Plane Crashes

Personal Injury Lawsuits

Compared to other forms of travel, air travel is safe - generally. It's just when a plane crashes, double to triple digits of people die and the bad news goes around the world instantly.

Causes of plane crashes include pilot error, pilot error weather related, pilot error mechanical related; human error such as air traffic controller errors, loading the airplane wrong, fuel contamination, and improper maintenance; mechanical failure; design flaw; hijackings and sabotage; and acts of nature like the bird strike over the Hudson River.

According to Wikipedia, pilot error refers to the cause of a crash of an airworthy aircraft where the pilot is considered to be mainly or partially responsible. Pilot error can be defined as a mistake, oversight, lapse in judgment, or failure to exercise due diligence during the performance of his duties. A pilot is generally not held accountable for an incident that is caused by mechanical failure of the aircraft unless the mechanical failure occurred as a result of pilot error.

The pilot may be declared to be in error even during adverse weather conditions if the investigating body deems that the pilot did not exercise due diligence. Flying into a hurricane (for other than legitimate research purposes) would be considered pilot error but flying into a microburst would not be considered pilot error if it was not detectable by the pilot before this hazard was understood.

In the United States, most civil aviation incidents are investigated by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) who collect the evidence from the crash and put the puzzle together trying to determine the cause.

More than half of all plane crashes are caused by pilot error.

According to the OAG Aviation, the odds of being on a flight with at least one fatality are one in 8.47 million (with 25 of the top airlines) and the odds of dying on a flight with the top 25 airlines are 1 in 13.57 million.

Yet, if a family member has died in a plane crash, whether in a commercial airliner, charter airline, private airplane, government plane or helicopter the horrors of the crash are never erased. Usually, an individual or a corporation was at fault or negligent and liable.

If your loved one has died in a plane crash, contact Ohio lawyers at Clark, Perdue & List Co, LPA or of counsel lawyers of Anapol Schwartz in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and West Virginia about a wrongful death lawsuit.