A telecommunications or infrastructure company maintaining lines near power infrastructure may owe a duty of care to occupants of low-flying aircraft conducting aerial inspections, even without actual knowledge of such inspections, where information about the practice of aerial inspections was readily available. An employee of a charterer who provides information to the pilot about route and hazards during a chartered helicopter flight is a 'passenger' under the Civil Aviation (Carriers' Liability) Act 1967 (NSW), not a crew member, where the employee serves the charterer's interests rather than being employed by the carrier. Where a breach of duty would not have detected the hazard that materialised, and the avoidance of harm would have been merely fortuitous, the breach falls outside the scope of liability under s 5D(1)(b) of the Civil Liability Act 2002 (NSW).
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