Mass Disaster Lawyers

Failed Rear Rotor May Have Caused Fatal Rescue Bell Helicopter Crash

2012-02-22T10:57:00.000-08:00

A helicopter operated by Teton County Search and Rescue crashed on Wednesday, killing two people and injuring another two. The fatal crash occurred in the Wyoming mountains roughly 50 miles northeast of Jackson. Authorities say Ray Shriver, a volunteer with the Teton Search and Rescue organization was killed along with Steve Anderson, an injured snowmobiler that Shriver was attempting to help. Mr. Shriver was a longtime resident of Jackson and one of the original founders of the Teton Search and Rescue organization. The pilot of the helicopter and another member of the rescue squad were injured in the crash and taken to St. John's Medical Center.

Investigators are still piecing together what caused the fatal crash, though local sheriff's officials have said that a failed rear rotor may have caused the Bell 407 helicopter to go down. The helicopter, built in 2008, is registered to Hillsboro Aviation out of Hillsboro, Washington. Authorities from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) will be investigating the helicopter crash. News Source

Colombian Families Hire Los Angeles Aviation Attorneys to Represent Them against Robinson Helicopter Company in First Fatal R66 Crash

2012-02-07T20:36:00.000-08:00

The aviation accident attorneys at Baum, Hedlund, Aristei & Goldman are representing the families of the two men killed in Robinson Helicopter Company’s first R66 crash which occurred on July 12, 2011 near Flandes, Colombia.

Killed in the crash, was the owner of the R66 aircraft, Juan Pablo Gaviria, former president of the Colombian Civil Air Patrol, and Jose Ricardo Cabrera, his dear friend and a skilled helicopter pilot.

The R66 crashed shortly after take-off from Girardot Airport in Colombia. According to the National Transportation SafetyBoard (NTSB) preliminary report, an eye witness reported hearing a cracking sound and seeing something break off the helicopter shortly before it plummeted to the ground. Initial data collected in the subsequent investigation by both the Government of Colombia and Baum Hedlund's investigation team strongly indicate that mechanical problems with the Robinson R66 helicopter caused the crash.

This crash was the first Robinson Helicopter Company R66 crash since the aircraft went into production in late 2010. The second fatal R66 accident occurred in South Dakota on October 1, 2011. The pilot and sole occupant of that R66 helicopter was killed, which according to an NTSB preliminary report, may have been caused by an in-flight breakup of the aircraft.

The R66 is the newest chopper in Robinson’s fleet and was designed to be the first turbine-powered helicopter for the company. Robinson is known for its low cost aircraft but many safety experts are concerned that the company may be sacrificing quality for profit when manufacturing their popular helicopters.

“Robinson, in my opinion, continues to prioritize profit over passenger safety and it’s a shame,” said the families' aviation attorney and pilot Ronald Goldman. “It appears to me from our investigation, thus far, and the opinions of our experts, that this crash was caused by mechanical failure,” Mr. Goldman stated.

The Investigation

Baum, Hedlund, Aristei & Goldman's aviation accident team is conducting an extensive investigation into the Colombia R66 helicopter crash. Their attorneys, along with experts, have visited the crash site in Colombia and have conducted an initial inspection of the wreckage, which has now been transported to the U.S. for further analysis.

The firm's experts in this case include metallurgists, a biomechanic, aviation engineers, a chemist, and a pilot. Their team is thoroughly examining the engine and other wreckage in order to determine whether design and mechanical defects are the cause of the crash and the untimely deaths of Mr. Gaviria and Mr. Cabrera.

This is Baum Hedlund's sixth investigation and case involving a Robinson Helicopter crash. In addition to the current R66 crash, the firm has handled two R22 crashes and three R44 crashes:

Central Illinois Air Corp., Robinson R44 II crash, Table Rock Lake, Missouri, 2008
Adventure Helicopter Tours, Robinson R44 II crash, Topanga Canyon, California, 2008
Classic Helicopter Corp., Robinson R44 II crash, near Easton, Washington, 2007
Blue Skies, Inc. instructional flight, Robinson R22 Beta crash, Rochester, Minnesota, 2004
Robinson R22, private helicopter crash, San Salvador, El Salvador, 2001

Baum Hedlund is preparing for a trial in Seattle starting March 5, 2012 in the Superior Court for King County against Robinson for the August 2, 2007 Robinson R44 II crash near Easton, Washington. The firm represents the family of Si Young Lee, a South Korean businessman who was surveying potential logging sites for lumber production.

The firm filed a lawsuit in the Lee case on October 20, 2009 alleging that shortly after departure, the R44 helicopter experienced a mechanical failure because of an R44 design flaw and then descended and experienced a low energy impact with the ground whereupon it erupted in a fire that burned for several days, destroying 485 acres. All four people aboard the helicopter burned to death.

The Victims

Juan Pablo Gaviria was a well respected pillar of his community. The father of three will be remembered for his generosity, deep passion for aviation and undeniable zest for life. Aviation was a passion from an early age, when Juan Pablo spent his time flying kites. He later went on to establish Colombia’s first paragliding school. He was also a licensed pilot, who flew single engine and twin engine planes.

He was dedicated to helping others. He was very involved with the Colombian Civil Air Patrol, a non-profit group of doctors which provides free medical care to communities stricken by poverty. The Air Patrol was a cause very dear to his heart. Juan Pablo was a member of the group for 13 years, and served as its president from 2006 until March of 2011.

Juan Pablo Gaviria had recently purchased the doomed Robinson R66 helicopter in America and had hired Mr. Cabrera, a dear friend, as his pilot a few months before the crash.

Jose Ricardo Cabrera was a beloved husband, father and grandfather. Having moved his family to a beautiful expansive property in Cajicá, Colombia from the United States in 2009, Mr. Cabrera dedicated his life to his large and tight-knit family. He built a now wildly successful ice cream business, Helados San Jerónimo, which remains completely family run.

Jose Ricardo also owned Florida-based Dari Machining, Inc., an industrial equipment and machinery shop.

Mr. Cabrera was a certified commercial helicopter pilot who was very experienced.

Robinson Helicopter Accident History

Robinson Helicopter Company was established in 1973 and is located in Torrance, California. In November 2011, Robinson announced that it had produced its 10,000th helicopter. They are currently the world's leading manufacturer of civil helicopters.

According to the NTSB’s online Accident Database, it appears that 1,053 Robinson helicopters have been involved in accidents across the globe since the first R22 crashed on December, 22, 1975 at Torrance, California and that of those 1,053 accidents, 237 were fatal accidents, killing a total of 413 people.

About Baum, Hedlund, Aristei & Goldman

Since 1985, Baum, Hedlund, Aristei & Goldman has represented almost 600 victims in a wide variety of aviation accidents, including commercial airline disasters, air charters and tours, air taxis, seaplanes, general aviation accidents, hot air balloons, and helicopter crashes of all kinds, including sightseeing tours, medical air ambulance rescue operations, and work related helicopter accidents, including industrial and construction type operations as well as professional aerial photography and logging enterprises.

The firm has represented victims in helicopter accident general negligence and product liability claims against Aerospatiale, Bell Helicopter Textron, Hughes Helicopters, McDonnell Douglas, Messerschmitt-Bolkow Blohm, Robinson Helicopters and Sikorsky.

FMCSA Report: Fewer Truck Crash Deaths in 2009

2012-01-24T09:44:00.000-08:00

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) released long awaited truck crash data in from 2009, which shows a decrease in fatal truck crashes throughout the country.

The October 2011 full report from the federal agency shows fatal crashes involving big rigs dropped 31 percent and crashes that resulted in injuries dropped 30 percent from 2007 to 2009. Of the 33,808 people that were killed in passenger vehicle crashes, a total of 3,380 (10 percent) were killed in crashes involving tractor trailers. A total of 74,000 people were injured in crashes involving tractor trailers. Additionally, the fatal truck crash rate fell to one crash for 100 million miles driven in 2009, down from 1.1 crash for 100 million miles. The fatal truck crash rate has also dropped considerably since 2000, down 54.5 percent.

The American Trucking Association (ATA) called into question why it took so long for the FMCSA to release these numbers, insinuating that the agency "has chosen not to highlight these important results." The FMCSA is currently considering a revision to the amount of hours commercial truckers are allowed to be on the road during a shift, and the numbers in the 2009 report are being used by the ATA to make the public believe that trucking safety regulations do not need to be improved upon.

"Driver fatigue is a contributing factor in many fatal trucking accidents, and if the FMCSA is recommending restrictions to commercial driver shift times, the ATA should not get in the way of improving highway safety,” said Timothy Loranger, a truck crash attorney with Baum, Hedlund, Aristei & Goldman. “While it is true that the numbers show a positive trend in tractor trailer safety, it is wrong to insinuate that improvements to safety regulations are no longer necessary to help prevent more fatal tractor trailer crashes in the future."

