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Community | 15
DECEMBER 2019 ■ www.ReporterNewspapers.net
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blown accidents. The term refers to an
unauthorized plane, person or vehicle on
a runway. Incursions can range from mi
nor incidents to near-misses with catas
trophe.
Evans acknowledged that, while the
national rate of runway incursions is fall
ing, PDK’s is not. He said 2018 was a “bad
year here,” with 28 runway incursions,
and 7 as of mid-2019. But, he said, those
incidents are dangers at the airport, not
in the surrounding neighborhoods.
The underlying issue is ever increas
ing development around PDK, which
started as a semi-rural military air
port. Coleman said that mirrors nation
al trends, where airports built in once-re-
mote areas to mitigate safety and noise
concerns are now attracting develop
ment on their boundaries. That increases
the actual risk of crashes, Coleman said,
as well as the phenomenon of residents
moving nearby and starting to perceive
safety and noise issues.
On the other hand, Coleman said, gen
eral aviation aircraft are becoming safer
in design and maintenance. In the 1950s,
the era when PDK switched to civilian
use, crashes “were way more routine,”
Coleman said. “I don’t think [nearby de
velopment] is as a big a risk as it might
have been” in that era.
Low-risk is not no-risk, and some
planes crash somewhere. People who suf
fer injuries or property damage may be
stuck with bills.
Commercial airlines in the U.S. have
had mandatory insurance coverage rules
since the 1980s, but
general aviation still
does not. Many other
countries mandate
coverage, includ
ing Canada, Austra
lia and the Europe
an Union’s member
states. According
to a 2015 U.S. Gov
ernment Account
ability Office report
about a possible fed
eral mandate, even
the handful of states
that require insur
ance coverage large
ly lack review or en
forcement processes, so compliance is
unknown.
However, according to the report, to
tal lack of insurance is rare. Under-insur
ance that fails to fully cover medical bills
and damage is a more common problem,
it said.
Alan Armstrong, an aviation attor
ney based in DeKalb, is representing Pat
terson in seeking compensation for the
Oct. 30 accident. Armstrong said he has
turned down cases involving uninsured
pilots, but agreed that under-insurance is
an issue. He said that some beginner pi
lots can get only $100,000 in liability cov
erage, and that standard $1 million pol
icies don’t always pay out the way that
sounds. “From a liability standpoint, lia
bility’s not an issue. An airplane crashed
in a guy’s house,” Armstrong said of this
type of case. “It’s a fairly simple case once
you figure out insurance.”
One reason for the lack of a federal
mandate is that many airports require li
ability insurance for aircraft based there.
PDK, for example, requires a minimum
of $1 million in liability coverage, accord
ing to DeKalb County spokesperson Les
lie Agee. But that does not apply to air
craft visiting the airport - the pilot in
the Oct. 30 crash was from North Caro
lina, according to county officials - and
there may be devils in the details of the
policies.
Armstrong said the lack of a feder
al insurance mandate is largely because
there has been no “national dilemma” -
a major incident where under-insurance
caused a problem.
Above, John Patterson stands next
to the hole an airplane made in his
spare bedroom in an Oct. 30 crash.
(John Ruch)
Top left, the debris of a plane that
crashed in the front yard of a house on
Chamblee-Dunwoody Road in 2008, killing
the pilot, in a photo from a National
Transportation Safety Board report.
(Special)
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