ORIGINAL: Top_Gunn
I am a lawyer who has co-authored a book on personal injury law, though it's not my main area of interest.
There is no such legal concept as ''taking over liability.'' And while there are areas of law where liability is ''strict,'' those areas do not include taking over flying a model from someone having trouble. It's certainly true that you risk being sued if something goes awry. And that's no fun. even if you win in the end. But it is not the case that you will necessarily lose.
(On another matter, I have no idea what LCS's post means, so I won't respond to it. I think it's clear that all the rest of us are talking about civil law.)
[8D] Thank you for the answer Al .
Gee , In re reading my above post , It sure does look in print a heck of a lot more wiseassed than I had intended it to . For that you have my apology .
The Lawyer I spoke with made reference to the fact that since the CD had made the determination that the flyer was unfit and thus assumed control of the model , it would be him who were sued if God forbid the model were to then strike someone or something while under the CD's command . There couldn't possibly be any negligence on the model owner's part since he is no longer in control of the craft . After the dust settles it would be the guy holding the TX who bore the end responsibility for demanding the TX from the pilot and hopefully the AMA would come to his attempted legal rescue .
I do find it interesting that in only two places of all the AMA documents I've searched is there mention of the removal of a pilot while the model is flying , and these are the FPV primary LOS pilot taking over for the video goggle wearing pilot should the model begin to stray from the primary pilot's LOS and the "Buddy Box" training of a new flyer . In both situations BOTH pilots are already holding transmitters and are planning on (the possibility) of handing over control to the other pilot . Notice how there is NO passing of a TX from one set of hands to the next while the model flies ? This simple passing of the TX may just be enough negligence to get them BOTH in legal hot water should the unthinkable happen . As an open question to all members , if any AMA document exists where it is specifically condoned to pass a flying model's transmitter from one set of hands to the next I'd darned well like to see it , as I've got several hours into the search and havnt found such mention yet ????