A dispute over damage to a high-speed aircraft at Martha’s Vineyard Airport has ended up in federal court in Boston.
Suite Six, a company run by MV Propane owner John Rymes, is suing the airport commission and others, alleging that poor maintenance of the airport’s asphalt caused a plane to crash into a hole in the ground, causing nearly $1.5 million in damage.
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court on Thursday, centers on an incident in 2022. Mr. Rymes flew to the airport from New Hampshire in a TBM 940, a single-engine propeller plane that retails for about $4 million. The plane was too large to fit in Suite Six’s usual hangar and was parked on tarmac outside the hangar.
On February 3, a few days after a snowstorm, Mr. Rymes taxied the plane onto the tarmac to prepare for takeoff to New Hampshire. Mr. Rymes had taxied only a few feet when the plane’s front wheel struck what the complaint describes as a pothole, or sinkhole.
The impact caused significant damage to the plane’s propeller and it also hit the tarmac, the lawsuit states.
The damage to the plane was nearly $300,000, but Suite Six also claimed that the crash reduced the aircraft’s market value by nearly $900,000 and increased insurance premiums by about $225,000.
In the lawsuit filed against the Airport Commission, the Martha’s Vineyard Aero Club and Martha’s Vineyard Aircraft Hangers, Inc., Suite Six alleges that negligent construction, maintenance and inspection of the asphalt led to the formation of potholes and sinkholes.
Suite Six attorney Steve Arnold declined to comment on the case Monday, and Rymes did not respond to a request for comment left with his propane company. Airport director Geoff Freeman declined to comment, citing the pending litigation.
Airport Commissioner Bob Rosenbaum confirmed that Mr Rymes’ plane was damaged by a propeller strike outside the hangar and said the case depended in part on whether the plane was parked in the right place.
“He seems to think it’s the airport’s fault,” Rosenbaum said, declining to go into further detail. “We’ll see what happens.”
According to the lawsuit, Vineyard Aircraft Hangers, Inc. provides aircraft storage and hangar services at the airport and had a verbal agreement to store Suite Six aircraft.
Michael Nagle, a director of Vineyard Aircraft Hangers, said it was his understanding that the plane was parked in an unrelated location, but referred further questions to Wesley Pikor, the company’s general manager.
Mr Pikor did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Suite Six is asking the court to award $1.45 million in damages and reimburse the court for attorney fees. A judge has been assigned to the case, but no hearings have been scheduled and the airport has not yet officially responded to the allegations in court.