Truck News Source

Engineers Want Airbus A380's Grounded Due to Cracks in Wings

2012-01-19T15:19:00.000-08:00

Aircraft engineers with the Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association are calling on all Airbus A380 aircraft to be grounded after two A380's belonging to Singapore Airlines and one to Qantas Airlines were found to have cracks in the wings.

The Airbus A380, used by seven airlines worldwide, is the largest passenger aircraft in the world. Along with Singapore Airlines and Qantas, Airbus admitted on January 9, 2012 that they too had discovered cracks in the wings of their A380 aircraft. Surprisingly, Airbus and the airlines say that the planes in question are safe and repairs to the cracks had already been made.

Australian aircraft engineers disagree with both the airlines and the aircraft manufacturer. "We can't continue to gamble with people's lives and allow those aircraft to fly around and hope that they make it until their four-yearly inspection," said Steve Purvinas, secretary of the Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association. There are currently 67 Airbus A380's in service around the world, with many more on order from Airbus.

News Source

New Rules Issued by FAA to Prevent Pilot Fatigue May Not Be Enough

2012-01-10T14:47:00.000-08:00

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced a new set of rules on December 21, 2011 in an effort to prevent fatigued airline pilots from flying. Safety advocates have been lobbying for a new set of rules governing pilot fatigue for over two decades, as pilot work schedule regulations have been largely the same since the 1960's.

The rules come nearly three years after a fatal Colgan Air commuter airplane crash near Buffalo, New York killed 50 people. An investigation into the cause of the crash revealed that both pilots were exhausted during the flight.

The FAA believes the new rules will improve the overall health of airline pilots and cut down an average of one and a half accidents per year while reducing an average of six deaths per year.

However, critics of the new rules, which include safety officials with the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), believe that the changes are not enough to ensure passenger safety. One area of concern is that pilots will be forced to police themselves under the new rules. According to the FAA, pilots will have to report themselves if they feel too fatigued to fly, something experts believe pilots won’t do for fear of retaliation.

Although this is a step in the right direction, safety experts also voiced their disappointment with the FAA’s rules since they fail to address a phenomenon known as “commuting” pilots. These pilots enter the cockpit after flying long distances from their home bases to get to work. The pilots will have already put in several hours of flight before they even begin their traditional work day, experts argued. A spokesman for the NTSB stated that the board “wanted to see additional focus on the companies’ responsibilities to help manage fatigue risks resulting from commuting pilots.”

ABC News consultant and former Air Force and airline pilot John Nance has also spoken out against the new rules. “They don’t go anywhere near far enough and they bear the earmarks of having listened to the whining of the airline industry,” Nance fumed. “This just ignores about 25 years of research,” he added.

Following the fatal Colgan Air crash near Buffalo, the NTSB discovered that the two pilots who flew the doomed Colgan Air flight had commuted to Newark from Florida and Washington state. The NTSB also found that some 70 percent of Colgan Air pilots commuted to Newark from home bases that were long distances away. As many as 20 percent of those pilots commuted from distances longer than 1,000 miles, said the safety agency. This trend is not just limited to Colgan Air pilots but is an industry-wide problem, safety experts stated.

The FAA’s controversial new rules limit the amount of hours airline pilots can be on duty to between 9 and 14 hours, depending on the amount of time zones crossed and the time of a pilot's first flight. The maximum amount of time includes time spent performing administrative duties and wait time before flights. Airline pilots will also be limited to eight or nine hours of flying time per shift with a minimum rest period of 10 hours in between shifts. Pilots flying through the night will be limited to fewer hours than pilots flying in the day time because the body naturally craves sleep at night.

Cargo carriers, surprisingly, are exempted from the new rules. This exemption seems to contradict the FAA's goal of "one level of safety" for the aviation industry as a whole. Cargo carriers do much of their flying through the night when pilots are naturally more likely to be fatigued. While it is true that cargo planes do not typically carry passengers, a cargo plane crash would be just as dangerous to people on the ground as a passenger plane crash.

Airline carriers have two years to implement the new rules.

Rimrock Trailways Bus Crash in Montana Kills Two and Injures 32

2012-01-09T15:06:00.000-08:00

Two people are dead and 32 others were injured early Sunday morning when a Rimrock Trailways bus crashed and slid on its side down Interstate 90 near Clinton, Montana. The bus was on its way to Missoula from Billings when the fatal crash occurred at around 7 a.m.

According to authorities, the driver of the Rimrock Trailways bus was driving at an estimated speed of 65 to 70 miles per hour on an icy strip of highway when he lost control of the bus, flipping it on its side. The bus then slid around 150 feet, ejecting passengers and breaking windows along the driver's side of the bus. Three passengers ended up being pinned underneath the bus when it finally came to a stop in the median. A 60-year-old woman and a 56-year-old man were killed. Twelve passengers were taken to a Missoula hospital, seven of which were in critical condition and one in serious condition as of Sunday evening. Four passengers were treated and released from the hospital.

Investigators don't know what caused the fatal bus crash, but the driver's speed and icy road conditions are believed to be contributing factors. An investigation into the cause of Sunday morning's Rimrock Trailways bus crash is ongoing.

News Source

Pinnacle Airlines Faces More Than $1 Million in Penalties

2011-12-27T14:15:00.000-08:00

The Federal Aviation Administration has proposed civil penalties of $1,042,500 against Memphis-based Pinnacle Airlines, Inc., for operating aircraft that did not comply with federal regulations. Specific allegations include allowing flight crews to perform maintenance tasks as well as failure to complete inspections to monitor a crack in a turbine assembly.

All too often, issues like stress damage, design defects and other aircraft failures are only discovered during an assessment of wreckage. Holding airlines accountable through personal injury and wrongful death lawsuits is sometimes the last best option for creating meaningful consequences for corporate negligence.

High Performance Plane Crashes into Busy New Jersey Freeway

2011-12-23T13:49:00.000-08:00

A single engine Socata TBM-700 crashed on Interstate 287 in northern New Jersey on Tuesday morning, killing all five people aboard the aircraft. The fatal plane crash occurred at around 10:05 a.m. in Harding Township, roughly 14 minutes after takeoff. Authorities say the plane was on its way to Atlanta after taking off from Teterboro Airport. The plane narrowly missed hitting a southbound pickup. No one on the ground was hurt.

According to a safety investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), the pilot of the aircraft spoke to air traffic controllers shortly after takeoff about icing conditions. The plane had de-icing equipment, but it is not known yet whether it was activated.

Air traffic controllers had previously received word that icy conditions existed at 14,000 feet and were heard warning a different pilot of severe icing. When temperatures are low and there is visible moisture from clouds or rain, ice can build up on the wings of an aircraft, occasionally causing the plane to lose lift and plummet to the ground.

While authorities are focusing on ice buildup as the likely cause of the crash, they will examine the plane’s maintenance records and other information about the plane and the pilot. It will be months before a final cause will be determined.

Killed in the crash were Jeffrey F. Buckalew, a managing director at the New York investment bank Greenhill & Company, and his wife and two children. Also killed in the crash was Rakesh Chawla, also a managing director at Greenhill & Company.

News source

What Does an FAA Shutdown Mean for US Airline Safety?

2011-12-12T15:35:00.000-08:00

When 4,000 Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) workers and 70,000 affiliated contract workers were furloughed in late July, due to a partial shutdown of the FAA, American travellers were left to ponder whether such a drastic workforce reduction has implications for the safety of commercial jet travel. The origin of the layoffs was a political deadlock in the U.S. House and Senate over funding for rural air service in some parts of the country as well as collective bargaining rights for airline employees.

Congress passed a stop-gap funding bill, but experts fear that further shutdowns are looming. Commentators have expressed concern about our politicians' inability to put aside partisan political disputes that have kept the FAA in perpetual funding limbo since 2007.

While safety inspectors and air traffic controllers were not affected by the partial FAA shutdown, many engineers, inspectors and other employees involved in airport projects were idled. That means delays to terminal improvements, navigational system upgrades and designs of runway stoplight systems - all important developments that make American air travel safer.

Long-Term Investments in American Air Travel Infrastructure

The latest political obstacle is a failure by Congress to reconcile distinct House and Senate bills passed earlier this year to provide long-term funding for the FAA. Full appointment to the conference committee that will work out the differences in these bills has not yet occurred.

One example of the types of delays that would result from further political stalemates is the massive construction project of the Tom Bradley Terminal at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), a $1.5 billion project at one of the nation's busiest air travel hubs. The July/August furlough took 130 engineers away from their duties related to various capital improvements at LAX. Other associated problems around the country included lack of funds for acquiring property for airport expansion when $2.5 billion in FAA grants were delayed.

