A National Transportation Safety Board hearing last week into the Colgan Air commuter plane crash near Buffalo NY in February, focused on the safety of smaller regional carriers.

At the core of the issue was whether safety was compromised at the smaller airlines because of the lower levels of training, experience, and salaries of these pilots. At least one legislator, Senator Byron Dorgan, Democrat from North Dakota is planning to look into aviation safety, especially relating to smaller commuter airlines.

On February 12th, a Pinnacle Airlines plane operated by the carrier’s Colgan unit for Continental Airlines crashed near Buffalo, killing 49 people on board and one person on the ground. The NTSB investigation into the crash is still ongoing, but findings won’t be available for several more months. Meanwhile, the three-day hearings examined a number of factors that point to pilot training and experience as possible factors in the plane crash.

For instance, the captain of the Pinnacle Airlines flight had failed to mention in his job application to Pinnacle that he had failed two flight tests earlier. The hearings also focused on “unnecessary chatter” in the cockpit between the pilots. Pilots are not allowed to discuss non-flight related matters, especially while conducting intense operations.

Besides, the hearing also looked at fatigue as a factor in the crash. Rebecca Shaw co-pilot of the flight apparently traveled all night to reach her Newark, New Jersey base. Some experts are raising concerns that the low pay that regional airline pilots receive could be a factor in them not being able to afford housing in the city where they are based, resulting in fatigue when they have to travel long distances to get to their base. There are major discrepancies in the salaries of smaller airline pilots and those who work for the larger airlines. For instance, according to AIR Inc., a company that tracks pilot salaries, a first officer at a major airline with about five years of experience can expect to make $84,300, while a pilot with the same amount of experience at Pinnacle can expect to make $32,100.

Regional airlines are an important part of the aviation industry. Regional flights account for approximately half of all the flights operated in the country. These airlines operate by ferrying passengers from smaller towns which the larger carriers don’t service, to the bigger hubs. Many times, passengers may not even be aware that they are traveling on a regional flight. For instance, they could purchase a ticket for a large carrier like American or Delta, but would have to take a regional carrier from a smaller town to the large carrier’s hub, from where they would make their journey onward.

A spate of plane crashes in recent months has placed the aviation industry under increased scrutiny. We need to have an in-depth investigation by lawmakers into the regional carrier industry, and enforce higher standards in order to prevent crashes involving these airlines.

The Reeves Law Group is a law firm with offices throughout California dedicated exclusively to the representation of personal injury victims, including victims of plane accidents. Please visit our website at trlglaw.com. If you desire a free consultation on a personal injury matter, please call us at (800) 644-8000 or email us.

The Reeves Law Group is not acting as legal counsel for any party in the matters discussed in this posting.

A plane crashed into a house in Buffalo, New York yesterday killing all 49 people on board and at least one resident of the house. The commuter plane, Continental Connection Flight 3407 had left from Newark, N.J., and was meant to land at Buffalo Niagara International Airport, when it seems to have simply nosedived into a neighborhood. It is the worst commercial airplane crash in two years in the country, and investigators are still trying to piece together what caused the crash.

Witnesses in the neighborhood reported hearing the plane sputtering, and then a loud explosion, as the plane simply dropped into one of the houses in the suburban Buffalo neighborhood. Those who looked outside and saw the accident, say the plane nosedived and then exploded in into flames on impact. At least one person in the house has been confirmed dead, and two others miraculously escaped injuries in the accident. The plane’s passengers, including a four-member crew, as well as an off-duty pilot were killed, it is believed. The plane was carrying 5000 pounds of fuel which seems to have triggered a massive explosion on impact. The flames were shooting 50 feet high, and witnesses claim it was a miracle that more houses in the neighborhood weren’t destroyed immediately.

For the family of victims of 9/11, there was at least one passenger on the ill-fated plane who will be sorely missed. Beverly Eckert was the widow of one of the victims of the 9/11 attack. She was flying back to Buffalo to celebrate her late husband’s 58th birthday. After her husband’s death, Eckert had been a prominent campaigner for intelligence reform to prevent more terrorist attacks on American soil.

