Airplane accident lawyer talks about tragedies in the air
Powered flight is perhaps one of man’s greatest achievements. Ever since the first airplane took off in Kitty Hawk, man has taken to the skies as if he were born for it. Today, traveling by plane is one of the safest ways. Yet, as any aviation accident attorney will tell you, it’s not a perfect picture.
National Geographic once said that more people die from donkeys worldwide than plane crashes. The difference is that you will never hear about the annual number of people killed by donkeys. When a plane crashes, no matter how small, it gets front page coverage.
Anatomy of a Disaster
The modern airplane is an incredibly complex machine. Even the smallest single-engine, quad-propeller-driven simulator is a bundle of gears, gauges, pistons, hydraulic lines, and electrical cables. Although redundancies exist, sometimes the failure of one system can quickly lead to the failure of the whole.
Mechanical failure is one of the main causes of an air crash. This means that the plane went down because a part or parts of it compromised its ability to fly, land or take off safely. Anything from a worn part that finally fails to an instrument that has been giving the pilot the wrong information can qualify as a mechanical failure.
The other main reason is pilot error. It’s just that the pilot made a mistake that led to the crash. Unfortunately, this error is often fatal to the pilot, his or her crew, and the aircraft’s passengers. Any plane accident lawyer will tell you that there are so many complexities that arise here.
The blame game
The consequence of any disaster, especially the more tragic ones, is the inevitable investigation. A team of specialists is combing through the wreckage, maintenance records and crew files to determine the cause of the crash. Plane crash lawyers start looking for who is responsible.
Depending on the severity of the crash, investigations can take days at best and years at worst. The recovery of so-called “black boxes” that record in-flight data is usually a great asset, as are eyewitness accounts. The survivors are invaluable because they were actually there before the crash.
Aviation accident lawyers say this is where things get a little muddy. The airline and/or aircraft manufacturer will try to blame everything and everyone but them. Dead passengers are bad business for an airline, while a tragic air crash calls the manufacturer’s entire output into question.
Meanwhile, the family of the pilots and the crew will also try to drop or reduce the charges against them. Especially if the pilot was a veteran, their families would do anything to keep the names of their loved ones from being tarnished.
Survivors and relatives of victims face a complex tangle of laws and procedures that uncover the root cause of what led to the crash. When the cause is established, there is still the question of whether you will be happy with it or not, and what to do if the latter. Then there are the lawsuits for just compensation.
This is where an experienced plane accident attorney can be very helpful. They know the laws surrounding such incidents and have access to professionals who can evaluate the evidence and even provide expert testimony.
Even then, the road to justice and fair compensation can be long and difficult. Still, if you stay the course and heed the advice of your aviation accident attorney, you may see a happy landing for the case of those denied it by fate or negligence.
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