Page 46 - Bundle for MF Final

Bates no 045

Inconsistent reporting

0) CL's material symptoms are all dependent upon accurate self-reporting. There is
inconsistency in CL's reporting. See for example the extent to which he identifies
tirutus as h1s pnmary issue to some experts, but gives a different account to others,
to include that the tinnitus was improving. The post-accident fatigue reports (which
echo pre-accident accounts) are also inconsistent with CL's litigation claims which
focus instead on allegedly accident-related issues. (They undennine, for example,
CL's subsequent claim that he developed headaches ''most days".) DEF also notes
CL's repeated misdescription to experts of his helmet having "shattered", which is
undermined by post-accident photographs. 6

CL's expert evidence
4. CL's own expert evidence rovides an unimpressive evidential foundation for CL's

C s: -
(a) Dr. Mitchell describes CL's tinnitus as mild, and finds no link between CL's
tinnitus and any dizziness. He concludes that his hearing loss will not deteriorate,
nor will it prevent CL from flying prior to him reaching normal retirement age.
(b) Dr. Benjamin confinns that CL's left hand gives him no issues with work, a
conclusion with which CL's hand surgeon Mr. Giddins agrees. He confirms that
neither tinnitus nor CL' s hearing loss would be expected to prevent him from
flying in the long term 7. He also observes that the majority of pilots complain of
fatigue, such that this also cannot give CL an accident-related justification for not
flying at all.

DEF's expert evidence

5. Mr. Kenyon (DEF's ENT expert) will challenge whether CL's hearing loss is accident­
related at all. This flows from testing in 1994 which identified hearing loss of a similar
pattern to that now complained of. Such loss of hearing, once identified, would not
resolve, such that any intervening negative testing is likely to reflect false negatives. In
any eYent, he will agree \\ith CL's experts that such hearing loss would not prevent CL
from flying.

6. l\'1r. Cubin (DEF's aviation expert) will challenge whether CL had the resilience to
cope with the EasyJet roster, noting that many pilots reduce their working hours later
in their careers, and emphasising the extent of CL's transferrable aviation-based skills.

6 ... where hospital records showed no indicators to show any sign of a head injury, and CL's GCS was 15/15 and
CL's experts acknowledge that he suffered no loss of consciousness.
7
Indeed, in Dr. Benjamin's practice (300-400 commercial pilot medical assessments per annum) he had not
encountered fil1 pilots who were declared long-term unfit due to tinnitus.