Briton Acquitted of Gyro Murder

H

Hognose

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This is the case where the hunting opponent and hunting supporter squared off on an airfield, and the animal rights guy ran the hunter guy down. Whatever it is, the court just said it ain't murder.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/2/hi/uk_news/england/coventry_warwickshire/8571913.stm

Bryan Griffiths, 55, was acquitted of the manslaughter by gross negligence of Warwickshire Hunt member Trevor Morse at Long Marston airfield in March 2009.
Birmingham Crown Court heard Mr Morse, 48, refused to move as the craft neared him and died instantly when struck.
Click to expand...

So, I guess that moves it from wherever we were talking about it, to here in the accident forum.

However -- if one persists in acting aggressively and immaturely at the controls of an aircraft, is the result really an "accident?"

cheers

-=K=-
 
Some of his aviation decisions seem to have been highly questionable.

A man is dead because he decided to move forward with his aircraft with limited clearance and someone near a running engine.

It would seem he had done it long, or often enough to have provoked a reaction.
 
Took the jury seven hours to reach the verdict. Sounds like it was a close one.
Wonder how the fox is doing ?
 
I would think that now the pilot has to live with his decision the rest of his life. I am sure it will haunt him.
 
There are always 2 sides to the story, I would say those hunting supporters were pretty much doing the wrong thing as well. You have to be in the wrong place, to get hit by the prop in the first place. They approached the aircraft and surrounded him, he then moved forward to get away. It's clear he informed them of his actions. What came first might I ask? Chicken or egg? The hunting supporters were never supposed to be that close. If they had not aimed to "pin him down" by appoaching him to close quarters, he would not have been in the unfortunate situation.

I'm sure the jury know what they were doing......
 
Friendly said:
I would think that now the pilot has to live with his decision the rest of his life. I am sure it will haunt him.
Click to expand...

Well I guess it is better to be haunted at home.
 
(From memory) I think the gyro was on a taxiway at an airport (where pedestrians and people are not supposed to be).

It is too bad a life had to be lost and I think it is good the pilot was not found guilty.

But I cannot side with the original motive of the pilot who's sole purpose was to disrupt and interfere with the fox hunt from his aircraft. These old time traditional hunters were playing out a traditional fox hunt on land they had permission to use and most likely used a fake fox.

I don't think they chase live foxes any more. They sometimes drag an old fox fur across a pre described course and the (pretending) hunters let the dogs follow the scent. Reminds me of greyhounds chasing fake rabbits at the racetrack.

They should have the freedom to participate in their sport without a greedpeace type activist buzzing them.

Beware of the activists. They are all around and in the air and coming soon to an airport near you. They are well funded and always get to hold the microphone.
 
In any conflict of interest be it abortion, fox hunting, politics, airport closure, one will find extremists facing off over their particular beliefs, and that is when people get hurt, or in this case killed.

It is my, probably unjust belief, that if he felt so strongly about a fox one may find he feels not so strongly about the death of a fox hunter.

For example, anti-cruelty to animal nuts, will quite happily do unspeakable things to people in the name of their cause.

I try to steer clear of extremists of any stripe.
 
All the circumstances surrounding this are immaterial. A person approaches your aircraft you kill the engine! Simple.
 
Normal people try to avoid hitting a dog that darts into the path of their automobile, not deliberately run it down.

Save the foxes: Kill the fox hunters
 
The court decided that it wasn't criminal.
That doesn't make it smart.
And it doesn't protect against getting sued by the heirs for big bucks.
 
On a different angle, I guess it is good news for the sport of Gyroplanes in the UK. A guilty verdict might have opened the doors to very large insurance claims - the net result would be a hike (perhaps an unaffordable one) in the cost of insurance which is mandatory. Could have killed the sport for the rest of us.
 
Quite agree. Difficult enough as it is without actions like this making it worse.
 
Tim you make a very good point. Some extraordinary judgments, and sentences are made for this very reason.

We have had a number of very contentious rulings and sentences due to limiting legislation that was either out of date or poorly thought out.
 
Ironic that the only 'third party' UK gyro fatality (and that is all we should be concerned with...third parties) involves the first secT machine!

Maybe if the props had yellow tips it would have helped. Obviously isn't in the sec T rulebook!
 
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