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U.S. NEWS Saturday 23 February 2019

In this June 16, 2018, file photo, American Airlines aircrafts
aircrafts are seen at O”Hare International Airport in Chicago.
Associated Press
Smile: Some airliners

have cameras on

seat-back screens In this Oct. 30, 2018, file photo, crews dismantle the Verruckt waterslide at the Schlitterbahn water
park in Kansas City, Kan.
Associated Press
By DAVID KOENIG As they shrink, cameras Judge dismisses charges over
AP Airlines Writer are being built into more
The boy’s death on water slide
Now there is one more devices, including laptops
place where cameras and smartphones.
could start watching you presence of cameras in
— from 30,000 feet. aircraft entertainment sys- KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — return phone and email scripted for entertainment,
Newer seat-back enter- tems was known in aviation A judge dismissed criminal messages from The Associ- showing flying boats. De-
tainment systems on some circles at least two years charges Friday against a ated Press. fense attorneys argued
airplanes operated by ago, although not among Kansas water park own- Caleb was killed on the Ver- the video didn’t show how
American Airlines and Sin- the traveling public. er and the designer of a ruckt — German for “crazy” the ride actually worked,
gapore Airlines have cam- Seth Miller, a journalist who 17-story slide on which a — in 2016 when the raft he but the attorney general’s
eras, and it’s likely they are wrote about the issue in 10-year-old boy was de- was riding went airborne office never told the jury
also on planes used by oth- 2017, thinks that equipment capitated in 2016. and hit a metal pole. Two it was a dramatization,
er carriers. makers didn’t consider the Wyandotte County Judge women who were with him though it showed boats fly-
American and Singapore privacy implications. There Robert Burns cited improp- in the raft were seriously in- ing up in a similar manner
both said Friday that they were already cameras on er evidence in dropping jured. The slide never oper- to how Caleb died.
have never activated the planes — although not so second-degree murder ated again and has been The state argued that it
cameras and have no intrusive — and the com- charges against Schlitter- torn down . While making was up to the jury to de-
plans to use them. panies assumed that pas- bahn owner Jeff Henry, de- his ruling, Burns noted the termine what was true and
However, companies that sengers would trade their signer John Schooley, and tragedy of Caleb’s death. said the Travel Channel
make the entertainment images for convenience, general contractor Henry “I obviously recognize that video should be presented
systems are installing cam- as they do with facial- and Sons Construction Co. the circumstances and at trial. Defendants also
eras to offer future options recognition technology at The judge also dismissed an events giving rise to these claimed jurors repeatedly
such as seat-to-seat video immigration checkpoints, involuntary manslaughter indictments are indisput- were told that the water-
conferencing, according he said. “Now they’re fac- charge against operations ably tragic,” Burns said. “A slide was not built to stan-
to an American Airlines ing blowback from a small manager Tyler Miles, The young child’s life was lost dards established by ASTM
spokesman. but vocal group question- Kansas City Star reported . and his troubling death was International, which might
A passenger on a Singa- ing the value of the system They were charged af- mourned by family, friends have led jurors to conclude
pore flight posted a photo that isn’t even active,” Mill- ter Caleb Schwab died and the entire Kansas City the water park was break-
of the seat-back display er said. while riding the waterslide, community and beyond.” ing the law. But Kansas law
last week, and the tweet “Cameras are a standard which was marketed as the Schlitterbahn spokeswom- didn’t require the Verruckt
was shared several hun- feature on many in-flight world’s tallest slide. an Winter Prosapio said in a meet those standards at
dred times and drew me- entertainment systems “The court has grave statement, “We welcome the time of Caleb’s death.
dia notice. Buzzfeed first used by multiple airlines,” doubts as to whether the today’s decision which The legislature toughened
reported that the cameras he said. Singapore spokes- irregularities and impro- dismissed the charges state law involving inspec-
are also on some American man James Boyd said prieties improperly influ- against all defendants. We tions and requirements af-
planes. cameras are on 84 Airbus enced the grand jury and are thankful for all the sup- ter the boy died.
The airlines stressed that A350s, Airbus A380s and ultimately bolstered its de- port and encouragement Lawyers also argued the
they didn’t add the cam- Boeing 777s and 787s. The cision to indict these de- we’ve received.” grand jury shouldn’t have
eras — manufacturers carrier has 117 planes. fendants,” Judge Robert The evidence included vid- heard testimony about
embedded them in the While the airlines say they Burns said. “Quite simply, eo from a Travel Channel another death at a Schlit-
entertainment systems. have no plans to use the these defendants were not show documenting con- terbahn park in Texas be-
American’s systems are cameras, a Twitter user afforded the due process struction of the Verruckt, cause it’s not relevant to
made by Panasonic, while named Vitaly Kamluk, who protections and funda- in which Henry and others what happened here.
Singapore uses Panasonic snapped the photo of the mental fairness Kansas law emphasized the risks to rid- Caleb and his father, Scott
and Thales, according to camera on his Singapore requires.” ers on a raft dropping 17 Schwab, were at the park
airline representatives. Nei- flight, suggested that just to A spokesman for the Kan- stories before climbing a for a special day for state
ther Panasonic nor Thales be sure the carriers should sas Attorney General’s Of- second, 50-foot (15.24-me- lawmakers. Schwab was
responded immediately for slap stickers over the fice, which prosecuted the ter) hump. Defense attor- elected Kansas secretary
comment. lenses.q case, didn’t immediately neys argued the show was of state in November. q