In the News

Recent Crashes

American Airlines Flight Overruns Jamaican Runway and Crashes a Few Yards From the Caribbean Shore

During a tropical torrential downpour on the night of December 22, an American Airlines flight carrying 154 people attempted to land at Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston, Jamaica. The Boeing 737-800, operating as American Airlines Flight 331, touched down on the slippery runway, failed to stop and barreled through a fence before crashing into a sandy embankment a mere 15 feet from the Caribbean Sea.

Miraculously, no one was killed in the crash. Over ninety people were taken to area hospitals of which a handful were hospitalized over-night with more serious injuries.

The impact of the crash was so severe that the aircraft broke into several pieces. Both engines came off during the mishap and the fuselage was severely cracked on impact.

Survivors described the panic that ensued after the aircraft overshot the runway. Some were struck by overhead luggage that fell around them. Within minutes of the crash, rescuers began to pull bloodied and shocked passengers out of the broken fuselage. Witnesses said the air around the wreckage was thick with the smell of smoke and burning jet fuel.

The NTSB and the FAA have sent investigators to the site of the crash who will work with the Jamaican Civil Aviation Authority (JCAA) in finding a cause for the failed landing.

Experts Scramble to Find Answers After an Air France Jet Disappears Over the Atlantic

On Sunday, May 31, 2009, Air France Flight 447 abruptly and mysteriously disappeared over the Atlantic Ocean. The aircraft, an Airbus A330-200 was carrying 228 people on their way from Rio de Janeiro to Paris. Aviation authorities scrambled on Monday to find information on the missing jetliner as Brazilian and French military jets combed the Atlantic looking for clues. As of now, experts speculate that weather could have played a major role in the disappearance. Data shows that the aircraft had flown into an area with stormy weather and "high turbulence" before losing contact with Brazil air traffic control. The Brazilian military discovered debris in the Atlantic Ocean on Tuesday that might be from the missing plane.

Some experts doubt lightning could have caused a modern Airbus jet to crash and point rather to a possible circuit failure. Two Americans were aboard the missing flight.

Plane Crashes Into Cemetery in Montana, Killing All Aboard

A single-engine turboprop plane crashed in a cemetery in Butte, Montana, on Sunday afternoon, March 23, 2009, killing all 14 people aboard, including seven children. The aircraft, a Pilatus PC-12, was traveling from Oroville, California to Bozeman, Montana when the pilot changed course to Butte for unknown reasons. The plane then nosedived before crashing into a cemetery 500 feet short of Bert Mooney Airport in Butte.

The flight is believed have been taking its passengers, seven adults and seven children, on a skiing vacation.

The crash is the fourth major plane accident in the U.S. in about three months.

Officials began their investigation Monday morning, gathering evidence at the crash site in Holy Cross Cemetery. The investigation is expected to take at least a year, since very little evidence is available.

A press conference was held on Sunday evening, hours after the crash. Investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board offered few details during the conference and no cause for the crash has been given. FAA spokesman, Les Dorr, did say that the Pilatus PC-12 is usually built to carry 11 people. It is still unclear if extra weight was a factor in the crash, since seven of the 14 people aboard were small children.

The weather at the time of the crash was partly cloudy with visibility of 10 miles and winds were blowing from the northwest around 10 mph.

According to officials, air traffic controllers received gave no sign of distress from the pilot of the doomed plane when he requested to divert the flight to the Bert Mooney Airport in Butte. Like many small airports in America, the Butte airport has no radar control. Without radar control, a pilot would have switch to a radio frequency and use visual rules in addition to following specific procedures for landing.

According to officials, the aircraft did not have cockpit voice or flight data recorders and was not licensed to carry commercial passengers.

The plane was registered to Eagle Cap Leasing Inc. of Enterprise, Oregon, whose president, Irving M. Feldkamp of Redlands, California, has yet to comment on the crash. Feldkamp has been a pilot since 1994 and is certified for instrument flight.

Continental Plane Crash near Buffalo

Baum, Hedlund, Aristei & Goldman files lawsuit for children of spiritual leader, Susan Wehle, who was killed in the Continental Connection Commuter Plane Crash  

The aviation disaster lawyers of Baum, Hedlund, Aristei & Goldman have filed a wrongful death lawsuit today on behalf of Jonah and Jacob Mink, whose mother, Susan Wehle, of Amherst, was killed in the February 12 Continental Connection Flight 3407 crash at Clarence Center, New York.

The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court, Western District of New York in Buffalo against Continental Airlines, Inc. (Texas); Pinnacle Airlines Corp. (Tennessee); Colgan Air, Inc. (Virginia); and Bombardier Aerospace Corporation (Texas). Case number: 09-CV0174-S.

