Judge: No proof FAA caused doctor's plane crash

TAMPA -- A federal judge found insufficient evidence to blame the Federal Aviation Administration for a July 2003 plane crash that killed a Tampa neurosurgeon and his passenger and injured two others.

Air-traffic controllers in Memphis "breached their duty" by not leaving enough distance between Dr. David Cahill's aircraft and the one landing ahead of it, U.S. District Judge Susan Bucklew said in a 20-page opinion issued today.

But she concluded that neither the government nor attorneys for survivors proved what actually caused the crash. The National Transportation Safety Board blamed it on "wake turbulence" created by another airplane.

Cahill and passenger John Murphy died aboard the Beechcraft Baron. Passengers Ed Brown and Chip Lomell suffered serious injuries. The families filed wrongful-death suits against the federal government. Bucklew ruled today in favor of the government.

Cahill, 51, was a respected neurosurgeon and an experienced pilot. He was founder and chairman of the neurosurgery department at the University of South Florida College of Medicine.

-- Thomas Lake, Times Staff Writer