Airplane Injury Lawyers: In-Flight Injuries on Commercial Airlines

With more people traveling via airplanes, incidences of injuries sustained on commercial airlines are becoming more prevalent. To bring a claim against an airline for injuries sustained during a flight, the claimant has to prove three elements:

• Airline or its employees had a duty to the claimant;
• Airline or its employees breached the duty owed to the claimant;
• Airline’s breach of its duty was the cause of the injury to the claimant.

Duty Owed to Passengers

An airline owes a duty to the passengers to provide them with a safe ride to their destinations. Providing a safe ride to the passengers’ destinations requires a collaboration of safety measures that are taken by various employees of the airline. For one, the pilot has the duty to investigate and learn all possible flight information that is crucial in piloting the airplane safely. The ground crew has the duty to inspect the airplane to check if all components function correctly. The flight attendants have the duty to clear the aisles so that in case of an emergency, no passengers are injured due to tripping and falling.

Airlines’ Defense

An airline can avoid liability for the injuries that were sustained during a flight if it proves that the cause of the injuries was due to a defective component of the plane made by the manufacturer. (In such a situation, the claimant might be able to collect monetary damages from the manufacturer.) Or, the airline can argue that the injuries that were sustained on the airline were caused by poor direction provided by the air controller to the pilot.

Also, the airline is not liable for the injuries that were sustained due to an act of nature that are unavoidable, such as turbulence. Weather and turbulence can change without any warning. In many cases, the pilot cannot accurately determine if turbulence and weather will affect the safeness of the flight; in which case, the airline will not be liable for the in-flight injury.

If you or someone you know has been injured on a commercial airliner, please contact a personal injury lawyer specializing in airplane injuries such as Best and Anderson attorneys at law in Orlando, Florida.