The complaint alleges that the flight crew lost control of the aircraft due to, among other things, a combination of airfoil icing, negligent actions of the flight crew and an inadequate, defective, de-icing system and flight control system of the aircraft.

Read more.

Gol Airlines Boeing 737-800 Crash in Amazon Jungle of Brazil

On September 29, 2006, Brazil experienced its worst air disaster to date when Gol Linhas Aereas Inteligentes Flight 1907, carrying 149 passengers and six crew members, crashed nose first into the dense Amazon rain forest of Mato Grosso state after a midair collision with a private Embraer Legacy 600 business jet. There were no survivors.

Radar contact was lost with Gol's Boeing 737-800 during the flight from Amazon's principal city of Manaus to Brasilia, the nation's capital. An air force rescue team located the wreckage the following day, and began an unsuccessful search for survivors.

The smaller Legacy jet, en route from the Brazilian factory (of Embraer) to ExcelAire Services, Inc. in New York, successfully negotiated an emergency landing at an air force base in Serra do Cachimbo, in spite of extensive damage to the plane's wingtip and tail.

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A Recipe for Disaster: Southwest Flight 1248

"Baum Hedlund represents five passengers from this airline accident"

Ronald L. M. Goldman was a lead attorney handling the discovery deposition efforts and Clark Aristei acted as lead plaintiffs' counsel for the Coordinated Discovery Cases in the Southwest Airlines Flight 1455 runway crash-landing in Burbank, California in 2000. That plane went off the runway, through barriers, crossed the street, hit a car, and came to rest mere feet from gasoline pumps at a service station. It is frighteningly similar to the Midway crash on December 8, 2005 in Chicago.

Baum Hedlund is investigating the airline accident at Chicago's Midway International Airport in which Southwest Airlines Flight 1248 crashed when it ran off Runway 31C which, due to its displaced threshold, only has 5826 feet of usable runway. The crash-landing occurred during a snowstorm. The Boeing 737 plowed through a fence and onto a busy street, striking several vehicles. The plane landed on top of a car, killing a young boy and injuring his family members. At least ten others were injured, including some passengers.
Visit www.southwestflight1248crash.com

Piecing together the Miami seaplane crash tragedy

"Piecing together the seaplane crash tragedy"

MIAMI (Reuters) - A seaplane packed with passengers crashed off Miami Beach and sank into the southern U.S. city's main shipping channel on Monday, killing at least 14 people, the U.S. Coast Guard said.

The twin-engine seaplane, which flies between downtown Miami and the Bahamas, crashed just off the southern tip of Miami Beach after taking off with 16 passengers and two crew, Coast Guard spokeswoman Petty Officer Danielle DeMarino said.

Other Coast Guard officials said up to 20 people were on board. DeMarino said 14 bodies had been recovered from the crash site.

Witnesses told local television the plane seemed to explode in the sky before falling into Government Cut, the entry to the Port of Miami, where it came to rest in shallow water next to a jetty. Fox News interviewed Aviation Attorney, Ron Goldman, about the crash.

Companies Accept Responsibility and Publicly Apologize to the Families of the January 8, 2003 Air Midwest Flight 5481 Crash in Charlotte, North Carolina

"Air Midwest Flight 5481 Memorial"

Charlotte, North Carolina, May 6, 2005 - - The last family to settle a wrongful death claim stemming from the Air Midwest crash of January 8, 2003 at the Charlotte-Douglas International Airport demanded as part of their settlement terms that those responsible for the crash hold themselves accountable and publicly apologize to the victims’ families.

Pastor Douglas and Tereasa Shepherd, who lost their 18 year-old daughter, Christiana, in the crash, invited all the victims’ families to attend today’s event. The Shepherd family, their attorneys and approximately six other families gathered at the memorial crash site this morning to witness the public apology by Air Midwest and its maintenance company, Vertex Aerospace (now known as L-3 Communications Aerotech). The prepared statement read by Greg Stephens, President of Air Midwest stated:

Aviation Law Firm Wins Appeal on Behalf of 3 Paramedics Killed in 1998 Los Angeles Helicopter Crash; Trial Against Bell Helicopter Can Now Proceed

Aviation Attorney Robert E. Guilford won an appeal on June 13, 2003, for the widows of the three paramedics killed in the 1998 Bell helicopter crash in Griffith Park, Los Angeles. The helicopter was airlifting an injured child when the tail rotor yoke failed and caused the aircraft to crash.

Mr. Guilford filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Bell on behalf of the widows but Bell succeeded in having the case dismissed based on a federal statute called the General Aviation Revitalization Act of 1994 (GARA) which bars legal action against manufacturers of general aviation aircraft if the part that allegedly caused the accident is more than 18 years old. Mr. Guilford appealed.