Air Safety And Law

Investigators have determined the causes of the the April 10 Smolensk airplane crash which killed President Lech Kaczyński and 95 others. Ultimately the factors boil down to human failure. It was a classic case, in my opinion, of pilots sacrificing safety because of pressure to complete a mission. Not only did the pilots put pressure [...]

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A French judge ruled on Monday that Continental Airlines and one of its mechanics were guilty of involuntary homicide for their role in the 2000 crash of an Air France Concorde jet that killed 113 people. In 2002, the French investigators found that a small strip of metal had fallen off a Continental DC-10 that [...]

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Emergency Medical Service (EMS) helicopter aviation has had a very bad safety record. The flights are ususally flown single-piloted and are often launched to respond to emergencies so that there is little time for pre-flight planning. The flights are flown at all times of day and night and in all different types of weather. To [...]

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Judge Breyer of the Northern District of California has dismissed the litigation arising from the Air France disaster of June 1, 2009. He not only dismissed the claims of foreign citizens, but also the claims brought by U.S. citizens. The court found that even though it had subject matter jurisdiction over the claims against Air [...]

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Many families whose loved ones have been involved in an aviation or other major transportation accident (including major highway, railroad and marine accidents) are unaware that the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has a website that provides important accident information. The website address is: http://www.ntsb.gov/. For aviation matters, the website includes investigation materials for specific [...]

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Based on a recent study of aviation accidents, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has concluded that small airplanes equipped with glass cockpits do not have a better overall safety record than airplanes with old-style traditional instrumentation. Significantly, the Safety Board determined that “because glass cockpits are both complex and vary from aircraft to aircraft [...]

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Today, the National Transportation Safety Board added improving the oversight of pilot proficiency as one of its most wanted aviation safety improvements. This addition was prompted in large part from revelations from the investigation into the Continental Connection Flight 3407 accident. We are happy that the NTSB has highlighted the importance of proper pilot screening [...]

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On February 15, 2010, at approximately 3:45 pm, a small plane crashed at the Monmouth Executive Airport (formerly Allaire Airport) in New Jersey killing all five people aboard, including three members of a family visiting from Poland, among them a teenager and a young child.  An investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board and local authorities [...]

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On February 6, 2010, at approximately 1:30 pm local time,  a Cirrus SR-20 airplane collided with a Piper Pawnee airplane, while the Pawnee was towing a glider near Boulder, Colorado. Three persons tragically died in the mid-air collision: Robert Matthews, the owner and presumed pilot of the Cirrus, his brother Mark Matthews who was a passenger (as well as a licensed pilot) and the [...]

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Many aviation safety advocates are aware of the National Transportation Safety Board’s “MOST WANTED LIST” which identifies the most pressing and important safety improvements needed in aviation safety. Notably, most of the recommendations are the result of actual investigations. Presently the list highlights six critical items requiring improvement.  They are (1) reduce dangers to aircraft flying [...]

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