Appeal court judges find pilot ‘guilty of negligent homicide’
After the shock acquittal of a pilot who chose to save himself and his passenger by making an emergency landing on a packed beach in August – killing two – Lisbon judges have ‘thought again’.
Considering the appeal by the Public Prosecutor’s Office, the judges have decided that yes, instructor pilot Carlos Conde d’Almeida was indeed guilty of crimes of negligent homicide and “dangerous driving of a means of air transportation”.
As Public Prosecutors had argued at the initial trial, he “traded the dangers for himself and his pupil” of ‘ditching’ his stricken plane in the water, for the “safe death of others“, on a beach thronging with people.
Thus Lisbon’s Court of Appeal “revoked the acquittal decision, and convicted” Conde d’Almeida “due to the understanding that (he) acted with serious negligence by not following the technical safety rules, opting to try to restart the engine (after failure) instead of immediately choosing a safe place to land, resulting in a fatal collision”.
The court decided to suspend Conde d’Almeida’s prison sentence for four years, a measure “conditional on attending, during the period of suspension, an aeronautical safety training programme, to be promoted by a competent entity”.
In other words, during these next four years, Carlos Conde d’Almeida cannot fly an aircraft unsupervised.
“The choice of a prison sentence is justified by the seriousness of the consequences of the defendant’s negligent behavior, which resulted in the death of two people”, said the court. “The imposition of a prison sentence responds both to the need to reprimand the conduct and to the requirements of general prevention, given the lethal and avoidable effect of the action”.
The court ruling stresses that the penalty is intended to “reinforce (Conde d’Almeirda’s) awareness of the seriousness of the effects of negligent conduct and to encourage safer and more rigorous professional practice.
“The defendant’s guilt is significant, given that, as an instructor pilot, he was fully aware of the rules of care that require the immediate choice of a safe place to land in the event of engine failure. By insisting on trying to restart the engine, the defendant created an objective and avoidable danger to the lives of third parties,” said judges.
In the context of general prevention, the court assumed that “society demands a criminal response that discourages disregard for the rules of care in risky contexts such as aviation”.
Judges also warned that the sentence “should serve as an example to aviation professionals, emphasising the seriousness of safety standards and the obligation to observe them”.
Readers may remember this awful story. It dates back to 2017, and involved Conde d’Almeida making an emergency landing on São João da Caparica beach, in the municipality of Almada, killing a 56-year-old man as he lay sunbathing, and an eight-year-old girl as she ran in fright with her family towards safety.
The child’s family was left utterly devastated by the initial court ruling, thus this conviction will bring some inkling to them that justice has been served. ND
Source material: LUSA
