Airplane Accidents

The successful litigation of airplane disaster cases requires vast expertise in aviation law, including the mastery of federal and state regulations, statutes and procedures, products liability and international laws, treaties and conventions. The most common causes of plane crashes are pilot error, defectively manufactured planes and maintenance negligence.  The determination as to the cause of the disaster is usually left to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). Immediately after a plane crash, attorneys and representatives from the NTSB arrive at the scene. The NTSB writes a comprehensive report on the crash and then makes all such reports freely available to the public at the NTSB Web site. The litigation on behalf of victims and the victims’ families are based upon these findings.

We successfully represented family members of victims of the American Airlines flight 587 fatal disaster in which a French Airbus 737 crashed shortly after departing JFK airport. All passengers on board were killed along with several people on the ground. Our firm brought suit against American Airlines and the French company, Airbus Industries, G.I.E. in Federal Court in the Southern District of New York. The resulting settlements, although confidential, are in the millions of dollars.