An aircraft owner loans his plane to a friend. The plane crashes and a passenger is injured. It turns out the crash was caused by the negligence of the aircraft’s mechanic. Can the crash victim hold the aircraft owner liable for the mechanic’s faulty work?
This question comes up a lot. In fact, it comes up
When the evidence needed to reconstruct an aviation accident is lost or destroyed in the crash, can the victim nonetheless hold whoever caused the accident accountable?
Yes, if the legal doctrine of "res ipsa loquitur" apples — Latin for "the thing speaks for itself."
Most courts recognize that air crashes do not normally occur unless someone, somewhere, was
An FBO is not supposed to rent an aircraft to a pilot who the FBO knows isn’t competent to complete the planned flight safely. If it does, and a passenger is hurt or killed by the pilot’s mistake, the victim or his family can hold the FBO responsible. That’s the law of "negligent 
entrustment."
A
At least 10 people aboard United Flight 935 were hurt when the aircraft encountered severe turbulence. Is the airline responsible for compensating its injured passengers?
Because Flight 935 was an international flight, a treaty known as the Montreal Convention governs the passengers’ claims. The Montreal Convention makes the airline liable for any injuries suffered on board the aircraft due
Aircraft engine manufacturers recommend that owners overhaul their engines when they accumulate a certain amount of operating time, usually between 1200 and 2400 hours depending on the engine’s make and model. For example, Teledyne Continental Motors suggests that owners overhaul its IO-550 model engine at 2000 hours. Textron Lyc
oming suggests that owners overhaul its O-235 engine, like the one pictured, at 2400 hours.
Overhauls are expensive. Some can cost $40,000 or more. An increasing number of owners opt to run their engines 200, 400 or more hours past the manufacturer’s recommended "time between overhauls," or TBO. Once past TBO, they may take extra precautions by, for example, regularly sending out engine oil samples for spectrographic analysis, checking the engine’s compression, and looking inside certain parts of the engine with a boroscope to insure that things look good. They feel the manufacturer’s TBO recommendations are somewhat arbitrary. By running their engines past TBO they are squeezing more life out of them, and that just makes good economic sense.
The FAA does not require private owners to comply with the manufacturer’s stated TBO interval. The manufacturer’s TBO is therefore advisory only. As long as a properly certified mechanic hasContinue Reading Running Past TBO: Smart Economics or Owner Negligence?
When someone is killed in an airplane or helicopter accident, California’s wrongful death law allows only certain members of the victim’s family to obtain monetary compensation from those who are responsible. The family members who are entitled to compensation are:
The victim of an airplane or helicopter accident must act on his rights or lose them forever. That means the victim must file a lawsuit by the appropriate deadline. In some cases, the victim must first file a special claim form with the right governmental agency. If he fails to do so on time, or files it with the wrong agency, he
Maintenance manuals tell the mechanic when to perform an inspection or service, and how to perform it. Many mechanics believe that the regulations require them to follow the book exactly.
But in an excellent column on this murky subject, mechanic and aviation author Mike Busch sums up the regulatory requirements nicely:
The manufacturer’s “how-to” instructions
Aviation manufacturers have long argued that victims should not be permitted to sue for aircraft design defects because, before any manufacturer’s aircraft leaves the ground, its design has to be approved and certified by the FAA. If the aircraft’s design is good enough for the FAA’s engineers, they argue, it should be good enough for the court system. Judges
Air traffic controllers work within the guidelines set forth in the Controller’s Handbook (pdf), which they often call "the Bible." The Handbook is hundreds of pages long, and controllers must follow it to the letter. If they deviate and an accident results, the Federal Tort Claims Act permits the victim to sue the FAA for negligence.
Sometimes