Tower controllers to blame for fatal helicopter crash in Torrance, judge rules
Ruling contradicts an FAA finding that the surviving pilot caused the collision that killed two in a second chopper.
Air traffic controllers at Torrance Municipal Airport made a critical mistake that caused two helicopters to collide in front of the control tower in 2003, killing two men in one chopper and seriously injuring the pilot of the other, a federal judge has ruled.
U.S. District Judge Florence-Marie Cooper's ruling Monday in Los Angeles directly contradicted a report by the National Transportation and Safety Board that concluded the surviving pilot, Gavin Heyworth, was to blame for the crash.
Cooper determined that both pilots "properly relied upon and complied with the control instruction they were given by" air traffic controller Edward Weber.
The judge found that Weber and controller Cynthia Issa made a string of procedural violations and negligent decisions that led to the fatal crash.
They acted "negligently and carelessly" in failing to keep "adequate vigilance and positional/situational awareness of the air traffic at and around Torrance Airport," Cooper wrote. And Weber "failed to issue clear and concise instructions" to Heyworth.
The ruling came in a lawsuit filed by Heyworth against the Federal Aviation Administration last year.
"I hope this case is a wake-up call for the FAA," said his attorney, James L. Pocrass. "When you and I are on an airplane and we're coming into LAX, we expect the air traffic controllers are going to do their job, and they didn't in this case."
The government's lead attorney, Debra D. Fowler, special aviation counsel for the U.S. Justice Department, and Assistant U.S. Atty. James Sullivan said they could not comment on pending litigation.
Cooper still has to decide what, if any, damages to award the sole survivor and the families of the deceased.
Heyworth was a 22-year-old student pilot the afternoon of Nov. 6, 2003. He had just returned from a tour of duty as a Marine in Iraq and hoped to become a professional helicopter pilot. Torrance Municipal Airport-Zamperini Field is a major training ground for new pilots and is home to Robinson Helicopter, the nation's largest manufacturer of civilian helicopters.
Heyworth met with his instructor at Pacific Coast Helicopters near the control tower and prepared for a solo flight in a Robinson R-22.
The Torrance control tower does not have radar, so controllers and pilots rely on sight. The controllers work in a glass enclosure atop the tower where they have unimpeded views of the two parallel runways.
