Family Sues After Student Pilot Killed in Kentucky Crash

[golden hawk]

https://www.flyingmag.com/news/family-s ... cky-crash/


Family Sues After Student Pilot Killed in Kentucky Crash

The wrongful death suit claims the cross-country night flight during a thunderstorm was unnecessary and avoidable.
Meg Godlewski
Updated Sep 19, 2024 5:31 PM EDT


The parents of Connor Quisenberry, the flight student killed last September in an airplane crash in Kentucky, have filed a lawsuit alleging the flight was “unnecessary,” and that the crash was “avoidable” and the result of negligence on the part of his flight instructor.

Both Quisenberry and flight instructor Timothy McKellar Jr., 22, were killed when their Piper PA-28-161 was ripped apart in a thunderstorm during a night flight.

The suit names Eagle Flight Academy, where both Quisenberry and McKellar had done their primary flight training, along with ATP Flight Center, where McKellar earned his instructor certificate.

The 28-page complaint filed this week by Ransdell Roach & Royse PLLC of Lexington, Kentucky, documented the events that led up to the ill-fated flight on September 27, 2023.

Quisenberry, 18, had been flying with Eagle Flight Academy since April 2022. According to the lawsuit, the majority of Quisenberry's training was done with CFI Ronnie Bunn.

According to McKellar's social media posts in 2020, he also trained at Eagle Flight Academy, and Bunn was also his instructor in October of that year when he did his first solo.

McKellar completed his training at ATP in Indiana, earning his instructor certificate in May 2023. On his social media pages, McKellar listed himself as an instructor pilot for ATP.

According to the lawsuit, however, "McKellar was employed by ATP for a brief period as a CFI but despite having been trained and certified at ATP Louisville Flight School, he was discharged from employment by ATP due to unsatisfactory performance as a CFI."

The night cross-country flight was the first time Quisenberry flew with McKellar. According to the Quisenberry family, Bunn is colorblind, therefore he could not act as pilot in command (PIC) on a night flight.

The plan was to fly from Owensboro-Daviess County Regional Airport (KOWB) to Bowling Green-Woodhurst Airport (KBWG) in Kentucky.

McKellar documented the night flight through a series of photos and videos, posting to his Snapchat account. The posts began with McKellar on camera, shaking his head with the caption, “me and this student should not get along if he was my full-time student. I’ve seen faster at the Special Olympics.”

The video then flipped around to show Quisenberry, checklist in hand as he performed the preflight inspection of the aircraft in the dark, while McKellar drummed his fingers on the fuselage of the plane.

There were more posts during the flight with McKellar referring to Quisenberry as "Forrest Gump Jr." and "not being the sharpest tool in the shed." These posts went viral and are included in the complaint.

The forecast for the area that night indicated the probability of thunderstorms. According to FlightAware, the aircraft reached Bowling Green and made multiple circuits in the pattern then headed back toward Owensboro.

McKellar posted a Snapchat of the aircraft's flight path and the approaching weather, commenting that thunderstorms were heading toward them "like pissed-off hornets."

According to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) preliminary accident report, the aircraft flew through "heavy to extreme precipitation" shortly after the final Snapchat entry was posted.

McKellar requested an IFR clearance and control gave them a heading to fly. McKellar responded that they were getting "blown around like crazy," and the aircraft was in "extreme turbulence."

The complaint noted that the aircraft appeared to be flying in circles before radio contact was lost.

The next morning the wreckage was found spread out over 25 acres of hilly terrain. The aircraft, per the NTSB, was missing its left wing. The bodies of both men were recovered.

The NTSB investigation is still underway and the agency has not released a final report on the cause of the accident.

The lawsuit alleges that Eagle Flight Academy and ATP knew about McKellar's deficiencies as an instructor but "did not take adequate remedial actions" to address them.

Following the 2023 crash, FLYING made multiple attempts to reach Eagle Flight Academy and its owner, Wilford Voyles Jr., but calls and emails were not returned. The flight school closed in December 2023. ATP did not respond to FLYING’s request for comment.

The lawsuit asks for a jury trial as the family of Quisenberry are seeking to recover the cost of funeral expenses and other unspecified damages.

In interviews with Spectrum News 1 Kentucky, the Quisensberrys noted that the derogatory social media posts made by McKellar were very much a catalyst in their decision to file the lawsuit.

[rookiepilot]

Ugh doesn’t begin to describe this.

Should absolutely be mandatory reading for every flight instructor.

