
I agree with much of it but can't help wondering about how the guy could miss a whole helicopter.
i think it boiled down to a "perfect storm " of conditions , exasperated by both .
I think you are right.
As I said before to each their own
Maybe figured the DoD has deep pockets and wouldn't mind a measley 3 million