Natural Selection...I love it!! LOL!!
I wonder about the "liability" thing, though. I can't speak to owner's overloading cars, but I can tell you that there have been a number of liability suits filed against small airplane manufacturers....after pilots overloaded the airplanes. The thing that doesn't make any sense is that pilots *know* about this stuff, they are tested on it in order to get this license. No pilot can ever use the excuse "gosh, I didn't know it was overloaded". I guess the thing is that they don't plead anything, because they are dead. the relatives of the deceased make these claims, and juries are stacked with non-pilots, the lawyers for some reason don't explain to them that "all pilots know about this stuff, because its on the test"...I don't know...but both Piper and Cessna were almost put out of business by a number of these suits.
I can also tell you that a Cessna 172 "looks" like it can carry alot more than it can, because it is quite roomy. you can easily fit 4 average sized adults into one....but the aircraft is not capable of carrying the load. Still, no excuse, IMHO, because like I said: pilots are supposed to know this stuff. There is no such requirement for automobile drivers....you don't have to prove to anyone ever that you know about gvw's, gcwr's, and the like.
And also, the suits here were filed against the deep pocket, not the person that made the mistake. If a similar thing were to happen with someone like our friend Wayne, it would be Nissan that would be sued, for putting a hitch on a minivan.
Unless of course, Wayne's estate is worth more $$$ than Nissan.....
