The Injury Lawyer Directory Blog

First, there was the Spanair crash in Madrid last Wednesday that killed 154 people; then, 65 passengers were killed in an Itek Air crash in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan; Monday saw an Air Dolmoti plane catch fire at Munich's airport, forcing some of the passengers to jump to safety, and later that night, a Ryanair flight made an emergency landing at Limoges airport in France after cabin pressure was lost. Sixteen passengers were injured. All of these crashes, as well as the handful of smaller plane crashes here in the States, make one wonder if flying really is the safest mode of travel these days.

Statistics and statisticians love to point out that the chances of being in a plane crash are extremely small. How small? Well, certainly not as small as being struck by lightning and winning the lottery in the same lifetime small, but they're tiny. They point to the safety records and the numbers of flights per year, the technology that is continually improved on (sometimes after witnessing the tragic shortcomings of something that could have been done better before the crash), and also point to the convenience, if not the comfort, of flying. After all, what would be a two-day car trip from Denver to San Francisco can be done in a couple hours on a plane. Not to mention the fact that auto accidents claim tens of thousands of lives a year, and injure hundreds of thousands more.

Maybe it's the nature of planes that makes the accidents so much more tragic. The chance of over a hundred people being killed at once is bad, and the crashes usually involve massive explosions and structural damage. While this happens with cars and trucks, explosions are rare and injuries can be minor or even non-existent. Not so with a massive airliner full of jet fuel and reaching very high speeds - or even small four-seat Cessnas. Whatever the reason or reasons, the airline disasters of the last week probably didn't give potential passengers much faith if they're flying overseas. What this should do is spur the airline industry to back up their claims that flying is the safest mode of transportation with concrete improvements in planes, mechanics, pilots, and control towers.

If you have lost a loved one in an airline disaster, please contact an experienced aviation accident attorney in your area.

Spanair Flight JK5022 crashed and burned while attempting to take off from Madrid's Barajas airport today, killing 149 of the 177 people aboard. The flight was heading to the Canary Islands. The Canary Islands are a popular tourist spot for Europeans, and the crash comes at the height of the tourist season.

Details of the accident are still being pieced together, but it is known that the flight was delayed for an hour for technical problems. The plane was able to get airborne before it crashed at the end of the runway. It is thought that there may have been an explosion on board the plane. Early reports also said the plane may have lost one of its engines. The resulting fire also sparked a grassfire.

Spanair is a budget airline owned by Scandinavian SAS, and is one of Spain's three major private airlines. The flight was carrying passengers from Lufthansa Flight 2554, which officials have said may mean many of those on board are German.

The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board is sending a team to Madrid to help in the investigation because the aircraft is an American-made McDonnell Douglas MD-82.

If you or a loved one has lost someone in an airline disaster, please contact an experienced personal injury lawyer in your area.

A charter jet carrying six construction and gambling executives and two pilots crashed while approaching the regional airport at Owatonna, Minnesota airport Thursday morning. All eight people aboard were killed.

The Raytheon Hawker 800 left Atlantic City International Airport and was due to arrive shortly before 9:30 am, but never made it. This is the first crash for East Coast Jets, the company that operated the chartered jet. The company's headquarters is in Allentown, Pennsylvania, and both pilots were from the Bethlehem and Hellertown, Pennsylvania area. Only one of the six passengers, 44-year-old Karen Sandland, has been identified. Sandland was a project manager for Tishman Construction.

Although chartered airline usage seems to have peaked in 2005, there are still thousands of flights a year in the U.S. and their track record of avoiding accidents isn't as good as large commercial airliners. Few and far between, these accidents occur because many small jets land at smaller airports where runways, control towers and more are not as convenient as national airports, and the craft aren't large and can be tossed around easier than other bigger planes in bad weather.

If you have lost a loved one in a small business jet crash, please contact an experienced injury lawyer in your area.

Australia's national airline, Qantas, boasts of never having had a fatal accident in their history of flying commercial jets. However, two incidents in the last week had the potential for a major airline disaster.

In the first one, on a flight from Hong Kong to Melbourne, a ruptured oxygen container tore a nine foot section of the Boeing 747 from the jet's body on Friday, July 25th. A piece of the container tore into the cabin, missing passengers, but causing the crew to fear a mid-air disaster. The flight was forced to land in Manila, Philippines. Spokespeople for Qantas state that the airline went through "very, very strict" security and maintenance checks and that the exploding container was something completely out of anyone's control. While this incident is still under investigation, Peter Gibson, spokesman for the Civil Aviation Safety Authority, stated that if an oxygen container did explode in mid-air, it would be the first time ever on a passenger jet something like this has happened.

