Volo da diporto o sportivo e responsabilità civile per esercizio di attività pericolosa

This work was drafted as a Note to a civil case assigned during the course of Civil Law held by prof. Umberto Izzo in the academic year 2017/18 at the Faculty of Law of the University of Trento. The judgement – fully reported at the end of this paper – regards the pilot of a powered hang glider who has been sentenced to pay compensation for the damages suffered by the passenger. The fundamental legal question concerns the possibility of including this particular sport flight within the general rule of the art. 2050 c.c. which regulates the civil liability caused by the exercise of dangerous activities. The first chapter focuses on the legislative regulation of aircrafts that may be flown as light-sport, an activity that is always kept separate from normal aviation and governed by autonomous and specific legislation. The second chapter deals with the changes of the legal system over time and the application of civil liability rules to the ultralight aviation. The third chapter focuses on the problems linked to the qualification of a certain activity as dangerous. Concerning this, the author refers to other sport activities, like equitation or climbing, before analysing the element of danger in the aviation and particularly in the sport flight with light-sport aircrafts. The work ends with the analysis of the burden of proof that the parties have to ensure to prove their claims and the specific modalities that can exonerate them from this particular liability