U.S. airline accidents result from many factors, including design defects, human factors and corporate negligence. Smart planning and timely implementation of infrastructure improvements cannot overcome every one of these problems, but recreational and business travellers are right to expect that political issues should not impede airport safety improvements.

http://www.airplanecrash-lawyer.com/CM/Articles/What-Does-an-FAA-Shutdown-Mean-for-US-Airline-Safety.asp

Train Horn Sounded Four Times Before Crash With Truck

2011-11-09T10:07:00.000-08:00

Truck brake test at Nevada collision site / Courtesy NTSB

Officials from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) have revisited the Nevada crash site where tractor trailer driver Lawrence Valli crashed his big rig into an Amtrak train on June 24, 2011, killing himself and four people on the train.

NTSB officials arrived last week to reenact the chain of events that led to the fatal crash, putting a tractor trailer identical to the one that crashed through a variety of tests. Investigators skidded the tractor trailer and tested the brakes. They also conducted a test to see if the tractor trailer driver could hear the Amtrak train as it was approaching the railroad crossing. The engineer on the June 24 Amtrak train told investigators he blew his horn four times attempting to warn the driver of the railroad crossing. NTSB officials declined to reveal whether the train's horn could be heard from the tractor trailer cab.

Immediately after the crash, Amtrak and Union Pacific filed suit against John Davis Trucking, the company that employed Valli. John Davis Trucking immediately counter-sued. There are currently seven pending lawsuits against Amtrak and the John Davis Trucking Company in state court, seeking thousands in damages based on claims of negligence.

Source

FedEx Truck Slams Into Car Killing Two Little Girls

2011-10-31T13:27:00.000-07:00

A FedEx truck slammed into the rear of a Saturn on October 27, 2011 killing two little girls and injuring the driver and another passenger. The fatal crash occurred on Highway 51 just south of Senatobia, Mississippi. Witnesses say the Saturn slowed to a stop as a car in front of it was making a left. The FedEx truck driver apparently did not see that the Saturn had stopped and slammed into the rear of the vehicle. The two little girls killed in the fatal wreck, aged six and two, were sitting in the back of the car. The driver of the Saturn, who is also the mother of the two girls, was taken to an area hospital along with a 15-year-old passenger. Both were in serious condition. The FedEx driver was uninjured in the crash. Authorities at this time are uncertain if speed was a factor in the crash. The investigation into Thursday's fatal crash in Mississippi is ongoing.

Tractor Trailer Plows Into Minivan Killing Seven in Indiana

2011-10-28T14:03:00.000-07:00

A tractor trailer rear ended a minivan packed with 10 people Thursday night near Bristol, Indiana, killing seven passengers. Three others in the minivan were rushed to nearby hospitals, two in critical condition. The tractor trailer driver was also injured in the crash.

Police believe the 10 people in the minivan were members of the same extended family. No one in the minivan was wearing a seatbelt when the fatal crash occurred. One of those killed was an infant, who was sitting in a car seat that was not being properly used.

The fatal crash took place just before 8 p.m. on the Indiana Toll Road roughly 10 miles east of South Bend. The minivan had Illinois license plates, and authorities said they believe some of the people traveling in the minivan were Ecuadorian immigrants residing in the greater Chicago area. Family members from the Chicago area were called upon to assist in identifying the bodies of those killed in the crash. The names of the victims have not yet been released.

Eye witnesses are suggesting that the van may have hit a deer in the eastbound lanes of the Indiana Toll Road and slowed or stopped shortly before the tractor trailer rear-ended it. Authorities are still investigating what caused the fatal tractor trailer crash in Indiana.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-20126904/7-dead-as-tractor-trailer-rams-minivan-in-ind/

"Hot Coffee" documentary follows the money trail from corporations to politicians who ramble on about "frivolous lawsuits" to shift attention away from conduct and products that cause considerable harm - DVD available on Nov. 1, 2011

2011-10-28T11:26:00.000-07:00

We live in an age where phrases like “frivolous lawsuits” and “jackpot justice” are thrown around in the news media casually and with increasing regularity. These words are commonly used as springboards toward the notion that America's civil courts are inundated with greedy trial lawyers representing undeserving clients out to make a quick buck. Unbeknownst to most is that these misleading “messages” have been the product of a coordinated PR campaign, run by PR/marketing firms financed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, supported by the biggest corporations in the U.S., like Big Tobacco, the major pharmaceutical companies, and insurers. “Hot Coffee” exposes and details the effects of this decades-long corporate financed PR campaign.

One such effect was the media portrayal of Stella Liebeck, whose case is the backdrop for the highly-acclaimed HBO documentary "Hot Coffee." The documentary tells the tale of Mrs. Liebeck's often misunderstood McDonald's "hot coffee" case which took place almost 15 years ago. Mrs. Liebeck, a 79-year-old New Mexico woman, sued McDonald's after spilling scalding hot coffee in her lap while sitting in the passenger seat of a parked car. Contrary to media reports at the time, her injuries were far from trivial. Mrs. Liebeck suffered third-degree burns on six percent of her skin with lesser burns covering over 16 percent of her body. She had to endure multiple operations to treat her burns, including skin grafts. The media neglected to report that prior to the Liebeck case, McDonald's had received over 700 complaints from consumers burned by coffee served at 180 degrees fahrenheit (serving coffee at 180 degrees was McDonald's company policy). McDonald's willfully ignored the harm they had caused hundreds of people.

Visit HotCoffeetheMovie.com For Ways to Take Action

Mrs. Liebeck initially wanted to reach a settlement with McDonald's to cover her medical expenses, which totaled over $10,000. When McDonald's offered her only $800, she refused and hired an attorney. In a trial of her peers, Stella Liebeck was awarded $160,000 in compensatory damages and $2.7 million in punitive damages against McDonald's (selected because of its approximation to revenue generated by McDonald's coffee sales over two days). A judge later reduced punitive damages to $480,000 and, after an appeal, the two parties settled out of court for an undisclosed amount.

The public's reaction to the Liebeck case, fed by a rabid media portrayal filled with numerous inaccuracies, was both swift and ruthless. Mrs. Liebeck became fodder for late night comedians and the case was even mentioned in an episode of Seinfeld. People ridiculed the case without really understanding anything about the extent of Mrs. Liebeck’s injuries or McDonald’s culpability, not to mention tort lawsuits. This essentially is the crux of "Hot Coffee." Many Americans have no idea how our civil justice system works and yet vehemently believe it is filled with frivolous lawsuits and juries out to award money hand over fist to plaintiffs who are just looking for a handout.

What "Hot Coffee" does is follow the money trail from corporations to politicians and others who ramble on about frivolous lawsuits in order to shift attention toward the individual and away from corporations whose conduct and products have caused considerable harm. McDonald's and a host of other corporations, along with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, were successful at making a mockery of the Liebeck case through public relation campaigns aimed at marginalizing the case and America's tort system. The media was spoon-fed this propaganda and complicit in delivering the message to an increasingly misinformed public.

The Liebeck case is just one of four examples shown in the film to demonstrate that corporations and those in the pocket of those corporations are stripping away the power of juries in civil litigation. Tort lawsuits are part of the fabric of our justice system for a reason -- to hold individuals and corporations accountable when they do harm. "Hot Coffee," if nothing else, is a great catalyst to start an important dialogue about how far corporate interests have advanced in the courtroom at the expense of everyday people seeking accountability.

“Hot Coffee” will be available in DVD on November 1, 2011.

Visit http://www.hotcoffeethemovie.com for more information.

New Theory Suggests Pilot Unconscious in Reno Air Race Crash

2011-09-30T15:47:00.000-07:00

Veteran aviation experts are suggesting that pilot Jimmy Leeward may have lost consciousness prior to crashing his 1940's era plane into a crowd of spectators at the National Championship Air Races in Reno. The fatal crash, which occurred on September 16, killed 11 people and injured over 70 others.

It will take months for the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) to conclude the investigation into what exactly caused the P-51 Mustang plane to crash, however some experts are saying Leeward probably lost consciousness due to abrupt and extreme acceleration.

The vintage plane pitched straight up at around 400 miles per hour before it plummeted hard to the ground, which means Leeward's body experienced 11 times the normal force of gravity (or G's), likely causing him to lose consciousness.

After viewing footage of the crash, structural engineer and aircraft consultant Ken Liano said, "my first thought when I saw the video was there's no way that pilot is in control. He went from horizontal to vertical so abruptly. No pilot would do that. Even an acrobatic pilot would probably not do that."

Photographs of the plane seconds before impact show a cockpit without a pilot, which prompted Ernie Christensen, a former commander of the Navy's Top Gun fighter school to say, "he's not there. He's unconscious. The first thing you do when you get in those conditions is pull power, and that plane hit fast. The power was up and that's an indication he was not in control of the airplane when it hit."

