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Victim in floatplane crash awarded $540,000

Nebraska man and wife continue to suffer, hope to put incident behind them

A Nebraska man says no amount of money will completely heal the injuries he and his wife sustained in a floatplane crash on Green Lake in 2000, but he is looking forward to putting the incident behind him and moving on with his life.

Kenneth Carpenter, one of four sightseers involved in the floatplane crash, was awarded the equivalent of $540,000 Cdn, this week, significantly less than the almost $1.3 million he was asking for. His wife Janice previously settled out of court for an undisclosed amount.

Carpenter and his wife were taking a glacier tour with another couple when the accident occurred on Aug. 17, 2000. All of the passengers were in Whistler for an insurance and personal investment conference, and the 20-minute air tours were being offered as part of the package.

The floatplane belonging to Whistler Air Service crashed into the water shortly after takeoff. The Transportation Safety Board of Canada investigation failed to find a specific cause for the crash, but ruled that the accident was likely caused by a variety of factors, including a leaky float, a heavy take-off weight, an improper flap setting and the direction of the plane in relation to the wind.

According to the report, the pilot recognized that the airspeed was lower than usual within seconds after takeoff, and the plane bounced several times before it got airborne. Realizing that the plane would not clear the trees at the end of the lake, pilot David Down turned the float plane right, heading 90 degrees into the direction of the wind towards Wedge Mountain. After determining that he would not be able to climb out of the turn, he turned right once again. At that point the plane stalled and dropped about 60 feet down into the water. The right float and wingtip hit first, twisting the plane sideways, and both floats were torn off. The aircraft sank nose first into about 15 feet of water.

The pilot and the other two passengers managed to escape shortly after the plane started sinking. The Carpenters had more difficulty. Kenneth remembers being tangled up in headphone wires, and trying to get his wife to swim downwards to the doors instead of up into the back of the plane. He wrote a story about the incident called "God’s 3 Miracles in 3 Minutes".

The first miracle was when he managed to get his wife to swim down towards the doors. The second was that the door, which he had been struggling with seconds earlier, was now open, and his wife was lying in the doorway.

He picked her up, and pushed her out and up towards the surface. He followed, swimming as hard as he could. He surfaced close to Jan, where they were rescued by the third miracle, a pontoon boat that was on the lake that had sped to the crash site.

According to his testimony, Carpenter, believed that his unconscious wife was probably dead after the crash and that he would also die. When he was retrieved from the lake he had water in his lungs, an injured back, and a number of other superficial injuries.

All of the passengers and pilot were taken to the Whistler Health Care Centre for treatment, where the then 61-year-old Carpenter was put on oxygen for several hours before he was released.

Carpenter says he suffered his first panic attack a few days later while taking a bus to the airport in Vancouver. Although he initially thought he had a lung infection, his doctor in Lincoln, Nebraska said he had an anxiety attack and prescribed medication.

Over the next few years Carpenter continued to have attacks, "too many attacks to count." He also said they "always occurred at the worst times," in front of clients and business associates, and were starting to affect his work as general manager of a Lincoln branch of Ameritas Life Insurance Co.

He underwent treatment and counselling for several years, and was prescribed several different types of medication to treat various symptoms. Although there was some improvement and Carpenter was grateful to be alive, he said he never quite recovered – the crash affected his job, his marriage and his ability to enjoy life.

"I have no enthusiasm for doing things I used to love to do, my hunting, my fishing, my activities. I don’t care if I do anything or not," he said.

"My wife is still in a lot of pain all the time… as a result of the accident. We don’t sleep very good, and the quality of life is just not good. I was a very energetic person, always having a lot of fun, doing a lot of things, but now I don’t seem to get much of a kick out of anything."

Although he used to do a lot of travelling as a salesman, Carpenter says he travels less and flies only when it’s necessary. He says his wife doesn’t even like to drive in the car.

Whistler Air Services, pilot David B. Down and their insurers have admitted liability for the incident, but contested the amount of the settlement.

Supreme Court Justice Marion Allan acknowledged Carpenters’ injuries and his loss of capacity, but noted that the man’s condition was continuing to improve. In addition, she noted that he did not continue with counselling or medications, which may have helped Carpenter to make a faster, fuller recovery.

She also addressed Carpenter’s projections for lost income and future losses, noting the recession and the impact of Sept. 11 on the insurance industry, as well as staffing changes in Carpenter’s office that could have affected productivity, along with the accident.

Justice Allan awarded Carpenter $8,000 US in special damages and $55,000 Cdn in non-pecuniary damages, almost exactly what Carpenter had asked for. She also awarded Carpenter $150,000 US for loss of income, less than half of the $367,432 he had claimed, and $250,000 US for loss of future income, a fraction of Carpenter’s $900,000 claim.

She also ruled that the victim was entitled to interest on the special damages and income losses, as well as all legal costs.

Carpenter said it was a fair settlement under the circumstances.

"I think it probably was a good settlement for up there (Canada), but nothing could repay us for what we went through and what we continue to go through, our pain and suffering," he said.

"Hopefully now that this is all done we don’t have to talk about it any more, we can stop talking about it and stop reliving it, that was quite painful…. The longer I go without talking about it, the better."

Carpenter said he believes Whistler Air overloaded the plane by one passenger.

The Transportation Safety Board report on the crash didn’t mention passenger numbers, but did say that the floatplane was near its maximum weight at takeoff.

Mike Quinn, the owner and operator of Whistler Air Services, said he wasn’t following the case and the first he heard of the ruling was when a reporter called him for comment. "I’m not very involved in the going’s on at this point, it’s been up to the insurance company," he said.

Although his insurance rose after the incident, he says his premiums are still reasonable.