An Arlington, Washington man has filed a lawsuit against multiple aircraft operators at the local airport alleging their planes are "spewing lead" over his home and those of his neighbours. Scott Iceberg is asking Snohomish County Superior Court to force the defendants to stop using leaded fuel and to stop flying over his apartment because of the noise it makes and the "panic attacks" it causes him to have. Iceberg says he has a chronic illness that makes him more vulnerable to the health impacts of those who "fly around in a little airplane for fun." Iceberg's fourth floor apartment is a few blocks from the perimeter fence of Arlington Airport and would appear to be in both of the patterns for each of two runways AVweb called Iceberg but were politely hung up on by Google Assistant after a couple of questions about the nature of our inquiry.
Iceberg says he has a chronic illness that makes him more vulnerable to the health impacts of those who “fly around in a little airplane for fun.”
And AVweb gives the attorneys the document to copy and paste from.
One could see the absurdity of such a lawsuit and wonder just about when the first drone operator causes a Loss of life accident and sues the estate of the pilot for a new drone. Can’t make this stuff up folks! This getting mighty silly…
They should never have built that stinking airport so close to his apartment…oh, wait it was the other way around. Apartment usually means transient living, not long term, so I imagine he is probably fairly new to the “hood”. So why did he move there? If it were me and those planes were causing me PTSD, I would move again.
Is anyone here old enough to remember the tsunami of lawsuits against general aviation during the 80s and 90s?
Yeah, compared to that this isn’t even in the noise level.
SCOTT FRANCIS ICEBERG is a serial suit filer. He has previously also sued the landscaper that maintains his apartment complex and the state health department among others
It is unfortunate that these types of frivolous lawsuits are made. But as they say, you can be sued for anything.
Interesting that in the list of documents the plaintiff requests, aircraft and pilot flight logs are not included. Seems like those would be helpful in proving the defendant flies over the apartment up to 100 times per day.
What’s next? Is he going to sue the owners of classic cars that drive by his apartment, on their way to the car shows? Those cars don’t have any emission controls, many run lead substitutes, and a great deal of them run loud exhaust systems. I guess crying back to mommy and or moving back into her basement, isn’t an option?
Correct. It is indeed unfortunate that these kinds of lawsuits are made. However, let’s not let our heads explode over a poorly written complaint filled with silly, sophomoric comments and generally devoid of real facts. “He chooses to fly over me?” “He likes lead?” Wow.
What is truly a shame is not where this suit is going (probably nowhere), but what the defendant now has to do to defend against this travesty. He will have to answer the complaint by hiring an attorney. A good attorney should be able to have this thrown out on it’s merit (or lack of) or just answer with demands for more information, etc. Sort of like what the plaintiff demanded with his silly request for irrelevant documents while ignoring more salient information. I’m not an attorney, but isn’t there a burden on the plaintiff to prove how he was harmed other than “it makes me nervous?”
Okay all you closet aviation climate warriors, tell us how he is correct in suing the airport. This guy is clearly looking for a payday. Like the lawyer in our area that bought himself a wheelchair and took it to local businesses. If he couldn’t get 100% of everywhere he sued the business on behalf of disabled people.
These two are cut from the same cloth.
And this is not a case for more rapid development of electric aircraft, this is a case for the return of common sense.
Has anyone availed themselves of the various privacy options for ADS-B and had some experience they can relate? Obviously this guy was sitting on Flightaware looking for who was flying overhead “thousands of times per year” given one of his exhibits is a screenshot. I know there’s a couple of options including PIA and LADD (I love acronyms). Any experiences?