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.

$10.5M Verdict in Plane Crash Death Case

Jan 10 , 2007 -

The widow and estate of a man who died in an experimental airplane crash at an air show in 1999 has filed a lawsuit against the event’s sponsors claiming they did not take the appropriate fire safety measures.

During the air show, Donald Allen Corbitt’s experimental plane, the RV-6A crashed, but he survived the impact. The plane burst into flames while he was pinned inside the wreckage.

“Bystanders assisted Mr. Corbitt by keeping flames at bay with fire extinguishers while trying to extricate him from the wreckage,” said Frank Smith, Corbitt’s widow’s attorney. “All waited for emergency response services, which finally arrived.”

But it was too late.

Smith said that it took the city fire crews six minutes to arrive at the scene of the crash. By then, the portable fire extinguishers that the bystanders were using to keep the flames at bay had run out.

Corbitt burned alive before firefighters could extinguish the flames. “He died a horrible death,” said Smith.

The Lawsuit

The lawsuit names sponsors of the annual air show as defendants along with the Northwest Experimental Aircraft Association, and the Experimental Aircraft Association.

The suit originally also named the city of Arlington and the fire department in the suit, but they were dismissed from the lawsuit about two years ago.

Smith argued that because of the scale and inherent dangers of the event, the sponsors should have made sure that there was adequate on-site fire protection and safety crew.

The Rulings

The jury agreed with Smith’s assessment that the event sponsors did not provide adequate fire protection and emergency response at the event, and that this lapse resulted in Corbitt’s death.

The jury awarded Corbitt’s estate $10.5 million but will likely only receive $9.8 million because the jury found the fire department 15 percent responsible for the death, and the fire department had been dismissed from the suit.

If you or a loved one has been seriously injured or killed in a plane crash, please contact us promptly to discuss your legal rights, and the compensation you may be due with an experienced aviation attorney free of charge.

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