The second incident involved a Boeing 737 that was forced to make an emergency landing in Melbourne 37 minutes after taking off on Monday, July 28^th. Passengers and those on the ground give different stories as to what happened. According to passengers on the flight, a door opened in mid-flight. However, a control room operator says that the doors covering the wheels did not close after take-off. They also deny that this classifies as an emergency landing.

This second incident comes on the day the new chief executive of the airline, Alan Joyce, started his job, and only days after Qantas laid off 1,500 people.

While we seem to heave a collective sigh when we hear about jets making emergency landings, especially when parts are blowing off in midair, the thought may come back to wondering if that next flight we or our loved ones are on is going to be as lucky. The chances are miniscule that there will be a plane crash, but this certainly hasn't let up on the fear many people have of flying. And, while both Qantas incidents may have been beyond human control, two of the leading causes of plane crashes are pilot and maintenance problems.

If you have lost a loved one in an aviation disaster, please contact an experienced injury lawyer in your area.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has ordered that a device to keep the fuel tanks on some passenger and cargo planes must be installed over the next nine years. This ruling comes almost 12 years to the day TWA Flight 800 exploded over the Atlantic Ocean while taking off from New York's Kennedy Airport. All 230 people aboard were killed.

According Transportation Secretary Mary Peters, this new safety requirement affects new cargo and passenger planes that have center fuel tanks, such as the Boeing 747. All existing Airbus and Boeing passenger jets will be required to retrofit the new device. This affects nearly 2,800 planes already in service. Cargo planes already in use are not affected by the ruling

The National Transportation Safety Board found that the cause of the explosion aboard Flight 800 was due to oxygen igniting in a partially empty fuel tank sitting for several hours in the sun before the plane took off. The proposed device will replace highly flammable oxygen with inert nitrogen as the fuel tanks empty.

The FAA originally proposed a rule to prevent future explosions three years ago, but was told the cost was too high by the aviation industry. The cost of installing the technology is estimated from $92,000 to $311,000 per aircraft. According to Secretary Peters, this is one-tenth of one percent of the cost of a new plane. The overall cost to the industry may cost close to one billion dollars.

While this may chafe the aviation industry, especially during a time when many airlines are barely hanging on financially, the last thing anyone wants is another disaster like Flight 800. And though many people would probably like to see the device in use quicker than the nine year timeline given, this is an important step toward lessening the already low chance of an in-flight explosion.

If you have lost a loved one in an aviation disaster, especially one that could have been avoided by installing updated technology, please contact an experienced personal injury lawyer in your area.

A French judge has ordered Continental Airlines and five others to stand trial for manslaughter for the crash of an Air France Concorde that killed 113 people in 2000. The Concorde crashed shortly after takeoff from Charles de Galle airport in Paris where it slammed into a hotel. The crash killed all 109 on the jet and four on the ground. It was destined for New York City.

French investigators determined that a strip of titanium which fell off a Continental DC-10 that took off just before the Continental shredded one of the Concorde's tires. The debris from the blown tire then punctured the Concorde's fuel tanks. Video footage taken at the time shows flames shooting out of the Concorde's left wing before crashing. The French inquiry also shows that the Concorde's fuel tanks were not protected sufficiently from shock. The inquiry alleges that the makers of the Concorde knew about the problem as far back as 1979.

The five accused include two Continental Airlines employees: John Taylor, a mechanic who fitted the "non-standard strip" onto the DC-10, and Stanley Ford, Continental's chief of maintenance. Prosecutors say that the metal strip was build and installed "without respecting the instructions then in effect." Ford allegedly validated this replacement.

The three others accused are two former Concorde officials Henri Perrier and Jacques Herubel, who allegedly knew about the jet's fuel tank defect, and Claude Frantzen, director of technical services at the civil aviation authority DGAC.

Airline disasters are horrific and can be unbearable to those family members left behind. While this tragedy occurred on the other side of the Atlantic, the alleged cause could happen at any airport in this country. Though major airline disasters are thankfully few and far between in this country, the causes are often attributed to mechanical failure or something unrelated to what is going on in the jet at the time of distress. If you have lost a loved one in an aviation disaster, please contact an experienced injury lawyer in your area to see if you can file a claim.

A bill meant to modernize the nation's air traffic control system, improve the inspection of commercial airlines, and ensure that stranded passengers on delayed flights are given food and water failed in the Senate after Republicans blocked the bill. They claim Democrats were trying to add provisions into the bill that had nothing to do with aviation, and were angry that they were not allowed to add in their own amendments.

Specifically, the Republicans objected to a proposed tax increase to raise billions of dollars to make up for expected shortfalls in the nation's highway trust fund next year. They argue that this is meant to build and repair roads and bridges, but not airports.

