U.S. Paying Millions Over Jetliner Crash : But Says Controllers Aren’t to Blame for New Orleans Disaster

The federal government, while denying any fault by its air controllers, is paying millions of dollars to relatives of 154 people who were killed in the crash of a Pan American World Airways jetliner at New Orleans in 1982, a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration said today.

The crash was blamed on a violent wind shift called wind shear, which caused the Boeing 727 to dive suddenly and crash into a New Orleans suburb shortly after takeoff in a thunderstorm on July 9, 1982.

The victims’ relatives said the government was partly at fault because air controllers employed by the FAA did not give the Pan Am pilot sufficient warning about the wind shear danger.

Broadcast Earlier

The National Transportation Safety Board, which investigated the crash, blamed the crash on wind shear. An air controller told the board during its hearings that warnings about dangerous shifts in wind speed and direction were broadcast minutes earlier, but not at the exact time the Pan Am jet was cleared for takeoff.

Under FAA rules, only pilots have authority to cancel takeoffs on the basis of weather information.

All 139 passengers, the crew of seven and eight people on the ground were killed in the crash of the plane, which was headed for Las Vegas.

Agreed to Pay Judgments

In May, 1983, the government and Pan Am announced that they would not contest liability for the accident and would pay any judgment rendered by federal courts. By that time, at least $3.24 billion in damage lawsuits had been filed in connection with the crash.

FAA spokesman Frederick H. Farrar said today that the government had agreed to pay half the damages to crash survivors, with Pan Am’s insurance carriers paying the other half, because it would be cheaper than contesting the claims in court.

Farrar said that although the government has paid similar damages in other air crashes, the Pan Am case is unique because payments were split with airline insurers and because the government’s share may set a record.

“We did not believe then, and do not believe now, that we were at fault,” Farrar said. “Our traffic controllers gave sufficient warning that wind shear could be expected.”