See Timmy….Don’t be Like Timmy.

Be an adult if your going to control an airplane. Triple that if you’re instructing.

And put away your phone!

Did this guy close his instagram before or after trying to fly in night convective IMC?

[PilotDAR]

Yup, that is very not good. Nearly nothing about being a pilot is showing what you can do in an airplane, it should be showing what you know you should do! And particularly for instructors! It is vital to teach good decision making, some of which I'm teaching you to be scared of that and avoid by delay departure, or turn around/divert.

One of the reasons I no longer want to instruct, is I can think of too many ways that my student could get themselves into trouble, and I can't be sure that I have conveyed all of them well enough for them to stick. Where I should be able to train to the new rating standard in 10 or so hours, I can think of all the things I could not possibly train in that time. And if I did mention it as a "beware" during the training, did my caution stick in the candidate's mind?

Instructing is a really big responsibility, and as said, every instructor should read that tale. And, the flying school does have something to answer for!

[digits_]

Bizarre and very sad. One does wonder what they hope to accomplish by suing the dead instructor though.

Initially you'd expect that the social media stuff would have distracted him and would have caused him to miss the thunderstorm in the distance. But he obviously saw them.

Regarding the insults towards the student: did they know each other well, and was this perhaps a bit of juvenile humor?

I am also surprised the instructor's flight school gets sued. They are casting a very wide net. Does a med school usually gets sued as well if a doctor screws up? Or a driving instructor if someone gets in an accident?

[7ECA]

Being that this occurred in the Litigious States of America, you sue absolutely everyone even remotely connected to an incident and see what sticks. If you look into other high profile incidents that result in civil suits, you will see a similar pattern.

Suing the deceased instructor may sound stupid, but they're going after his estate (if there is one). Suing the FTU is along the same lines, regardless of the school being defunct there is likely still assets that could be recovered.

Ultimately though the article shows one side of the story - albeit a fairly damning portrayal of negligence and stupidity on the part of the instructor, who appears unbelievably ignorant. The student is shown to be blameless, but the argument will be made in court (if it makes it to trial) that it takes two to tango and the flight wouldn't have taken off without the student's consent...

Any money awarded will largely go to the lawyers, as is always the way. Sad story, and a waste of two young lives.

[lownslow]

Being that this occurred in the Litigious States of America, you sue absolutely everyone even remotely connected to an incident and see what sticks. If you look into other high profile incidents that result in civil suits, you will see a similar pattern.

In many cases in the US this is driven by the insurance company. This is where the crazy stories like the woman who sued her seven year old nephew or the person who sued themself come from: it’s the only way to trigger a payout. We the general public only ever really hear something absurd and without context when this happens.

[PilotDAR]

The student is shown to be blameless, but the argument will be made in court (if it makes it to trial) that it takes two to tango and the flight wouldn't have taken off without the student's consent...

Not entirely blameless, but, depending upon how well and persuasively good decision making was trained to the student, he may not have had the capacity to decide to not, in particular, when his instructor is promoting the idea.

Teaching a person how to fly is one thing, teaching them when to fly is a whole other element of flight training - and outside the skill set of some new instructors.

[rookiepilot]

NTSB Preliminary report. Great night for VFR flight instruction.



https://www.flyingmag.com/ntsb-prelimin ... -released/

The Weather
METARs from the area at the time of the flight show severe weather with lightning in all quadrants. Additionally, the TAFs from earlier in the day indicate the possibility of convective weather.
At 22:15, approximately one hour after takeoff, McKellar posted an annotated weather image from a mobile-device-based aviation navigation tool. The image shows the airplane’s position northwest of Bowling Green, Kentucky, along with the planned route of flight to KOWB. Weather radar imagery was also displayed in the image, which had been annotated with a circle around the flight track and nearby weather radar returns and a comment from McKellar about the storms approaching like “angry hornets.”
A screen grab of the post is included in the NTSB report, with attention called to the location of the approaching storms, airplane’s position (blue airplane icon), the planned route of flight (magenta line), and the depicted weather radar imagery with the storms circled in red.

[karmutzen]

Teaching a person how to fly is one thing, teaching them when to fly is a whole other element of flight training

Done a bit of that, passing on the elements of go-no go. A subject sorely missed and not covered much in flight schools apart from a blanket "don't fly". Can't blame them, look at this example of a) ensuing litigation and b) difficulty finding a mature instructor to teach those elements.