The NTSB investigation is focusing on 74-year-old Jimmy Leeward's health as well as a possible mechanical defect with the plane's elevator trim tab, which stabilizes the aircraft. Video footage shows a piece of the plane's tail falling to the ground moments before the plane crashed. It appears likely the loss of the elevator trim tab caused a sequence of events that ended in tragedy.

Actos drug can increase risk of bladder cancer in diabetes patients

2011-09-26T11:04:00.000-07:00

In 2010, an estimated 70,530 people were diagnosed with bladder cancer and 14,680 lost their lives to the disease.

Although the exact cause of bladder cancer is unknown, it has been associated with a number of potential risk factors including chemical exposure and smoking. Bladder cancer has also been linked to the prolonged use of the diabetes drug Actos. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released a safety announcement in 2011 warning that, “compared to never being exposed to pioglitazone, a duration of pioglitazone therapy longer than 12 months was associated with a 40% increase in risk.”

Diabetes patients who have taken the diabetes drug Actos and have been diagnosed with bladder cancer, may be entitled to compensation.

There have been a number of epidemiological studies of pioglitazone and its side effects. Several studies have cited a statistical link between the prolonged use of pioglitazone and an increased risk of bladder cancer.

The link between the diabetes drug and bladder cancer has been observed since 1999 when Takeda was busy testing the drug in order to present it to the FDA for approval. Animal studies at the time suggested that pioglitazone was linked to an increased risk of bladder cancer. Actos was approved in 1999 by the FDA without any warning or alert of this risk printed anywhere in the labeling of the drug.

Gross negligence is what caused the 2010 California 200 off-road race disaster, according to new lawsuits filed by victims

2011-09-14T15:11:00.000-07:00

Baum, Hedlund, Aristei & Goldman filed personal injury lawsuits for four people injured due to the August 14, 2010 California 200 off-road race and a wrongful death lawsuit on behalf of a man killed in the disaster.

The lawsuits allege that the United States government, along with the race organizer, the race promoter, and the driver of the truck, were negligent in directly causing the catastrophic incident.

Eight people were killed and dozens were injured on August 14, 2010, when a modified 2000 Ford Ranger lost control and came barreling into the spectators gathered around The California 200 track in the Johnson Valley, California desert. That area is owned, supervised, and maintained by the United States Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management.

Baum Hedlund filed the lawsuits on behalf of Alan Freeman, whose son Zachary Freeman, 24, was killed in the crash, as well as Travis Bonnar and Jennifer Bonnar (for her emotional injuries due to the injuries to her family), their son Jakob Bonnar and their daughter Heather Haverkamp, who were all seriously injured.

The complaints, filed on September 14, 2011 in the U.S. District Court, Southern District of California, assert that the race was negligently and recklessly managed, supervised, and operated by the United States Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management (BLM), as well as race organizers and promoters Mojave Desert Racing, Inc., (MDR) and Mojave Desert Racing Productions, Inc. (MDR Productions). Also listed as a defendant, is Brett M. Sloppy, who owned, modified, and drove the Ford Ranger truck into the spectators on that fateful night.

According to the lawsuits, defendants were negligent in their conduct leading up to, and, during the off-road race that led to the serious injury and deaths of spectators, a fact that has been admitted by the United States Government in a report made public on November 10, 2010. It seems as if this race was doomed to turn tragic from the very first steps of organization during the Special Recreational Permit process, when the BLM failed to follow standard procedures and failed in its mandatory duty to ensure spectator safety.

Kate Gillespie, one of the lawyers representing the families, said that, in her opinion, “The Bureau of Land Management never should have issued a permit for this race in the first place. BLM failed in its mandatory duties and failed to follow its own policies and procedures all to the detriment of the public at large. This race was carelessly planned and disorganized with absolutely no concern for the safety of the people that make this event worth having -- the spectators.”

The large group of spectators that gathered near the track to watch the race should never have been allowed so close, according to the suit. The lawsuits also state that the BLM failed in its mandatory duty to insist that the race promoter comply with permitting requirements. Further, BLM failed to intervene and insist, per its policies that spectator areas be clearly marked with temporary fencing to keep crowds at a safe distance from the off-road racing vehicles. The BLM also failed to adequately staff the event, the lawsuits said, adding that there was only one law enforcement ranger near the course and there was no emergency medical service available near the site. Because of this grossly negligent oversight, the suit says, it took over 30 minutes for emergency crews to arrive at the scene.

According to the complaints, if the permit process would have been properly followed, together with all stipulations required by the permit process, the permit would have been denied and the race would simply never have occurred.

The lawsuits claim that all defendants failed to follow mandatory procedures and failed to ensure the safety of the people present before and during the race. The complaint states that defendants MDR and MDR Productions were negligent and reckless in their planning, management and monitoring of the event, and thus exposed the spectators to the risk of injury and death.

These are believed to be the first lawsuits filed from this tragedy against the Bureau of Land Management (since the government claims filed by the victims were only recently deemed denied).

Baum Hedlund, a Los Angeles-based mass disaster law firm, filed a previous lawsuit in December 2010 on behalf of the mother of Andrew Therrien, 22, who was one of eight spectators killed during The California 200 tragedy. That lawsuit, however, did not, nor could it, name the BLM as a defendant.

Attorney believes Riddell also to blame for NFL players' brain injuries

2011-08-19T17:29:00.000-07:00

Six former pro-football players are accusing the NFL of failing to properly treat them for concussions they suffered during professional football games and for trying to conceal any links between football and brain injuries during the 70s, 80s, 90s and 2000s. The former players filed the class action lawsuit against the NFL in Philadelphia on August 17, 2011.

An attorney from Los Angeles, California, who represents a now brain-damaged former high school football player against Riddell, the “official helmet” manufacturer of the NFL, believes that Riddell also has a duty to provide the safest helmets possible, not only to NFL players, but to high school and Pop Warner football players as well.

"The suit against the NFL is a starting point in order to address wrongs and minimize future brain injuries. However, it shouldn't stop there,” stated Ilyas Akbari, bioengineer and TBI catastrophic injury attorney. “NFL partners like Riddell also had a duty to provide the safest helmets possible to not only NFL players, but also high school players and Pop Warner kids. Riddell has been an official sponsor of the NFL for many years. Parents and kids playing Pop Warner, high school, and college football, were led to believe that Riddell was the best protection money could buy because their heroes in the NFL were wearing them. If the NFL long knew of the dangers associated with concussions, it would be safe to assume that Riddell did as well, or should have known. Both had the responsibility to ensure that the NFL players and public at large were receiving the safest helmets possible."

Mr. Akbari filed a brain injury product liability lawsuit on August 24, 2010 in Los Angeles Superior Court accusing Riddell of manufacturing a dangerous and defective football helmet. He alleges that a pad located on the front of the helmet was defective and that Riddell knew of the potential dangers associated with this particular defect since at least the year 2000, yet failed to perform sufficient safety tests and inspections to remedy it.

In the lawsuit, Mr. Akbari claims that Riddell’s willful and conscious disregard for the safety of their consumers, and ultimately Edward Acuna, lead to the catastrophic and life-changing injuries suffered by Edward during a 2009 Garey-Pomona High School football game. Edward was wearing a Riddell Sports Inc. helmet when he suffered a severe traumatic brain injury when he collided head-on with another player.

Bus Company Involved in Fatal Crash Had Terrible Safety Record

2011-07-26T13:32:00.000-07:00

The bus driver, driving the Sky Express bus that crashed on May 31, 2011, while on its way to Chinatown in New York City from Greensboro, North Carolina, was not fit to drive.

According to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), Sky Express has been cited for reckless driving 46 times in the last two years alone. FMCSA records also show that for the last two years Sky Express ranked near the very bottom of all bus carriers in both the "driver fitness" category, which measures a driver's training and experience, and the "fatigued driver" category, which includes drivers who continue to work when ill, fatigued or working more hours than the law allows. Additionally, Sky Express ranked in the bottom half of all carriers in the "unsafe driving" category.

The bus carrier's safety record was so poor, in fact, that it received an unsatisfactory rating from the FMCSA in April, which was supposed to ban them from making interstate trips. Sky Express appealed the FMCSA's ruling, which gave them ten days to continue operations. The crash in Virginia that killed four people and injured countless others happened during the ten day period after the appeal.

The crash occurred in Caroline County, Virginia along Interstate 95 when the driver ran the bus off the road and into an embankment before flipping over. The Sky Express bus driver, a 37-year-old man from Queens, was charged with reckless driving after the fatal crash, in which four passengers were killed and many others were injured.

Baum, Hedlund, Aristei & Goldman, which has handled 80 bus crash cases across the nation, is currently representing the family of a victim killed in this senseless tragedy.

At Least Six Killed and 20 Injured in Truck-Amtrak Train Crash

2011-07-05T17:25:00.000-07:00

At least six people are confirmed dead and over 20 people were injured after a semitrailer crashed into an Amtrak train on June 24, 2011 in the Nevada desert, 70 miles outside of Reno.