Initial information seems to suggest that there was ice buildup on the plane’s wings. Other pilots in the vicinity had also reported ice buildup on the wings of their aircraft. An accumulation of ice that frequently occurs when a plane is flying in icy weather, can affect the aerodynamics of the plane, and can cause it to experience problems with lift. This is a common problem at this time of the year, and pilots are aware that this is just one of the dangers of flying in snowy weather. There have been several aviation accidents in the past few decades that have been traced to an accumulation of ice on the wings. In 1994, 68 people died in a commuter plane crash traced to ice buildup on the wings causing the aircraft to go out of control. In 1982, 78 people died in an Air Florida plane crash that was also blamed on ice accumulation.

The plane crash is the latest in a series of high-profile aviation accidents that have plagued the industry. On December 30th, a plane skidded out of control at Denver airport. 38 people were injured in that accident. In January, 155 people aboard a US Airways jetliner had a miraculous escape when their plane made an impressive crash landing on the Hudson River. A flock of geese being sucked into the engines was blamed for that particular aviation accident.

The Reeves Law Group is a law firm with offices throughout California dedicated exclusively to the representation of personal injury victims, including victims of plane accidents. Please visit our website at trlglaw.com. If you desire a free consultation on a personal injury matter, please call us at (800) 644-8000 or email us.

A pilot at the helm of a plane that was headed for Orange County’s John Wayne Airport, but crashed into the western part of Catalina Island, did not posses a commercial pilot’s license, the Orange County Register reports.

Dana Point resident, Mark Hogland, was piloting the small plane. On board were a Florida businessman, Marshal Goldberg, and his female companion. The plane took off from Catalina Island’s Airport in the Sky at around 4:50 in the afternoon on Thursday. It was scheduled to land at John Wayne Airport about 20 minutes later. Instead, the plane disappeared, and the authorities were alerted by Hogland’s fiancée. Search operations were conducted in the waters off the island by the Sheriff departments of both Los Angeles County and Orange County, the Los Angeles County fire department, as well as the Coast Guard.

Meanwhile, the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board are expected to begin investigations into the accident. The “Airport in the Sky” on Catalina Island is carved out of the side of the mountain, and is flanked by steep cliffs. It makes for dangerous take-offs and landings, and this was probably what drew Goldberg, who has been described by friends and family as an adventure loving person, to the trip. According to information from the National Transportation Safety Board, ten people have died in aviation accidents after taking off or landing at the “Airport in the Sky.” What makes the geographic conditions worse is that there are no air traffic controllers at the airport. In short, this doesn’t seem to have been an place where a less-than-qualified pilot should have been flying a plane, and yet Hogland was licensed to fly only as a private pilot, and did not have a commercial pilot’s license.

Now that the three have been confirmed dead, questions are being asked if Hogland was running an unlicensed air touring company. His company SkyBlue USA, according to the company website, conducts tours of the San Diego and Orange County coastlines, as well as Catalina Island. According to the OC Register, the trip that Goldberg and his female companion went on was arranged by a concierge at the Ritz-Carlton in Laguna Niguel where they had been staying before heading to the island. If Hogland was indeed running an unlicensed business, and was not licensed to fly a commercial plane, then questions will need to be asked about the hotel’s part in arranging such tours for the Florida couple. This seems to have been a case of an adventure trip gone horribly wrong at the hands of unqualified or unskilled operators who seem to have been operating without proper licensing of their business.

Investigations into the accident will reveal more details, including information about Hogland’s air touring business. A probe will indicate if licensing formalities were neglected for the sake of quick profits. An Orange County aviation accident lawyer will be able to conduct its own investigations into the tragedy to determine liability in this crash.

The Reeves Law Group is a law firm with offices throughout California dedicated exclusively to the representation of personal injury victims, including victims of plane accidents. Please visit our website at trlglaw.com. If you desire a free consultation on a personal injury matter, please call us at (800) 644-8000 or email us.

It was a miraculous escape for the 155 passengers on board a US Airways jetliner that had to make an emergency landing on the Hudson River on Thursday. The only injuries reported were a flight attendant with two broken legs. All passengers escaped major injuries, and were full of praise for the pilot who steered his plane to safety on the water.

