Driver who killed motorcyclist gets 14 years - Page 3

 [Default] On Sat, 7 Jun 2008 02:36:00 -0400, "David T. Ashley"


Pleading guilty to "DUI manslaughter" might give you a hint.


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"It's not that I'm afraid to die. I just don't want to be there when it
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Ah, OK.  I didn't see that in the article.

Traffic accidents are regrettable, naturally, but unless someone is drinking
or driving recklessly, I wouldn't see 14 years coming out of it.  People
make bad decisions, and that is the nature of being human.  Do it 10,000
times, and sooner or later you will zig when you should have zagged.

I mean, are you going to go after every airline pilot who makes a bad
decision (misinterprets a mechanical failure, etc.) and kills people?  That
is what people are.

Killing a cyclist who led an honorable life ... not worth 14 years unless
there was something to aggravate the probabilities.  DUI says it all.

 In rec.motorcycles, David T. Ashley wrote:


One does not usually have to "go after" an airline pilot who crashed -
except to locate his parts for some sort of burial. Analogy not
accepted.

--
   -bts
   -Friends don't let friends drive Windows

 
Most often, what you say is true.  The crew generally ends up dead.

However, I can think of two exceptions in the past 20 years or so.

The first was a guy named Kevin Bacon (I remember the name because it was
identical to the name of the famous actor) who downed a 737 outside of
London.  One of the two engines had a major mechanical shortly after
takeoff, and he shut down the wrong engine (scorecard at that point:  low
altitude, one engine mechanically failed, and one shut down).  The flight
didn't end well.  In any case, there were no criminal charges.  I really do
understand that decision--there are warning devices going off, the airplane
is hard to control, and you have only two levers you can pull.  In that kind
of a situation, pulling the wrong lever is ... understandable.

The second was some Korean Airlines pilot who crashed a jet short of the
runway.  He was quoted later as saying that maybe he shouldn't have tried to
land in such a heavy snowstorm (ya think?).  Typical bad decision.  Again,
I'm assuming no criminal charges.

Nobody was trying to kill anybody.

Sometimes the pilots do survive.

But usually (at least 75% of the time), you are right.  The crew is toast.

 In rec.motorcycles, David T. Ashley wrote:


I lost two good friends to crashes, both in the cockpit. One was the GIB
(back in the late 60s when there were still three guys) in that Convair
crash at Midway, and the other was the captain of the DC-9 that had its
tail taken off coming into Indianapolis by a inattentive private pilot,
also in the late 60s.

--
   -bts
   -Friends don't let friends drive Windows