Jetcraft Corp. v. Flightsafety International

Wesley Kimball (defendant) was a flight instructor on a jet that crashed when a landing gear collapsed. Kimball was employed by Flightsafety International, Inc. (Flightsafety) (defendant). The jet was owned by Jetcraft Corporation (Jetcraft) (plaintiff). A National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigation found that the jet had a problem with a landing-gear light a few days before the accident, and NTSB tests showed possible problems with the landing-gear assembly. However, the NTSB was unable to confirm that the landing gear had actually malfunctioned. At an informal postaccident conference, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) determined that Kimball had violated an instructor-qualification regulation because, at the time of the crash, Kimball had not properly recorded some of his qualifying activities. For this recordkeeping violation, the FAA suspended Kimball’s license for 60 days and fined Flightsafety. Jetcraft sued Flightsafety and Kimball, alleging that the landing gear’s failure was caused by Kimball operating the gear improperly, not by a mechanical malfunction. Jetcraft moved for summary judgment, arguing that the FAA’s adjudication of Kimball’s recordkeeping violation collaterally estopped Kimball and Flightsafety from denying that Kimball had caused the crash. Alternatively, Jetcraft argued that Kimball’s failure to keep the aircraft safe (1) violated a regulation making a pilot in command responsible for an aircraft’s operation and was negligence per se and (2) meant that Kimball must have been negligent under the doctrine of res ipsa loquitur.