The crash occurred when the semi truck slammed into the Amtrak train, which was crossing US Highway 95. The semi slammed into one of the train's double-decker passenger cars, starting a fire that spread to three train cars. The conductor of the Amtrak train and the truck driver were among those killed in the fatal crash. There were around 75 people that had to be transported to hospitals with minor injuries. Others with more serious injuries were airlifted to nearby hospitals. One passenger listed on the train manifest is currently unaccounted for. The ten car train was filled with nearly 200 passengers and 14 crew members when the accident occurred.

Investigators are trying to piece together the events leading to the deadly crash. So far authorities are unsure how truck driver Lawrence R. Valli missed flashing lights and a crossing gate which warned motorists of an incoming train.

Investigators revealed that skid marks (measuring over 300 feet long) left by the semi truck seemed to indicate that the driver was traveling "at a considerable speed." The trucking company, John Davies Trucking, has had 19 previous safety violations, and Valli himself accumulated a long list of speeding tickets dating back to 2007. Authorities have also said that the safety equipment at the railroad crossing, including the crossing gates, red lights and bells were working fine. Autopsy results to determine if the driver was impaired by any drugs is currently pending.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) began their investigation into the fatal crash on Saturday. It could take up to a year for NTSB to produce a full report detailing the exact cause of the crash.

News Source

Recent Air Traffic Controller Lapses Reveal Airline Safety Gaps

2011-06-23T10:29:00.000-07:00

American air travellers were justifiably concerned after media reports recently detailed multiple incidents of fatigue or distraction involving air traffic controllers. U.S. airline accidents occur for a variety of reasons, including pilot error, substandard maintenance and equipment failure. As unnerving as any of these circumstances may be, the thought of an air traffic controller falling asleep on the job is simply unacceptable.

Some administrative fallout came in April when chief operating officer of air traffic for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Hank Krakowski resigned one day after the latest incident. The flight crew of a medical transport delivering a sick passenger was attempting to land at Reno-Tahoe International Airport in Nevada at 2 a.m. while the sole air traffic controller on duty was asleep. This incident caused the FAA to revise a policy that called for only one controller during the overnight shift at 28 sites nationwide.

Other troubling incidents in recent months indicate a widespread and persistent threat to U.S. aviation safety that needs focused attention:

· Officials reported that two air traffic controllers at Preston Smith Airport in Lubbock, Texas, were suspended in late March after failing to contact another control center about a plane’s progress.

· A controller was suspended at Seattle’s Boeing Field/King County International Airport after reports of sleeping on duty in early April.

· An air traffic supervisor at Reagan National near Washington, D.C., was reportedly dozing while two planes landed in March.

· A Knoxville, Tennessee, controller who slept through seven landings during a five-hour period one night in March was reported to have set up a bed in the control tower to make napping more comfortable.

· In January, an American Airlines Boeing 777 departing JFK nearly collided with two military C-17 cargo aircraft approaching McGuire AFB in New Jersey due to a distracted controller’s failure to heed warnings.

Trish Gilbert, executive vice president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA), which represents over 20,000 American aviation safety professionals, told the Washington Post that her organization has strived to make the FAA aware of the problem: “We’re trying to make sure they understand that in the 24-7 operation we have, there is fatigue in the system. Previous administrations have been aware of it but never addressed it. We’ve made some headway with this administration.”

A recently implemented plan mandates at least nine hours off between shifts, but NATCA has also advocated for recuperative breaks during shifts, and better awareness that aviation safety has to be insulated from budgetary decisions. While no major U.S. airline crashes resulted from this recent spate of unsupervised air traffic, aviation safety advocates have a clear indication that immediate progress is crucial.

U.S. Pilots’ Conviction a Travesty

2011-06-16T15:12:00.000-07:00

A Brazilian court found two U.S. pilots guilty on May 16, 2011 for their role in a 2006 plane crash on Brazilian soil that killed 154 people, one of the worst air disasters in Brazil's history. American pilots Joseph Lepore and Jan Paul Paladino were flying a business jet that clipped the wing of a Boeing 737 operated by Brazilian airline Gol, which caused the 737 to crash deep in the Amazon rain forest.

The American pilots were convicted of negligence for failing to adequately check plane equipment that could have potentially alerted them to the 737's proximity. Lepore and Paladino, who were able to land their aircraft safely after the midair collision, received four year prison sentences that were later suspended by Brazilian federal judge Murilo Mendes. In what some are calling a controversial move, Mendes decided against jail time for the American pilots, instead requiring them to perform community service back in the United States.

Lepore and Paladino were not present in court for their sentencing, nor have the two set foot on Brazilian soil since 2006. Both have repeatedly denied responsibility for the fatal crash. A 2006 Brazilian Air Force report indicated that both aircraft were cleared to be flying at 37,000 feet at the same time, which shifted attention to air traffic controllers who complained of excessive workloads, low wages and blind spots in radar coverage.

“The criminal conviction of these pilots is a travesty,” according to former airline pilot and air disaster attorney John Greaves. “The pilots were simply easy-target scapegoats for what appears to be incompetent air traffic controllers. Why didn’t the 737’s proximity warning system warn the aircraft? Even assuming that pilot error was responsible, why was the American crew soley to blame? Why wasn’t the crew of the 737 to blame? How did the court know who was in the better position to see and avoid the other aircraft?”

News source

Protect yourself from "reincarnated" bus companies and research bus safety records before getting on a bus

2011-05-26T14:49:00.000-07:00

In a statement issued on Thursday, U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced a series of new measures designed to improve bus safety. One such measure will require commercial bus drivers to go through more rigorous driver's license testing.

The U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) will now be requiring drivers who apply for a commercial driver's license to first obtain a commercial driver's learning permit. Up to this point, commercial bus drivers were not required to have a learner's permit before applying for a license.

The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) also wants to strengthen bus carrier and driver compliance with federal safety regulations. The DOT will now wield greater authority to pursue enforcement actions against companies that are deemed unsafe "reincarnated" passenger carriers. Reincarnated carriers are bus companies that were given bad safety ratings in the past. These companies then “repackage” themselves as a new company with a clean safety rating.

The Department also proposed an initiative requiring new bus companies to undergo a full safety audit before they are eligible to receive operating authority from the DOT. Companies that are caught operating without the authority of the DOT will be susceptible to a $25,000 fine.

Transportation Secretary LaHood said this spring and summer, the FMCSA will be working together with state law enforcement across the country to conduct motorcoach inspections to ensure that bus carriers are in compliance with federal safety regulations. LaHood is also encouraging bus passengers to research the safety records of bus companies before booking travel.

Report bus safety violations http://nccdb.fmcsa.dot.gov/HomePage.asp

Research bus safety records http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/safety-security/PCS/Consumers.aspx

FAA-Proposed Improvements in Pilot Training Address Lingering Concerns from Deadly 2009 Colgan Air Crash

2011-05-25T20:31:00.000-07:00

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced a series of proposals on Wednesday May 11, 2011, that would require commercial airline and cargo pilots to receive additional training in dangerous scenarios like stalls, cockpit-automation failures and other emergencies.

Authorities say the proposed enhanced training rules will help flight crews to better handle real-life emergencies through more realistic and rigid flight simulations. Other airlines around the world already use similar training simulations, but the most recent FAA proposals would make enhanced pilot training sessions mandatory for all United States commuter and cargo carriers.

Increased supervision over pilots would coincide with the proposed flight training programs. This will allow authorities to keep a watchful eye on pilots who perform poorly in training simulations, the FAA says. The new proposals would also mandate that pilots who perform poorly must complete remedial training programs.

In addition, the FAA also aims to require joint training sessions for pilots and co-pilots to train together every nine months. Pilots currently undergo recurrent training once every six months and co-pilots once every year.

The FAA's proposals address some safety requirements ordered by Congress in 2009 after Colgan Air Flight 3407 crashed near Buffalo, New York, killing 50 people.

John Greaves, Former Airline Captain

Some experts believe that enhancing FAA standards is not enough, and instead authorities should be focusing on the enforcement of existing rules and the shortcomings of airlines themselves. John Greaves, aviation attorney at Baum, Hedlund, Aristei & Goldman and former airline captain said, “The fallacy in this is that there was nothing wrong with the FAA’s training standards and proficiency regulations at the time of Colgan Flight 3407 crash. The problem was the standards used by Colgan fell woefully below FAA standards in place at the time. Regulations and training standards are only as good as they are enforced.”

News from the Wall St. Journal

New Federal Medevac Helicopter Safety Regulations Proposed

2011-05-17T12:14:00.000-07:00

Helicopters provide quick access to remote accident sites, and they can make the difference between life and death for serious injury victims. At the same time, medical evacuation via chopper presents its own set of risks. Over a 17-year period beginning in 1992, air ambulance helicopter crashes caused over 126 deaths, a troubling statistic that peaked in 2008 when 24 people perished in six separate fatal air accidents.

