Plane crash compesation case dismissed

Oct 06, 2003

A CASE in which owners of an aeroplane that killed Lt Col Jet Mwebaze had sought compensation against the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), has been dismissed

By Hillary Nsambu

A CASE in which owners of an aeroplane that killed Lt Col Jet Mwebaze had sought compensation against the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), has been dismissed.

Peter Pekke Wekesa, the registered Ugandan owner of the aircraft together with Tana and Mara Aviation, a Kenyan leasing company, had sought US$321,000 over sh577m as compensation, claiming that CAA was negligent.

However, the High Court judge, John Bosco Katutsi said he could not hold the Authority responsible for the crash. He ordered Wekesa and Tana and Mara Aviation to pay the costs of the suit.

“The CAA was not responsible for the mishap. Evidence on record shows that under the Visual Flight Rules (VFR), the pilot-in-command of the plane was responsible,” the judge ruled.

The aircraft, in which four people died irreparably crashed on September 25, 1998 at Kaburubutu Peak, Kisomoro sub-county in Kaborole District, Western Uganda.

The judge agreed with James Mukasa Ssebugenyi and Gerald Kakuba, who represented CAA, that the plaintiffs had failed to satisfy him over CAA’s negligence or that they had breached a contract.

The plaintiffs, represented by Stephen Mungoma and L. Owori, had also requested court to consider the doctrine of “facts speak for themselves” in case it had not been satisfied with their plea.

They argued that while their plane was in the CAA airspace, it crashed due to poor communication between the pilot and the control tower.

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});