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.

Memo Warns of Staffing Problems in KY Airport

September 12, 2006 -

Almost two years before the catastrophic Kentucky plane crash that took the lives of 49 passengers, a Lexington airport control tower supervisor reported a shortage of staffing that “can cost lives.”

According to the September 2004 safety memo written by the supervisor, the Lexington airport's radar system was in need of repairs, but the air traffic manager did not want to pay someone two hours overtime and refused to call the mechanical specialist.

The memo also went on to state that staffing at the airport was a “low priority to the powers above us” whose main focus was problem solving at bigger airports, such as Cincinnati or Louisville.

“Those types of poorly thought out decisions can cost lives,” the supervisor said. He completed the report unanimously through the NASA system, which is used by pilots and tower operators to list safety concerns. The Federal Aviation Administration is eventually notified of all concerns.

Aviation investigators who are currently looking into the staffing problems at Lexington—among other things—say it could be a potential factor in the August plane crash that took the lives of all but one passenger aboard.

Comair Flight 5191 took off down the wrong runway, which was too short to make a safe take-off. However, the tower operator who was working alone and had only gotten two hours of sleep between his shifts, was busy doing administrative work and didn't witness the plane's wrong maneuver until it was to late.

The FAA guidelines required two control tower operators to be working at that time.

According to FAA spokeswoman Laura Brown, the concerns stated in the memo were about maintenance workers and not air traffic controllers She claims these airports don't generally have staffing problems, but they do lack full-time maintenance technicians.

However, former Blue Grass airport control tower operator Scott Zoeckler said the safety memo is clear evidence of staffing neglect. “Lexington is going to become the window to which the country sees the problem staffing is having on the entire system.

Injured in a plane crash? Please contact us today to speak with a qualified and caring aviation accident attorney who can protect your legal rights and help you get the compensation you deserve.

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Memo Warns of Staffing Problems in KY Airport
September 12, 2006 Read More..