Incidents involving airplanes can cause devastating injuries to persons. Because of the extreme speeds at which aircraft travel, when aircraft incidents do occur, they are often fatal and can kill hundreds of people within seconds.
Claimants involved in North Carolina-based airplane accidents have pointed to mechanical failures, pilot errors, and inadequate responses to inclement weather as causing injurious incidents.
Every year, some 38 million travelers pass through the City of Charlotte's Charlotte-Douglas International Airport. The city is ringed by smaller, municipal airports. Nearly every plane that lands in these airports does so safely, however deadly accidents have resulted in the deaths of hundreds of persons.
The legal professionals at Arnold & Smith, PLLC have the experience and knowledge needed to advocate on your behalf if you or a loved one has suffered injury in an airplane accident. Our professionals have recovered millions of dollars on behalf of injured claimants. We offer potential clients a free initial consultation. Contact our law firm as soon as possible to schedule your free initial consultation.
Privately Owned Aircraft Most Prone to CrashesMilitary and commercial airplane accidents account for a small percentage of annual aircraft incidents. Most accidents involving airplanes and helicopters involve privately owned aircraft. While most of the 1,500 aircraft incidents in the United States involve small, privately owned aircraft, these incidents do not garner as much publicity as incidents involving large planes which commonly carry many more people than privately owned aircraft.
Negligence on the Part of the air Traffic Controller can Cause InjuryClaimants have pointed to many causes of airline incidents that have caused injury. One of the most common causes of aircraft incidents is negligence committed by a federal air traffic controller. Air traffic controllers have a duty to guide airplanes as they take off and land at airports. Pilots rely on air traffic controllers to warn them of other airplanes that may be in their path and other dangers that could cause a collision.
When air traffic controllers negligently guide pilots, they can cause serious accidents, including crashes. For example, if controllers fail to notify pilots of aircraft in their path, pilots may unwittingly guide their aircraft into deadly collisions. Similarly, when controllers clear an aircraft's landing upon a space occupied by another aircraft, the landing aircraft may collide with objects on the ground—including other aircraft—causing injuries and deaths to persons on the aircraft and on the ground. When traffic controllers act negligently, those injured in resulting plane accidents can bring a personal injury lawsuit against them to recover damages.
Aircraft Design Defects can Lead to Incidents, Cause Injuries and DeathsClaimants have alleged that some airplane crashes have occurred as a result of aircraft design defects. When aircraft design or structure causes or contributes to an accident, injured victims may have the right to bring liability lawsuits against the aircraft maker or aircraft parts maker. When a design defect causes an accident, injured victims can bring a lawsuit seeking damages for any deaths or injuries that occurred as a result.
Faulty Equipment can Lead to Deadly ConsequencesWhen airplane equipment fails to work properly, afflicted systems can fail, leading to a crash. The manufacturers of defective airplane equipment are liable when their equipment malfunctions and causes accidents and injuries.
The ground crews at airports and a plane's pilot possess a duty to check all of the plane's equipment before each flight and look for any defects before taking off. In many airplane accidents, a crash's cause cannot be determined until long after accidents have occurred. Investigators look to determine whether faulty equipment or pilot error or other factors caused a crash. Investigators will often look to a plane's so-called black box device, which records everything that occurred before, during, and after takeoff, to determine the cause of a crash.
Pilot Error can Lead to Crash, Injuries, DeathsPilot error has been consistently cited as one of the most common causes of most general aviation plane accidents. Pilot errors can include mistakes during the decision-making process, bad habits, distracted flying, and a breakdown in the process of receiving or sending communication with air traffic controllers. In many cases, pilots fly during inclement weather when staying on the ground would have been a less risky decision. Fatigue, a workload that is too intense, and defective processing of information can all contribute to pilot errors that cause devastating accidents.
Contact an Experienced Lawyer as Soon as PossibleWhether you suffered an injury in an airplane accident or lost a loved one in an accident, you may be entitled to damages. The sooner you speak with an experienced personal injury lawyer, the better. Contact Arnold & Smith, PLLC today to schedule a free initial consultation with one of our experienced lawyers.