Brake

The 1976 crash of a twin-engine aircraft, a Beechcraft Baron 58, took the lives of William P. Brake and Donald E. McCarter. Their widows, as administrators of the estates, brought independent actions for wrongful death against the plane’s manufacturer, Beech Aircraft Corporation, and the actions were consolidated for jury trial. Plaintiff widows (plaintiffs) appeal from a judgment entered on a special verdict in favor of defendant manufacturer (Beech) and from a subsequent order denying their motion to tax costs.

Background

The aircraft crashed in rugged high-desert terrain north of a ridge of the San Gabriel Mountains, near the town of Pearblossom in Los Angeles County, about one hour after a 9:05 a.m. takeoff from Hawthorne Municipal Airport. Eyewitnesses attracted by an “oscillating” engine sound saw the plane descend, with nose tilted downward, in a series of 13 to 15 tight circles to the right (pivoting on the right wing) just before impact.

Decedents both worked for Northrop Aircraft Corporation (Northrop), which owned the plane. McCarter, a certificated military jet fighter plane (F-5) instructor working in Saudi Arabia, had come to California for training…