[pelmet]

Being that this occurred in the Litigious States of America, you sue absolutely everyone even remotely connected to an incident and see what sticks. If you look into other high profile incidents that result in civil suits, you will see a similar pattern.

The instinct is in Canada too. I had a person hiding behind a handle on a forum threaten to sue me just for posting one of his Twitter posts(that had a separate handle) on that forum. Claimed his reputation had been damaged even though nobody know who either handle actually is .

Still waiting for the court date.

[rookiepilot]

Predictable

[pelmet]

Predictable

Thanks for the usual style input on this thread. Now back to my preference for hopefully making useful posts to hopefully preventing accidents on other threads.

[Tbayer2021]

Being that this occurred in the Litigious States of America, you sue absolutely everyone even remotely connected to an incident and see what sticks. If you look into other high profile incidents that result in civil suits, you will see a similar pattern.

The instinct is in Canada too. I had a person hiding behind a handle on a forum threaten to sue me just for posting one of his Twitter posts(that had a separate handle) on that forum. Claimed his reputation had been damaged even though nobody know who either handle actually is .

Still waiting for the court date.

I find it quite telling that you don't have to say the person's handle for us to know who you're talking about.

[rookiepilot]

Teaching a person how to fly is one thing, teaching them when to fly is a whole other element of flight training

Done a bit of that, passing on the elements of go-no go. A subject sorely missed and not covered much in flight schools apart from a blanket "don't fly". Can't blame them, look at this example of a) ensuing litigation and b) difficulty finding a mature instructor to teach those elements.

This. An overlooked area of flight training.

[rookiepilot]

Predictable

Thanks for the usual style input on this thread. Now back to my preference for hopefully making useful posts to hopefully preventing accidents on other threads.

How? By creating a new series of checklists?

“Don't fly into thunderstorms at night while instructing and on instagram”

[JBI]

Bizarre and very sad. One does wonder what they hope to accomplish by suing the dead instructor though.

Due to Civil Procedure Rules and Time Limits, it's necessary to name all the potential defendants when starting a lawsuit. It's much easier to end a case against a Defendant that's named than it is to try and name a new Defendant later (it's not impossible, but harder to do).

As for naming the instructor, he would still, generally speaking, be covered under the Flight School's insurance as an employee. So if it's was his negligence, or negligence on the part of the flight school, the school's insurance would be on the hook if it was found to be negligence.

However, in the extremely rare chance that the employee was acting far outside the course and scope of his employment, you can still sometimes collect on various home owner personal liability policies.

Initially you'd expect that the social media stuff would have distracted him and would have caused him to miss the thunderstorm in the distance. But he obviously saw them.

Regarding the insults towards the student: did they know each other well, and was this perhaps a bit of juvenile humor?

I am also surprised the instructor's flight school gets sued. They are casting a very wide net. Does a med school usually gets sued as well if a doctor screws up? Or a driving instructor if someone gets in an accident?

As for the lawsuit against ATP, that's an interesting one. There have been a few different unsuccessful lawsuits for 'negligent education' for lack of a better term which is exactly like you discuss. At the same time, if ATP knew this guy was a sh!t instructor and, potentially, a safety hazard, do they have a duty of care to warn other schools? I think that legally it's a stretch, but not impossible.

While I'm not necessarily defending the way the legal system works, I would say that on its face, this poor student shouldn't be dead. Whether it's the flight school or the instructor, there should have been some smarter decisions made before they went out flying. When someone is injured or dies either fully or partially as a result of someone else's negligence, the legal system is set up to provide compensation.

[rookiepilot]

Bizarre and very sad. One does wonder what they hope to accomplish by suing the dead instructor though.

Due to Civil Procedure Rules and Time Limits, it's necessary to name all the potential defendants when starting a lawsuit. It's much easier to end a case against a Defendant that's named than it is to try and name a new Defendant later (it's not impossible, but harder to do).

As for naming the instructor, he would still, generally speaking, be covered under the Flight School's insurance as an employee. So if it's was his negligence, or negligence on the part of the flight school, the school's insurance would be on the hook if it was found to be negligence.

However, in the extremely rare chance that the employee was acting far outside the course and scope of his employment, you can still sometimes collect on various home owner personal liability policies.

Initially you'd expect that the social media stuff would have distracted him and would have caused him to miss the thunderstorm in the distance. But he obviously saw them.

Regarding the insults towards the student: did they know each other well, and was this perhaps a bit of juvenile humor?

