What to do when a parent drops off their child at a flying club?

[shoegoheli]

Hello all. I'm new to this forum, and I joined because of a post I submitted in an RC helicopter forum which was basically answered more on emotion rather than with some legal advice, which I was seeking. I hope I am at the right spot. So here is what I posted in this forum. Please advice.


Thanks!

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A topic was brought up during our club meeting regarding pilots who are 18 years and under. The club will accept members and their money of any age, but what do you do with a minor who is left at the field by a parent??

In the end our club said that the issue of minors is a non issue as we are incorporated and also covered by AMA insurance, etc. The issue though still make me wonder if:

An adult need to reprimand the minor for a rule infraction.
1. One pilot was yelled at by the parent of a minor who was repremanded a minor for flying unsafely.

2. What if something, anything happens to the minor while at the field. Are the adults going to be held liable for either doing something or not doing something?

3. And as someone said, we could do the what if, what if questions to death, the minor is treated as an adult.

4. One pilots airplane was destroyed as a minor inadvertantly stepped on the wing of his plane. The pilot now has to deal with the parent when he or she came back.

Even though it seems that #3 should take care of any worries about liabilities possibly put on an individual or the club, there seems to be something that we are not aware of that could be a big problem later on. Also, I think it is easier to deal with any problem adult to adult than to deal with a minor which could result in legal problems.

How has your club dealt with similar situations?

[ecmst12]

Seems to me that parents shouldn't be using this club as their own personal babysitting service. If mom or dad won't be there, then there should be a specific person who has taken responsibility for watching the kid, or they shouldn't be left there parentless. I don't see any particular legal problems, but seems annoying to the non-parents in the club, or for those who use it as their break from parenting for a few hours.

You did not include your state. In some states, parents can be held responsible for damage done by their children, in other states only the person doing the damage (child) can be responsible. If the child is unsupervised, you will also have to deal with the possibility that there will be a dispute about the facts. The child could tell his parents that he didn't cause the damage, and not having been there, parent might be inclined to believe child.

If the child is injured, theoretically it would be treated the same as if an adult was injured, but the parent not having been there to supervise or see what happened, could be inclined to be angry at the club for "letting this happen" and more likely to litigate. It's not a particularly dangerous activity, but accidents do happen.

[shoegoheli]

I'm in San Diego, California.

One issue that need to be addressed is: if a minor goes thru the pit area and accidently breaks someones aircraft. With an adult to adult situation it is (relatively) easy to verbally hash it out and come to some agreement on how the injured party will be compensated. This is common sense and the unwritten rule. With a minor, how can this be dealt with without undue stress on the minors part as he will be getting some form of a mouth full of words and so on.


The other issue of course is, if a minor gets hurt does medical care that is administered or not bring on grounds for legal problems for those pilots who are there to do anything?

[seniorjudge]

Easy and simple:

Keep minors out.

Make sure you have lots of liability insurance.

[shoegoheli]

Well, the fact is, some of our members have children and the dads like to bring them to the field (my guess is that it allows the guys to fly, whereas, the wives would otherwise say stay home). The other thing is that on special flying events, visitors with children and the general public are able to be at the field. Not only that, it wouldn't be good PR to exclude minors, they are the upcoming flyers as they get older and would thus keep supporting the club.

What the club is looking for is the right wording to ammend our club by-laws that would hopefully protect us as well as guide us with dealing with sticky situations involving a minor.

[Silverplum]

Originally Posted by shoegoheli

Well, the fact is, some of our members have children and the dads like to bring them to the field (my guess is that it allows the guys to fly, whereas, the wives would otherwise say stay home). The other thing is that on special flying events, visitors with children and the general public are able to be at the field. Not only that, it wouldn't be good PR to exclude minors, they are the upcoming flyers as they get older and would thus keep supporting the club.

What the club is looking for is the right wording to ammend our club by-laws that would hopefully protect us as well as guide us with dealing with sticky situations involving a minor.

That's the point at which your club needs to hire an attorney to do just that.

[seniorjudge]

Originally Posted by shoegoheli

...

What the club is looking for is the right wording to ammend our club by-laws that would hopefully protect us as well as guide us with dealing with sticky situations involving a minor.

...

Sorry, there are no such magic words.

Solution: Insurance, lots of it.

(I do not sell insurance.)

[xylene]

A topic was brought up during our club meeting regarding pilots who are 18 years and under. The club will accept members and their money of any age, but what do you do with a minor who is left at the field by a parent?

Call parent. Depends on age.

An adult need to reprimand the minor for a rule infraction.
1. One pilot was yelled at by the parent of a minor who was repremanded a minor for flying unsafely.

Appoint senior members as "air marshals" who are charged with enforcing rules, minor or not, so there is no question as to who is responsible for discipline and safe flight regulations.

2. What if something, anything happens to the minor while at the field. Are the adults going to be held liable for either doing something or not doing something?

You should have a safety plan. This should be enforced and known, minor or not.

3. And as someone said, we could do the what if, what if questions to death, the minor is treated as an adult.

??? Do you mean like what if the minors head gets cut off and they die? I don't get this Q.

4. One pilots airplane was destroyed as a minor inadvertantly stepped on the wing of his plane. The pilot now has to deal with the parent when he or she came back.

In future deal with this contractually. Make members be responsible for damages (in a written agreement) to other member's airplanes if they cause any. For minors make it an additional contractual requirement that their parents agree to cover any damages they cannot afford. If parents won't sign, minor is booted from air club.

[Zigner]

Another solution would be to require that the parent be required to be present at all times and take full responsibility for the child(ren).
I'm sure your attorney will point out this possibility, and the related risks.

[ecmst12]

I would definitely suggest a ban on UNSUPERVISED minors. I don't see a problem with allowing minors to be members (provided their parents sign the appropriate releases/obligations paperwork) but if they want to come to the flying field, they need to have a parent or adult supervisor with them at all times.