Perhaps predictable, as these types of political fights are, the Democrats accused the Republicans of obstructionism. Sen. Jay Rockefeller also warned of severe consequences when he stated, "I am deeply concerned that the risk of a catastrophic accident is increasing, not decreasing....I am growing increasingly concerned that our aviation system is operating on borrowed time."

Because of this impasse, the funding for a new satellite-based air control system and tougher safety inspection rules will be put on hold until Congress tries again next year. Also on hold are new rights of airline passengers, as well as a provision stating that airlines must disclose on their website which flights are chronically delayed.

While flight delays can be excruciating, and sitting on a stranded flight with little food or water is probably criminal (someday, anyway), because the infinite wisdom of Congress has delayed overhauling aspects of flying that make the public safer, things will probably get worse before they get better.

Airline disasters that occur due to pilot or mechanical error are horrible enough. What if a catastrophic plane crash is the result of political inaction?

If you have lost a loved one in an airline disaster, please contact an experienced injury lawyer in your area who has been involved in aviation disaster cases.

US Airways Flight 1250, traveling from Orlando, Florida to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania has become the latest chapter in the saga of airlines struggling with fuel prices, lost luggage, and stressed out, well, everybody. While American Airlines grounded over a thousand flights recently to make sure they were up to FAA standards, and Southwest was exposed for flying planes with structural cracks, Flight 1250 is this fear put in motion.

In March, while flying over Maryland, a four foot by five foot section of paneling from the left wing came loose and flew off. It hit windows toward the rear of the plane before disappearing into the Maryland sky. The missing piece has yet to be found. The outside panes of several windows were broken but the inner panes held, and the plane never lost cabin pressure.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) downgraded this from "accident" to "incident" because the plane was still able to fly normally. Flight 1250 did touch down 30 minutes after the "incident" and none of the 180 people on board were injured. Scared, yes, but unharmed.

Problem with Fasteners

Investigators found that wing fasteners were cracked on the plane's wing. The remaining pieces of the wing were found to have metal fatigue which caused two of the three clips to "fail" before the flight, and the third failed during the incident. The clips were installed after problems were found in fasteners installed earlier. All 757s were ordered to install a redesigned fastening system in the 1980s by the FAA. Eastern Airlines used to own the plane involved in the March incident and was installed with the redesigned fastening system. It was this system that failed.

Fortunately Flight 1250 was able to land without any further problems. However, as the nation's air fleet continues to age, more and more planes are found to have problems like this one. US Airways reportedly found fastener problems with seven other planes after this incident. Multiply that by the number of carriers in the US, and the chances for a catastrophic air disaster goes up.

While the loss of a loved one in a plane crash is incredibly slim, it can still happen. If you have suffered the loss of a family member in an airline disaster, please contact an experienced injury lawyer in your area.

After it was recently reported that Southwest Airlines had been flying dozens of jets that had not been properly inspected for structural damage, as well as a recent crackdown on other airline maintenance issues, United Airlines has announced it will ground its fleet of 777s for maintenance checks. American Airlines and Delta canceled hundreds of flights of the MD-80 last week to ensure they were in compliance with FAA directives.

United has found that tests relating to one of the bottles in the cargo fire suppression system on the 777 had not been performed. They opted to ground the fleet and voluntarily disclose this information to the FAA rather than risk a fine.

The Cracks in Southwest Airlines

This stems from the discovery that Southwest knowingly violated mandatory inspections, and when they belatedly conducted the inspections they found cracks in the bodies of six 737s. The longest crack measured four inches in length. The FAA fined Southwest $10.2 million, the largest ever levied against an airline. Southwest has said it will challenge the fine, and that the carrier is the one who revealed to the FAA the lapses in their inspection. It has also been reported that a supervisor who permitted the airline to fly after knowing there were cracks in the jets has been suspended.

It is widely known that flying is the safest way to travel. Very few airlines crash, and very few have mechanical problems where an emergency takes place. However, these things happen. If a plane goes down, the chances of survival aren't very good for those on the plane, as well as any bystanders on the ground.

Some of the crashes, as well as some of the mechanical problems may have been avoided with the maintenance checks we expect from airlines. With this new knowledge that Southwest has failed to maintain its safety inspections, a potential ripple effect has occurred. Other airlines are now grounding flights and inspecting their airlines as if they're next on the FAA's list. This news also comes from some concern that airline maintenance across the board is lax in some areas.

For many people, flying can be an uncomfortable or even terrifying experience. Flying with the knowledge that a major airline disaster may rest with maintenance on the ground and execs in offices shouldn't add to the concern of these people.

If you have lost a loved one in a commercial airline disaster, please contact an experienced injury lawyer in your area.