Aviation Accidents

An aviation case involves serious injury or death that is caused by an aircraft crashing.  Aircraft crashes are usually the result of more than one thing going wrong. Only a small percentage of aircraft crashes are due solely to pilot error.

A listing of the types of things that can commonly lead to an aircraft crash are:

• Pilot error
• Defective airframe (manufacturing defect or design defect)
• Defective component (manufacturing defect or design defect)
• Negligent maintenance
• Negligent weather report
• Negligence by air traffic controllers

To have a case in which a recovery of money damages will likely be had on account of death or serious injury arising out of an aircraft crash, it's necessary to be able to prove the following:

• Pilot error, and/or defect (design or manufacturing), and/or negligence in maintenance, and/or negligence on the part of the FAA
• One or more of the elements in one above caused the crash
• Damages
• And, the responsible party has adequate insurance or assets to pay the damages

To prove the elements necessary to win the case, opinion testimony of experts in the areas of pilot procedure, aircraft design, aircraft accident reconstruction, failure mechanics, metallurgy, weather, and/or air traffic control procedures is required. It's important to retain one or more experts as soon as possible to begin gathering data.

Any time an aircraft crash has fatalities, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) will investigate and prepare a report setting forth factual findings and findings of probable cause. The NTSB usually will secure the crash site and wreckage, and assemble a team of experts to analyze and investigate. The quality of the NTSB investigation is usually determined by whether the crash is a commercial aircraft or a small private aircraft. On some of the smaller crashes, the investigator may or may not be qualified and may or may not have adequate resources available to do the job. In many instances, the NTSB investigator will have representatives from the aircraft manufacturer actually analyzing crash data to determine whether or not such manufacturer's components failed due to defects.

If survivors of persons killed or maimed suspect pilot error or defective components caused or contributed to the crash, it is important to have a representative close to the crash investigation as soon as possible to make sure that critical evidence is not damaged or lost, and to make sure things are done in a fair and objective manner.