Plane Crash Lawyer Aviation Attorney

• Approximately 80 percent of all plane crashes occur shortly before or after takeoff or landing due to human error or mechanical failures.
• According to an aviation accident survey of nearly 2,200 plane crashes from 1950 to 2004, the number one cause of aviation accidents is pilot error, which results in 45 percent of accidents. Undetermined causes: 33 percent. Mechanical failure: 13 percent.
• In 2005, there were a total of 1,764 aviation accidents in the United States that resulted in 600 fatalities. Low-level maneuvering of an aircraft was the leading cause of fatal aviation accidents from 1998 to 2004.
• In 2004, more than 70 percent of all plane crashes that ended in serious injury or fatality occurred during a personal flight. General aviation accidents occur more frequently than airline or business aviation accidents.
• The most recent statistics on midair collisions has shown a steady decline. In 2004, there were 10 midair accidents resulting in 10 fatalities compared to 11 collisions in 2003 with 23 deaths.

Some of the most common causes of aviation accidents include:

• pilot error,
• negligence by a flight service employee or air traffic controller,
• faulty equipment or mechanical failure,
• weather,
• and sabotage.
• Violations of Federal Aviation Administration safety regulations and aviation law are also a frequent cause of aviation accidents.

Another Family Sues Comair over Crash Death

Nov 8, 2006 -

The family of a man killed in the August Comair plane crash in Kentucky has filed a wrongful death suit against the airline, the airline’s owner, and the co-pilot, who was the sole survivor.

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Charles Lykins’ family in Broward Circuit Court Wednesday. Lykins, 46, died in the crash along with 48 other people, soon after the plane took off from a too-short runway in Lexington Ky.

The plane barely became airborne and crashed into a field near the end of the runway, where it burst into flames.

In the lawsuit, Karen Lykins, Charles’ wife, is suing Comair Inc., Delta Airlines Inc. (Comair’s parent company), and co-pilot James M. Polehinke.

This adds one more to the 13 other cases already filed over the crash.

Steven C. Marks, Lykins’ lawyer said he filed the suit in Broward County because the co-pilot lives there, and because historically, jury verdicts in South Florida are larger than in most areas of the country. “You want to take the jurisdiction where you’re going to get the best results for your client,” he said.

The family seeks undisclosed damages, for both economic and non-economic losses. According to Marks, the total would be, “many, many millions of dollars.”

Marks said they never intended to name the copilot as a defendant, but they had no choice.

“I was trying to work out an agreement with Comair and its insurance company where we would just sue Comair and not the first officer (co-pilot), but the case would be treated as if he was a named party even though it wasn’t so,” Marks said. “They would not agree to what I thought was not controversial language. I thought it was pretty straightforward.”

Comair Seeks to Share the Burden

Comair has filed suits against the FAA and against the airport, asking them to share some of the blame, and the burden of compensating the victims.

“We’re asking that the airport board and other airport defendants share responsibility for the Comair 5191 accident,” said Comair spokeswoman, Kate Marx. “Safety is the responsibility of not just each airline, but every organization involved in commercial aviation.”

Injured in a plane crash? Please contact us today to speak to a qualified and experienced plane crash attorney about your legal rights and options.

 

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