Cleveland Plain Dealer, "Parker copes with air-crash suits; Company says its parts are safe despite case blaming rudder"

          Sept. 8, 1994: A USAir jet goes into a nosedive and slams into a hillside near Pittsburgh, killing 132 people. Oct. 31, 1999: An EgyptAir jet plummets into the Atlantic Ocean near Massachusetts, killing 217 people. Oct. 16, 2000: A twin-engine Cessna crashes in Hillsboro, Mo., killing Missouri Gov. Mel Carnahan and two others.
          In each case, Parker Hannifin Corp. was sued by relatives of crash victims seeking compensation. For the Mayfield Heights company, it is a cost of being one of the largest and oldest aircraft suppliers in the nation. "Our products are on anything that flies," said spokeswoman Lorrie Paul Crum. "The bigger the company, the more attractive it becomes as a target for jury awards."
          Parker Hannifin maintains that its parts are safe and that pilot actions caused the three air disasters. But in June, a jury found that a Parker Hannifin part in the aircraft's rudder was mostly responsible for the Pittsburgh crash; the company still faces litigation in the other cases. Meanwhile, Parker Hannifin is cooperating with a government-ordered redesign of the valve that investigators said malfunctioned in Pittsburgh. Late last year, Parker stopped making the system cited in the Carnahan crash and dozens of other lawsuits.