Trouble for the plane began soon after it took off from La Guardia. A double bird strike caused the plane’s engines to shut down. Passengers who noted flames coming out of one of the engines began to panic, but soon, the pilot Chesley B. “Sully” Sullenberger III, who is being hailed as a hero for his role in saving the lives of passengers, addressed them and told them to brace for impact. The plane was forced to crash-land in the Hudson River, and soon was beginning to submerge in the water with 155 terrified people on board. Rescue teams arrived and aided by lifeboats, a barge and a giant crane began rescue operations to help the frightened passengers, some of who had fallen into the freezing water.

The dangers of death from hypothermia was definitely a possibility, and a few passengers who had fallen into the ice cold water were said to be near hypothermia by the time they were pulled out. But, the crew headed by Pilot Sullenberger was admirably in charge of the situation, and made sure that passengers, even those who were getting hysterical with fear were calmed down. The first help on the scene came from the Hudson’s ferry boats and tug boats which began to throw life jackets and rafts into the water to help the passengers who were now stranded on the quickly sinking body of the Airbus A320. Many of the passengers had not had the time to throw on their life jackets. Soon, police and Coast Guard crew arrived and the passengers were painstakingly rescued and lifted onto the boats.

Praise has come in from around the world for the crew of the plane and especially the captain. Sullenberger is a veteran pilot with over 40 years of aviation experience. He has about 20,000 flying hours to his credit, and regularly speaks on aviation safety. The landing has gone picture perfect, and experts have estimated that had the plane landed even 20 yards to the left or right, it could have struck a building leading to deaths or injuries. In short, he was the right man to be in charge of a sinking plane! Mayor Bloomberg, President Bush, and others have congratulated the team for their heroic efforts. All passengers are now safe and back home.

This is one aviation accident that has had a happy ending. Not even the most hardliner of personal injury lawyers will deny that no one was at fault here and that the people responsible for the safety of the passengers did a terrific job handling a potentially disastrous situation.

The Reeves Law Group is a law firm with offices throughout California dedicated exclusively to the representation of personal injury victims, including victims of plane accidents. Please visit our website at trlglaw.com. If you desire a free consultation on a personal injury matter, please call us at (800) 644-8000 or email us.

A routine flight training mission ended badly in an aviation accident when the pilot crashed his jet into a San Diego neighborhood, killing at least three people.

The plane, an F/A-18D Hornet had taken off from the Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier off the San Diego coast, and only one pilot was on board. Apparently, problems with the plane developed soon after take off, and the pilot was preparing for an emergency landing. While the plane was still over land, more problems seem to have cropped up, including a loss of the second engine. The plane soon nosedived, and the pilot was quick to eject to safety. Unfortunately, the loss of control occurred just over a San Diego neighborhood. Witnesses report seeing the plane crash straight into a home that was occupied by a woman, her two kids, and an elderly woman. At least three of the people in the house have been confirmed killed in the plane crash, and the fourth one is still missing. At least 4 houses and 4 vehicles were destroyed in the plane accident. The neighborhood had to be evacuated, and residents reported the smell of fuel and fire in the air. Dozens of fire fighters gathered quickly at the scene to put out the inferno.

The pilot has been injured, and has been taken to the Naval Medical Center San Diego for treatment of his injuries, which are reported to be minor in nature.

The plane was not carrying any hazardous or explosive materials. If it had, we could have been looking at a greater number of deaths and injuries from this plane accident. The exact causes of the crash are not known, although the LA Times does report that the pilot began to experience difficulties soon after take off. It seems a little rash that the pilot continued to fly the plane until he was right above a populated neighborhood, and there was no way to prevent a crash. We’ll have to wait for more information to emerge when a detailed investigation is complete.

At this point however, this much is clear. The pilot was probably ill advised to be anywhere near a populated area. There are other places that he could have chosen for a crash landing, like a body of water. There has been loss of innocent life because of this plane crash. The family of the victims of this tragedy should consult with an experienced California aviation accident attorney to evaluate their situation, and to investigate a possible wrongful death lawsuit here.

The Reeves Law Group is a law firm with offices throughout California dedicated exclusively to the representation of personal injury victims, including victims of aviation accidents. Please visit our website at trlglaw.com. If you desire a free consultation on a personal injury matter, please call us at (800) 644-8000 or email us.

