Jury awards $89M in N. Lima crash

April 8, 2010 at 12:01a.m.

Staff and wire report

PHILADELPHIA

A jury has handed down an $89 million award against a Pennsylvania engine manufacturer in a plane crash that killed four people in Ohio nearly 11 years ago.

The Philadelphia Common Pleas Court jury Tuesday awarded $25 million in compensatory damages and $64 million in punitive damages to the families of victims of the August 1999 plane crash near Youngstown-Elser Airport, North Lima, Ohio.

Two men from suburban Philadelphia and a Maryland man died in the crash. One 15-year-old boy died, and another was the lone survivor. The survivor and two families sued Lycoming Engines, claiming they concealed a carburetor problem that led to the crash.

An attorney for the Williamsport-based company says the National Transportation Safety Board found the engine wasn’t at fault. He says the company will appeal.

Vindicator files report that the plane was flying from Oshkosh, Wis., when it stopped to refuel at Elser. It was headed to Pennsylvania but crashed in a cornfield about a half-mile north of the runway.

Rescue workers had to trample 6-foot cornstalks in an area about the size of half a football field to make room for two medical helicopters to land, the files say.

A North Lima man, upon whose property the Piper Cherokee landed, said at the time that he had complained to airport officials about low-flying planes.

He said there’s a hill at the end of the runway that makes it difficult for pilots to get high enough.

About a week after the crash, a preliminary report from the National Transportation Safety Board said the plane was dangerously close to its maximum weight limit, according to Vindicator files.

The preliminary report found that the plane weighed 3,390 pounds. The maximum weight limit for that size airplane is 3,400 pounds.