It is a quiet and very dark predawn morning in the Seattle, Washington, area, an

It is a quiet and very dark predawn morning in the Seattle, Washington, area, an

It is a quiet and very dark predawn morning in the Seattle, Washington, area, and the lone FAA air traffic controller (an FAA employee) who is controlling the airspace in the sector south of the city has been on duty alone for seven hours. The weather is clear with a visibility of 15 miles and visual meteorological conditions (VMC) beneath a 5,000 ft. overcast. The only traffic is a Navy helicopter on the east side of the controller’s airspace transiting the area westbound en route to a nearby Navy facility and a private airplane on the south side of the controller’s airspace flying northbound. Both aircraft are operating under visual flight rules, are in contact with the controller, and are flying at an assigned altitude of 3,500 ft. The controller dozes off and is awakened by the ringing telephone, learning that the two aircraft collided in flight in the controller’s airspace. There are no survivors. Investigation reveals that the two collided while in level flight at the altitude assigned to each by the controller and that the helicopter’s external navigation lights were not illuminated at the time of the collision; although, the transponder was working. The investigation further reveals that the helicopter was returning from a stealthy insertion practice of a SEAL team into a military training area, so it appears likely that the crew simply forgot to turn the external navigation lights back on after they had departed the training area. A civilian commercial TV broadcaster was also aboard the helicopter at the time of the collision.
Analyze the potential liability of the United States, the pilots of both aircraft, and the FAA air traffic controller for the accident. (You may find it helpful to diagram the positions and approximate ground tracks of the two aircraft first.)