One of those six accidents involved a Maryland teen, Ashley Younger, who lost her life two weeks before her 18^th birthday when she was being flown to a trauma center after sustaining injuries in a car accident. The initial crash site was not far from Ashley's home and her mother and grandmother reached the scene before she was evacuated. The two women reassured Ashley and told her that all would be okay before watching the Maryland State Police helicopter take off into the night sky.

But the Aerospatiale (Eurocopter) chopper would not reach the hospital. The helicopter crashed in a wooded rural area near Andrews Air Force Base, killing Ashley, an EMT, a state trooper and the pilot. Ashley's close friend, who was also injured in the car crash, survived the helicopter crash but with serious injuries. She was the only survivor.

A subsequent National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigation identified pilot error as the probable cause of the September 27, 2008 medevac crash. The agency also noted several contributing factors, including the pilot's lack of recent instrument flight experience, the failure of air traffic control to provide current weather observations to the pilot, and the pilot's increased workload due to inadequate air traffic control handling at nearby airports.

FAA Issues Notice of Proposed Rulemaking

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has responded to high rates of helicopter crashes by proposing new rules intended to increase safety for pilots, first responders and the patients they set out to help. As proposed, the rules would require air ambulance operators to:

Revise flight crew time limitations and rest requirements at times when medical personnel are on board
Establish their own operations control centers if they oversee ten or more helicopters
Institute programs for analyzing pre-flight risks
Conduct safety briefings for medical personnel who fly in their aircraft
Upgrade their operational requirements regarding Visual Flight Rules (VFR) and Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) operations

One important aspect of the proposed rules is a requirement that emergency helicopter operators equip helicopters with "Helicopter Terrain Awareness and Warning Systems" (HTAWS) to detect terrain and other obstacles. Operators are expected to oppose this proposed rule due to expense. Some also assert that the new rules will actually encourage pilots to take greater risks than before. But these enhancements seems like an obvious need for pilots who regularly operate in inherently stressful medevac situations under adverse conditions such as darkness, wind, fog, and rain.

As Bureaucratic Solutions Proceed, Civil Action Is Often Necessary

The new federal rules are open to a 90-day public comment period ending on January 10, 2011, and final rules will likely not be in place before mid-2011 at the earliest. Regardless of the ultimate effect any new rules will have on medevac safety, accidents resulting from such causes as pilot error and defective or poorly maintained equipment cannot always be prevented.

Legal professionals work with industry experts to promote safer skies by crafting laws that target the worst problems in air transportation. Attorneys also serve the public by helping families assess the aftermath of a tragic loss and hold negligent companies responsible for the harm they cause. Experience with complex helicopter accident evidence and the dedication to handle legal claims that can take years to conclude are the hallmarks of a successful aviation accident law firm.

What causes the metal skin on an airliner to tear apart?

2011-05-13T15:07:00.000-07:00

On Friday, April 1, 2011, a Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-300 experienced a rapid decompression when the metal fuselage skin tore apart, leaving a 5X1 foot hole. This kind of event is rare, but can, and has been, catastrophic when it does occur.

In 1988, another Boeing 737, a 200 model, experienced a similar, but much worse, event over Hawaii. In that case, the skin on the entire front section of the aircraft cabin was denuded, leaving the passengers sitting in the first several rows completely exposed, with the aircraft being held together by two metal spars running through the floor.

Everyone, except one flight attendant, was securely strapped in their seats by their seat belts. Consequently, and unfortunately, the flight attendant was ejected from the aircraft and fell to her death from 24,000 feet. Had there been any passengers not belted in at the time, they would have suffered the same fate. Miraculously, the flight crew was able to safely land the aircraft without further mishap.

The cause of this kind of event is metal fatigue. Over the course of the life of an airliner, the metal skin is exposed to thousands of forceful expansions and contractions when the aircraft is pressurized and depressurized with each flight. Additionally, the skin is exposed to extreme temperature variations over short periods of time, as the temperature of the air decreases by 3.5 decrees F. for each 1000 feet of altitude, on average. This further exacerbates the expansion and contraction of the metal skin.

Just as bending a metal paper clip back and forth eventually causes the metal to fatigue, crack and come apart, so did the metal skin of these aircraft upon expanding and contracting thousands of times. In response, the Federal Aviation Administration issued an AD (Airworthiness Directive) 2011-08-51, which mandates inspection of the fuselage skin of certain older Boeing 737s. The inspections require the use of “eddy current” technology, which is designed to detect micro-cracks otherwise invisible to the naked eye, together with instructions to repair any cracks found. Should these cracks not be fixed, they will propagate and eventually compromise the integrity of the metal and eventually fail.

Although a rare event, the gravity of the potential consequences should cause the FAA to step-up these kinds of inspections, making them more frequent and more thorough, instead of waiting for an emergency situation to require such safeguards. Unfortunately, the FAA is notorious for waiting until the horse gets out before closing the barn door.

John Greaves

Former Airline Captain

Aviation Accident Attorney, Baum, Hedlund, Aristei & Goldman

Multiple Reports Of Air Traffic Controllers Sleeping On The Job Forces FAA's Air Traffic Chief To Resign

2011-04-27T15:13:00.000-07:00

Hank Krakowski, the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) chief operating officer of air traffic, resigned April 14, 2011 amid recent reports of air traffic controllers falling asleep on the job.

The latest incident occurred on April 13, 2011 in Nevada when a medical flight carrying a critically ill passenger attempted to land at Reno-Tahoe International Airport with an air traffic controller sleeping while on duty.

In a statement, FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt strongly condemned the unprofessional conduct that has called into question the public's confidence in air travel safety. The FAA's chief council David Grizzle will take over as acting ATO officer until a new candidate is found to permanently replace Mr. Krakowski.

The change in leadership comes on the heels of criticism from members of Congress who oversee the FAA's budget. "I just got off the phone with the FAA and told the Administrator that I am sick of this," said Senator Jay Rockefeller, chairman of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee.

Senator Rockefeller's comments echoed those of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood when he told George Stephanopoulos on ABC World News, "I'll be grabbing the agency by the ears. I guarantee the flying public we will not sleep until we can guarantee that there's good safety in the control towers when these airplanes are coming in and out of airports."

The FAA currently has five investigations regarding air traffic controllers sleeping on duty.

http://aviationblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2011/04/faas-air-traffic-chief-resigns.html

Two-Year Aviation Bill Approved by Senate

2011-03-31T12:25:00.000-07:00

The United States Senate took steps towards modernizing air traffic control services Thursday when they approved Federal Aviation Administration Bill 87. Senate Democrats brought up the two-year, $35 billion bill, which had wide bipartisan support due to it being funded by ticket, fuel and other taxes and fees that do not require government spending. The bill will now be sent to the House of Representatives, which is already working on a measure of its own.

The bill will support a series of upgrades to the air traffic control system, taking it from radars to satellites. Under the Senate proposal, taxes will increase on jet fuel for general aviation and business jets from 21.9 cents per gallon to 35.9 cents per gallon, raising $400 million annually for air traffic modernization.

Senators also approved legislation making it a crime to aim laser pointers at planes, and to misuse images captured in body scanners at airports. Additionally, Senators agreed to raise the number of direct flights from the western states to Ronald Reagan National Airport in the Washington D.C. area.

Source: Reuters

Truck Crash Tests Show Stronger Underride Guards Needed on Large Trucks

2011-03-31T11:16:00.000-07:00

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimates that 423 people die each year when their passenger vehicles collide with the backs of large tractor trailers. NHTSA also estimates that truck crashes of this kind injure 5,000 people each year. As a countermeasure for reducing these injuries and deaths, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety is petitioning the United States Government to mandate strong underride guards for large tractor trailers.

The front-end of cars are designed to withstand high amounts of crash energy. But in accidents where a passenger vehicle crashes into the back end of a tractor trailer, the vehicle’s passenger compartment is usually crushed and the body of the trailer intrudes into the vehicle’s safety cage. The chances of walking away from an underride accident are slim.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) recently conducted a series of crash tests on trailers and underride guards to test their effectiveness in crashes involving passenger vehicles. They discovered that even some of the underride guards that comply with U.S. rules failed at relatively slow speeds. In three of the crash tests conducted, the heads of crash dummies in the car made contact with either the intruding trailer or a piece of the car’s hood after it tore free.

Currently, in order to meet certification standards in the U.S., the trailer, underride guard, bolts, and welding don’t have to be evaluated as a whole. The crash tests conducted by the IIHS seem to confirm that standards and practices in underride safety still have a long way to go, and without regulation and oversight people will continue to be hurt or killed in underride accidents.