Popping out of the tower for a break mid-duty, taking their eyes away from the runway while there was a helicopter still on the strip, and in general, fumbling through their duties like amateurs on the first day at the job – this was how air traffic controllers at the Torrance Aircraft acted on the day of the 2003 helicopter crash that killed two, and left one pilot seriously injured. That was also the gist of the argument for the attorneys for Gavin Heyworth, the pilot who survived the crash, and a judge has now held that the United States Department of Transportation’s Federal Aviation Administration was 100 percent liable for the accident

On the afternoon of November 6, 2003, Gavin Heyworth, a 22-year-old student pilot, who had just returned from Marine duty in Iraq, prepared for a solo flight at the Torrance Municipal Airport, Zameperini field. The airport is a popular training ground for new pilots, and air traffic controllers and pilots rely on sight as the airport tower lacks a radar.

On the day of the crash, the tower was understaffed, with just three of the air traffic controllers manning their positions. You would think that with a shortage of staff, the ones at their position would be more vigilant to make up for the missing pair of hands.

Au contraire. At one point, Cynthia Issa, one of the controllers, left on a break, and left another controller, Edward Weber, alone to handle things. Weber gave Heyworth the all clear to take off, and noticed that things were getting too busy to handle alone. He called Issa back from her break. She got back to her position, and from the taped recordings of their conversations during the moments before the crash, it’s clear that there was a lot of fumbling and messing up. Heyworth was given the all clear to ascend just when another helicopter with two people on board was beginning to descend. Because of the position of the two copters, neither of the 2 pilots could see each other. They relied on instructions from the tower, which it is now apparent, was being staffed with negligent and careless controllers. Weber, it was made clear, was looking away from the scene in the moments before the crash.

When the crash occurred, Heyworth’s copter crashed into the rotor of the other copter, and that machine fell to the ground killing both people inside. Heyworth’s copter auto rotated for a while before crashing to the ground. The impact was severe enough to sustain severe injures to the lower part of his body. Heyworth remained hospitalized and in a coma for six weeks. To date, he has great pain and difficulty walking.

Last year, Heyworth field a lawsuit against the FAA holding it liable for the crash. The FAA reported with allegations that Heyworth did not respond to instructions during the ascent. Now a ruling has vindicated Heyworth’s stand.

The amount for compensation to be paid to Heyworth’s and the families for the trauma is yet to be fixed. For the amount of pain and suffering that Heyworth has been forced to undergo, and the loss of two men through now fault of their own, and solely because of the ineptitude of the air traffic controllers, we hope they receive the compensation that’s due to them.

If you have been injured or a loved has been killed in a helicopter crash or any other aviation accident, you need the help of an experienced California personal injury attorney. Contact a lawyer at The Reeves Law Group for a free consultation.

Robert Young’s family will finally have the closure they’ve been waiting for. Six years after the Monroe businessman was killed in a plane crash in Oak Grove, a jury has awarded a settlement of $4 million to be paid by the company that manufactured the faulty engine that was seen to have been the cause of the crash. Teledyne Continental Motors, the company that manufactured the engine, will pay the settlement to Young’s family.

In January 2002, Young was returning home from a hunting camp in Arkansas, when the plane developed engine trouble. Before long, the plane had crashed into a field. Young died on impact.

His family alleged it was the faulty engine that caused the crash. Young had been an avid flying enthusiast, and there was nothing to suggest otherwise. There has been controversy about the judgment and the possibility of pilot error having caused the crash, but obviously a jury thought differently.

This is reportedly the largest civil settlement ever awarded in the area, and $4 million dollars is not an amount given away lightly. The jury must have seen damaging and solid evidence against TCM to take away so much. When we take to the skies, we put our life in the hands of the engine manufacturers. Any engine defect can prove deadly when you are several miles about ground. This is why we must hold these manufacturers to the highest standards possible, and punish severely when they fall below these standards.

It would seem, based on the jury’s verdict, that TCM fell below these standards, and as a result, Robert Young paid the ultimate price. Being a prominent member of society, he will be missed by his community, and by his family. There was no financial need for this family to pursue a settlement. Money wasn’t the reason here. They most likely wanted to absolve their father of any errors on his part, which may have caused the crash. They obviously believed very strongly in the defective nature of the engine, and believed that pursuing the case and clearing Young’s name was more important than the money. Now, it appears that they can finally call the matter closed.

If you or a loved one have been injured or killed in a plane crash, you need the help of an experienced California personal injury attorney. Contact a lawyer at The Reeves Law Group for a free consultation.