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Flight instructor sues CPA for $1M
A flight instructor is suing the Commonwealth Ports Authority for $1 million for requiring him to post a $10-million general liability insurance in 2011.
Nishio, who filed the lawsuit yesterday pro se or without a lawyer, is suing CPA for negligence. He asked the U.S. District Court for the NMI to hold CPA liable to pay him $1 million in compensatory damages plus court costs.
Nishio said that CPA required him on July 11, 2011, to post $10-million insurance for any flight operation.
Nishio complained about this with CPA on March 23, 2013. He also complained to the Federal Aviation Administration.
On Nov. 23, 2016, Byron Huffman, the FAA Office of Airport Compliance and Management Analysis acting director, deemed CPA’s requirement of $10 million insurance to be unreasonable and unjustly discriminatory of airplanes that operate at the Francisco C. Ada/Saipan International Airport.
Huffman directed CPA to reevaluate its rules pertaining to aircraft liability insurance requirements to differentiate between general aviation and commercial air transportation operators.
Nishio was part-owner of the former Saipan Flight Academy. He has been performing flight instruction on Saipan since 1992. Saipan Flight Academy used to charter air services and sightseeing tours, but those services have since been halted.