Aviation disaster attorney says there is no justification for Reagan National Airport safety lapse

2011-03-24T09:00:00.000-07:00

An investigation has been launched after the control tower at Reagan Washington National Airport failed to respond to pilot requests on Wednesday. The incident forced two airliners carrying a total of 165 people to land without clearance.

Reports have now surfaced that the air traffic controller fell asleep on the job, causing American Airlines Flight 1012 and United Airlines Flight 628T to land on their own. According to internal records, the airport tower was unresponsive to pilot request and unresponsive to other regional controllers who called and also attempted to gain communication by using a “shout line,” which sends messages via a loudspeaker in the tower.

Pilots were able to communicate with a Virginia-based air traffic control facility, authorities said, before using “uncontrolled airport” procedures to land safely. Certain aviation experts have said that no lives were put at risk due to secondary safety measures, including radio frequency and the potential aid of the regional control facility. They also said that the safety of the planes were never really at risk, arguing that smaller planes often land at small airports without control towers, and without tragedy.

Other safety experts disagree, and attest that this incident raises major concern about air traffic controller fatigue, a very serious and continuing safety issue in the aviation industry.

“There is no justification for this type of safety lapse,” argued Ron Goldman, aviation attorney for Baum, Hedlund, Aristei & Goldman, a national aviation disaster law firm.

“This was an extraordinarily dangerous situation,” Goldman continued. “Flight by general aviation airplanes into uncontrolled airports is vastly different than commercial airliners carrying passengers into a major hub airport. To say no airplane or passenger suffered a compromise of safety is untrue. Obviously, a thorough investigation is necessary, and steps need to be undertaken to be sure it could never happen again at any controlled airport.”

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) are investigating the incident.

NTSB Wants to Improve Rules Governing Pilot Fatigue

2011-03-22T14:38:00.000-07:00

On March 25, 2011 the National Transportation and Safety Board (NTSB) took a step toward changing the rules that govern airline pilot fatigue, saying that pilots should be allowed to take carefully monitored prescription sleep aids the night before a flight.

A fatal 2008 plane crash in Minnesota was the catalyst for the NTSB’s recommendation regarding pilot fatigue. The pilots on the East Coast Jets charter flight to Owatonna, Minnesota overshot the runway when attempting to land, killing eight people onboard. Both pilots involved in the crash failed to get enough sleep the night before the fatal flight, both may have had undiagnosed sleep disorders, and the co-pilot had trace amounts of Ambien in his system.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) currently prohibits the use of prescription sleep aids like Ambien for pilots within 24 hours of a flight, but according an NTSB senior human performance investigator, Ambien and drugs like it usually leave the system quickly and can potentially give pilots the sleep they need when working odd hours. A spokesman for the FAA says they will study the NTSB’s recommendation.

The FAA has proposed restrictions on pilot schedules as a way to combat fatigue, but in the case of the Minnesota crash of 2008, these restrictions would not have made a difference. The NTSB also endorses restrictions on pilot schedules.

http://content.usatoday.net/dist/custom/gci/InsidePage.aspx?cId=cincinnati&sParam=44909946.story

Community Leaders Among Five Dead in Small Plane Crash at Long Beach Airport

2011-03-22T13:41:00.000-07:00

Mark Bixby

A twin-engine plane carrying community leaders from the Long Beach area crashed and erupted into flames on March 16, 2011 shortly after taking off from Long Beach Airport in California. Five of the six people on board were killed, including the pilot. The only survivor of the fatal crash was rushed to an area hospital in critical condition.

The Beechcraft King Air plane, owned by a Los Angeles based company, took off at 10:30 a.m. heading to Salt Lake City, Utah. Witnesses saw the plane circle twice before banking hard attempting to return to the runway, where it crashed immediately upon touching down. Firefighters and first responders found the plane engulfed by flames as they searched for survivors. Two of the airport’s five runways had to be shut down for the remainder of the day.

Among the dead was Mark Bixby, whose lineage in the Long Beach community extends back to the 19th century when a member of his family purchased Rancho Los Cerritos and developed the land into what is now part of the city of Long Beach. Tom Dean and Jeff Berger, both prominent southern California land developers, were also killed in the crash.

Authorities from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the National Transportation and Safety Board (NTSB) arrived Wednesday to investigate, though the cause of the crash is not known at this time.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/03/long-beach-community-leaders-were-among-those-killed-in-plane-crash-councilman-says.html

Bronx Tour Bus Crash Kills 15 and Injures 18

2011-03-16T17:30:00.000-07:00

A bus making its way back to New York City from the Mohegan Sun casino in Uncasville, Connecticut crashed early Saturday morning in the Bronx, killing 15 and injuring 18. The exact cause of the crash remains unclear, as authorities investigate the possibility of a tractor trailer being involved. Some of the crash victims told reporters they felt the bus hit rumble strips along the shoulder of the road seconds before the crash, implying the driver may have fallen asleep at the wheel.

The fatal accident occurred on Interstate 95 at around 5:30 a.m. across the Bronx line from Westchester County. First responders reported a scene of utter mayhem with the top of the bus completely dislodged from the passenger cabin and twisted steel strewn along the highway. Authorities say the bus overturned at a high rate of speed and ejected many passengers from the vehicle. Six of the injured were taken to nearby hospitals in critical condition.

The bus driver, who was hospitalized with a broken hip, told investigators the bus was clipped by a tractor trailer. At an evening news conference on Saturday, a major with the state police told reporters that law enforcement had seized a trailer on Long Island and a tractor in Westchester County, and were in the process of determining if they clipped the bus.

The crash brings to light a burgeoning subculture of overnight gamblers that take cheap buses to casinos in Connecticut or New Jersey, try their luck at the tables or at slot machines for a few hours, then get back on the bus and sleep on their journey back to Manhattan in the hours before dawn. The casinos offer packages to customers, usually elder citizens, consisting of free food vouchers and cheap bus fare. These trips, which begin in the afternoon and culminate the next morning, usually employ one bus driver to handle long shifts without much sleep.

The bus that crashed early Saturday morning had a 'World Wide Tours' logo emblazoned on the bus' front end. This accident represents the fourth accident by the same company in as many years, according to federal records.

This recent bus crash has renewed the much needed scrutiny that is needed to examine more thoroughly the management and operation of such low-cost tour-bus services, where bus drivers often work for low wages and long hours.

Mass Disaster Lawyers Selected by Peers in New Issue of Southern California Super Lawyers®

2011-02-01T15:25:00.000-08:00

Professional Announcement

Baum, Hedlund, Aristei & Goldman

Legal Advocates for Whistleblowers, Victims of Defective Pharmaceutical Products, Major Accidents and Mass Disasters: Aviation, Trucking, Train, Bus, and Structures

Five mass disaster attorneys from the Los Angeles-based plaintiffs’ firm of Baum, Hedlund, Aristei & Goldman have been chosen by their peers to be listed in the newly released 2011 issue of Southern California Super Lawyers®. Baum, Hedlund, Aristei & Goldman is a nationally recognized personal injury law firm known for its dedication to clients, sincerity, and success in complex cases.

Paul J. Hedlund has been a lawyer for nearly 40 years. He is a senior partner and trial attorney, overseeing the firm’s commercial transportation litigation practice. His degree in Mechanical Engineering gives him a unique perspective in handling complex accident cases. This expertise led to him testifying about safer train configurations at a California State legislative hearing into the Metrolink Glendale train crash. He also testified about the need for labeling earthquake susceptible buildings at the California State Legislature Seismic Safety Commission hearing regarding the Loma Prieta earthquake. He has served on numerous airline and train disaster Plaintiffs’ Steering Committees.

J. Clark Aristei has been practicing law for over 35 years. He oversees the firm’s major aviation, bus, train, and truck accident cases. He is currently a member of the Metrolink Chatsworth Plaintiffs Steering Committee (PSC). In the past he served as a member of the Metrolink Glendale PSC, Alaska Airlines Flight 261 PSC, and as designated counsel in the Coordinated Discovery Cases for the Southwest Airlines Flight 1455 crash. He is a former adjunct professor of law. He is also active in the California Farm Bureau Federation and the California Avocado Commission, cultivating avocados, pomegranates, persimmons, figs, and citrus on his farm.

Ronald L. M. Goldman is a veteran trial lawyer, former adjunct aviation law professor and pilot, and the firm’s senior trial attorney. He is board certified as a civil trial advocate by the National Board of Trial Advocacy. As lead trial counsel, Ron oversees the firm’s whistleblower practice, pharmaceutical drug litigation, aviation accident cases, and other major transportation crash litigation. One of his most notable achievements was negotiating the unprecedented official public apology by an airline in the January 8, 2003 Charlotte, North Carolina, Air Midwest Flight 5481 crash. Ron has been practicing law for more than 45 years.

