The federal government has agreed to pay $750,000 to settle two lawsuits filed by the family of an Oahu veterinarian who crashed his private aircraft into the side of the Koolau Mountains about four years ago.
Nicholas Palumbo, 81, and his 20-year-old son, Timothy, died Jan. 10, 2010, when their single-engine Piper Cherokee airplane crashed into the Mauumae ridge above Maunalani Heights.
The elder Palumbo was the owner and pilot of the aircraft. His son was his only passenger.
The Palumbos were returning to Oahu from Lanai, where Nicholas Palumbo operated a veterinary clinic on weekends.
The National Transportation Safety Board said in a January 2011 preliminary report that Palumbo, who was only qualified to navigate by sight, got caught up in some rain clouds and was off course. When Palumbo told the air traffic controller at Honolulu Airport that he was flying over the Waialae Country Club golf course, he was actually 2.5 miles east of there.
The controller had been tracking Palumbo’s aircraft by radar and knew that Palumbo was not where he thought he was. One minute and 20 seconds later, the controller told Palumbo he was heading toward the mountain and to turn right or left. Ten seconds later the airplane crashed.
The NTSB said that the controller had sufficient information to determine that a low-altitude alert was necessary but failed to issue one, attempting to correct the aircraft’s direction rather than help the pilot immediately climb to a safe altitude.
Widow Mary Suzanne Palumbo sued the federal government on behalf of her husband’s estate. Her son William also sued the government and his father’s estate on behalf of his brother Timothy’s estate. The Nicholas Palumbo estate later agreed that the Timothy Palumbo estate will receive the entire $100,000 due from the aircraft’s insurance policy.
The government agreed to pay $723,150 to the Timothy Palumbo estate and the rest to the Nicholas Palumbo estate.
