Woman awarded $1.5m in damages after ferris wheel struck by plane in NSW
A young woman who was on a ferris wheel when it was struck by a light plane has been awarded $1.5m in damages by a New South Wales court which heard she was “unemployable” almost 10 years after the traumatic event.
Amber Christine Arndell, then 13, and her brother were riding the 20 metre-high amusement at the annual Old Bar Beach festival near Taree in October 2011 when a two-seat light plane took off at an adjacent airstrip.
The aircraft attempted a landing before taking off again, veering left into the ferris wheel.
The NSW supreme court this week found MidCoast Council and pilot Paul Clarendon Cox negligent for breaching their care to the woman.
“[Arndell’s] evidence makes clear she was frightened the ferris wheel was going to collapse and/or the fuel from the plane would ignite – and that she and her brother would die,” Justice Stephen Rothman said this week.
Cox was ordered to cover 35% of the $1.5m in damages.
He failed in his lawsuit against the council despite the court accepting the pilot had suffered insomnia, flashbacks and other mental harm due to the crash. His landing attempt that turned into touch-and-go “displayed a lack of due care and diligence”, the judge said.
The court heard a council officer had examined the ferris wheel after it was erected and raised no issues with its placement. That was despite it intruding into the splay – a three-dimensional area meant to remain clear to allow aircraft to land and take off.
Two medical experts agreed Arndell’s experience of the collision was traumatic and had significant effects but were split on whether the trauma had been resolved and what effect earlier, traumatic events had on her recognised psychiatric illness.
The court heard the woman had ridden on another ferris wheel after the crash. She testified that occurred under pressure from her grandparents to face her problems and she was shaking and in tears during it.
Arndell was unable to attend fairgrounds and ride on a ferris wheel again until 2017 when accompanied by her partner.
The judge concluded she had a preexisting psychological vulnerability, went through a period of decompensation and developed a generalised anxiety disorder and a major depressive disorder.
“The overwhelming cause of the plaintiff’s incapacity is the trauma associated with the collision,” he said.
Her school reports had spoken of a hard-working and confident student until late 2011 and it wasn’t unreasonable to expect that Arndell would have completed high school and worked in the fashion industry, the judge said.
The collision had made that an “impossible task” and – while not fully restricting her enjoyment of life outside work – it was “clear that for all practical purposes the plaintiff is unemployable,” the judge said.
Arndell, now 23, was awarded slightly under $1.1m for lost wages. Her non-economic loss was deemed to be worthy of a $412,200 payment.