Las Vegas Midair Elicits Lawsuit From Instructor Pilot’s Family

According to reporting in the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the family of a flight instructor killed in a midair collision is suing the estate of the other pilot involved in the accident, who also died. As previously reported, Donald Goldberg, 82, was flying a Piper PA-46 Malibu Mirage on a flight from Idaho to North Las Vegas Airport. On final approach, his airplane overtook a Cessna 172 Skyhawk on an instructional flight with 40-year-old Anthony Chiaramonti in the right seat. Both pilots were killed along with Goldberg’s wife, Carol Scanlon, 76, and Chiaramonti’s student Zach Rainey.

Goldberg had been cleared for a visual approach to Runway 30L, but on his turn from base to final overshot the runway extended centerline and overtook Chiaramonti’s Cessna on the approach path to parallel Runway 30R. Goldberg had acknowledged his clearance to land on Runway 30L.

In an email to the paper, the attorney representing Chiaramonti’s family wrote, “One of the fundamental responsibilities of a pilot is to see and avoid other planes. Mr. Goldberg utterly failed to do so when he lined up his plane to land on the wrong runway and flew into the rear of Tony Chiaramonti’s plane, who was landing on the correct runway.”

The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported that attorneys for Goldberg’s family had not responded to requests for comment.