I am also surprised the instructor's flight school gets sued. They are casting a very wide net. Does a med school usually gets sued as well if a doctor screws up? Or a driving instructor if someone gets in an accident?

As for the lawsuit against ATP, that's an interesting one. There have been a few different unsuccessful lawsuits for 'negligent education' for lack of a better term which is exactly like you discuss. At the same time, if ATP knew this guy was a sh!t instructor and, potentially, a safety hazard, do they have a duty of care to warn other schools? I think that legally it's a stretch, but not impossible.

While I'm not necessarily defending the way the legal system works, I would say that on its face, this poor student shouldn't be dead. Whether it's the flight school or the instructor, there should have been some smarter decisions made before they went out flying. When someone is injured or dies either fully or partially as a result of someone else's negligence, the legal system is set up to provide compensation.

The legal system ensures accountability, ensures responsibility.

A ton of posters here would have no issue suing an employer in court that willingly defrauds them on a bond, for instance, or doesn’t pay them — but an irresponsible flight school — potentially— that costs someone their life, shouldn’t be held accountable?

Ridiculous. And hypocritical.

[digits_]

As for the lawsuit against ATP, that's an interesting one. There have been a few different unsuccessful lawsuits for 'negligent education' for lack of a better term which is exactly like you discuss. At the same time, if ATP knew this guy was a sh!t instructor and, potentially, a safety hazard, do they have a duty of care to warn other schools? I think that legally it's a stretch, but not impossible.

Thank you for the info!

Do you know of any that have been succesfull? Either in aviation or any other industry?

[CpnCrunch]

A ton of posters here would have no issue suing an employer in court that willingly defrauds them on a bond, for instance, or doesn’t pay them — but an irresponsible flight school — potentially— that costs someone their life, shouldn’t be held accountable?

No, ATP wasnt the employer. That was Eagle, who are also named in the lawsuit.

This article has more details:

https://spectrumnews1.com/ky/louisville ... sh-lawsuit

I think the key question is whether ATP gave a reference and what they said, or whether Eagle ever asked for a reference.

[JBI]

The legal system ensures accountability, ensures responsibility.

A ton of posters here would have no issue suing an employer in court that willingly defrauds them on a bond, for instance, or doesn’t pay them — but an irresponsible flight school — potentially— that costs someone their life, shouldn’t be held accountable?

Ridiculous. And hypocritical.

Not totally sure if the ridiculous and hypocritical comments were meant towards me or not, but I will mention that I usually put the disclaimer when explaining things about the legal systems (specifically civil litigation which I practiced) as sometimes my explanations get misconstrued as arguing a position as opposed to just providing an explanation. Overall I think our legal system in Canada is pretty great. It's not perfect and we have some major issues with affordability, but compared to many other legal systems around the world, we've got it pretty good.

[JBI]

As for the lawsuit against ATP, that's an interesting one. There have been a few different unsuccessful lawsuits for 'negligent education' for lack of a better term which is exactly like you discuss. At the same time, if ATP knew this guy was a sh!t instructor and, potentially, a safety hazard, do they have a duty of care to warn other schools? I think that legally it's a stretch, but not impossible.

Thank you for the info!

Do you know of any that have been succesful? Either in aviation or any other industry?

I'm afraid I haven't followed up with the more recent developments in this area of the law.

The case that I'm somewhat familiar with is mentioned in this Flying Magazine Article https://www.flyingmag.com/news-cirrus-s ... verturned/

It's actually pretty interesting (though unfortunate as it stems from a fatal accident). A fellow purchased a Cirrus and as part of the contract of sale, Cirrus provided the pilot with type specific training. Unfortunately, after a relatively short period, the pilot was involved in a fatal accident. The records of the training were a little ambiguous as to what training was received, so one of the claims made by the passenger and pilot's estates were that Cirrus didn't provide the proper training on this aircraft. The trial court decided in favour of the Plaintiffs, but it was overturned on appeal (which one judge dissenting). So while it's not a recognized cause of action in Minnesota (or other common law jurisdictions that I know of), if memory serves me correctly (it was over ten years ago that I did a presentation on the doctrine), the court hadn't entirely shut the door on that type of cause of action.

Personally, I could see a situation where a training organization (in aviation or otherwise) was so grossly negligent in how they trained someone, that they could be found liable. But, it would be one of those situations where even to outside observers the facts would be so egregious that, quite frankly, the training organizations' lawyers would be telling them to settle before trial!