Robert F. Foss devotes his practice to representing victims across the nation in commercial truck accident cases. As a member of the National Advisory Board for the Association of Plaintiff Interstate Trucking Lawyers of America®, he is part of a national association of lawyers committed to eliminating unsafe and illegal interstate trucking practices. Bob was on the trial team which achieved one of the largest verdicts in Ohio history for the death of an unmarried person - - a $7M verdict in a truck accident case against Tyson Foods. He previously worked on many of the firm’s aviation, bus and train accident and structure collapse cases.

John A. Greaves became an attorney nearly 20 years ago, after retiring from a 37-year pilot career where he also served as an airline captain. He focuses on the firm’s aviation disaster cases. Greaves’ specialized aviation knowledge and technical expertise has been a great asset in his handling of more than 35 different airline crashes for the firm. He has been appointed to four airline disaster Plaintiffs’ Steering Committees and was part of the team of Baum Hedlund attorneys with Ronald Goldman, which acquired an unprecedented official public apology by a commercial airline. He is also a frequent commentator on aviation issues in the news.

Over the past few months, tens of thousands of lawyers across Southern California cast their ballots to determine "the best lawyers they have personally observed in action, whether opposing counsel or co-counsel, or through other first-hand observation in the courtroom." Those chosen are included in the list of Southern California Super Lawyers®, 2011 Edition. Only the top five percent of the lawyers in Los Angeles and Orange Counties are named Southern California Super Lawyers®.

Attorneys Hedlund, Aristei, Goldman and Greaves maintain an AV® 5.0 out of 5 Peer-Review-Rating through Martindale-Hubbell. They, and their firm, have handled over 7,000 personal injury and wrongful death cases across the nation stemming from aviation, truck, train, bus and structure accidents as well as pharmaceutical product liability cases.

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Super Lawyers® is a listing of outstanding lawyers from more than 70 practice areas who have attained a high degree of peer recognition and professional achievement. Polling, research and selection are performed by Law & Politics, a publication of Key Professional Media, Inc.

AV®, BV® and CV® are registered certification marks of Reed Elsevier Properties Inc., used in accordance with the Martindale-Hubbell certification procedures, standards and policies. Martindale-Hubbell is the facilitator of a peer review rating process. “Ratings reflect the confidential opinions of members of the Bar and the Judiciary. Martindale-Hubbell Ratings fall into two categories - legal ability and general ethical standards. An AV® rating reflects an attorney who has reached the heights of professional excellence. He or she has usually practiced law for many years, and is recognized for the highest levels of skill and integrity.”

NTSB Wants Airbags on Planes

2011-01-12T10:46:00.000-08:00

The National Transportation Safety Board announced on Tuesday that it has adopted a study showing that airbags can provide additional occupant protection in general aviation. According to the NTSB, the study found that airplanes equipped with airbags provided added protection in accidents involving survivable forward impacts. The study also found that shoulder harness/lap seat belt combinations provide much greater protection in General Aviation accidents than a lap belt alone. The board found that wearing just the lap belt alone raised the risk of fatal or serious injury by 50 percent compared to the combination lap/shoulder belt. The NTSB also is recommending that the Federal Aviation Administration require the retrofitting of shoulder harnesses on all general aviation airplanes, among other recommendations. The complete safety study will be available on the NTSB website by February 2011.

Crash Lawyer Says Safer Metrolink Passenger Car Fleet, Step in Right Direction. Now Where’s the Positive Train Control?

2010-12-23T14:51:00.000-08:00

Metrolink crash victims’ lawyer says that the new train cars offer safety features including a crush zone, fire retardant seats, and collapsible tables, among other things. He is pleased about the safer cars which increase survivability but he hopes to see collision avoidance technology which is the ultimate goal.

When Paul Hedlund, an attorney and mechanical engineer, testified at the California State Assembly’s commuter rail safety hearing after the 2005 Glendale, California Metrolink crash, he explained how passenger train cab cars, known as “coffin cars” could be made to be more crashworthy. He showed two independently produced train crash test videos exposing the vulnerability of cab cars. The videos stunned the Committee members when it revealed the cab car with shock absorbers suffered very little damage compared to the cab car without shock absorbers. Mr. Hedlund also discussed push versus pull in general terms and the inherent dangers in pushing passenger cars with a locomotive and why pulling passenger cars with a locomotive is safer.

In TV news interviews following the 2008 Chatsworth, California Metrolink collision, Mr. Hedlund discussed how Positive Train Control systems and other technology would have prevented tragedies like the Glendale incident from occurring. “Safety measures, including manufacturing safer rail passenger cars and Positive Train Control collision avoidance systems, are a necessity,” Mr. Hedlund said.

Earlier this month, Metrolink unveiled its new fleet of stainless steel passenger cars, declaring them the safest in the country. The new “Guardiancq” fleet is designed to crumple on impact, a potentially life-saving feature that disperses crash energy. The new fleet also boasts an elevated compartment to provide the engineer with better visibility. According to officials, ten cars will be up and running in December 2010 and by late 2011 a total of 137 new cars will be in service across the Metrolink system. The new fleet will hopefully help prevent passenger deaths and injuries like those seen in two recent Metrolink crashes. In 2005, 11 people were killed in a Metrolink crash near Glendale, and in 2008, 25 people died and 135 were injured when a Metrolink train and a Union Pacific freight train collided head-on in Chatsworth.

Many are seeing the new fleet as a giant step in the right direction when it comes to rail safety. However, attorney Paul Hedlund, who represents numerous victims from both the Glendale and Chatsworth Metrolink crashes said, "It’s a step at lessoning injury and increasing survivability, but it does nothing for avoidance, which is the ultimate aim." Metrolink also announced plans to install positive train control technology by 2015 that will help prevent train-on-train collisions.

http://www.dailynews.com/breakingnews/ci_16792495

Regional Air Crash Inspires New Aviation Safety Legislation

2010-12-16T14:18:00.000-08:00

"A Couch With Her Name On It"

On February 12, 2009, a fatal regional airplane crash near Buffalo, New York, killed 50 people. During the probe into the deadly crash, investigators have so far found evidence that pilot fatigue and pilot error played a role. The tragic crash of Continental Connection Flight 3407 in Clarence Center has now come under intense scrutiny, highlighting the importance of regional aviation safety and the need for better training and stricter regulation of pilots, particularly those flying regional and commuter routes.

The investigations into the pilots flying the doomed Continental Connection flight found that the captain had lied in his job application to Colgan Air, a subsidiary of Pinnacle Airlines, Corp., and the operator of the ill-fated flight, about his failed check rides. He only reported one of three failed FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) check rides in his application. Investigators also discovered that the co-pilot had flight-hopped across the country from Seattle where she lived with her parents to Newark, her home base, in the early morning hours before the flight. According to officials, she had told a Fed-Ex flight crew that the Colgan pilot lounge at the Newark airport had "a couch with her name on it." Investigators surmised that the young co-pilot could not afford to live in the New York area on her low starting pilot's salary.

After reviewing tapes and records of the flight, investigators believe that the pilots made critical mistakes in the moments leading up to the crash that violated protocol and contributed to the fatal crash of the Buffalo flight.

New Bill Creates High Hopes for Aviation Safety

In late July, both the House and Senate introduced independent legislation as a result of the Flight 3407 crash. The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee introduced the "Airline Safety and Pilot Training Improvement Act of 2009" which would strengthen the FAA's safety programs and reform the aviation industry by improving pilot training and inter-carrier accountability, mentoring and aviation safety-related practices. The legislation also has an aim to reduce pilot fatigue and make pilot records more accessible.

Among other things, the House bill considerably increases the flight hours required for an airline transport pilot license (from 250 to 1500 hours), mandates training on stalls and stall recovery, requires pilot mentorship programs, demands comprehensive pre-employment screening by airlines and calls for the maintenance of a pilot records database to provide airlines with easy access to a pilot's entire flight record.

Additionally, the bill mandates that the FAA create a new "pilot flight and duty time rule" and plans to monitor fatigue risk in pilots. The bill requires air carriers to create fatigue risk management systems. Regional airlines, which have been accused of using less rigorous safety and hiring standards than national carriers, face the potential for stricter safety inspection standards under the bill: the bill requires the Inspector General to report back on whether regional carrier safety inspectors have adequate experience to ensure passenger safety on regional flights.

The Senate Commerce Committee also approved a similar bill titled "The Federal Aviation Administration Air Transportation Modernization and Safety Improvement Act." The bill will reauthorize FAA operations for the next two years and requests an independent scientific study on pilot fatigue. The findings of this study will then have to be included in the FAA's upcoming flight-time and duty-time rules for pilots.

The Senate bill has been delayed by the current Health Care debate, but will soon be moved to the senate floor for a vote. A conference committee will then merge the House and Senate bills before a final bill is considered by both houses.

Meanwhile, the FAA has been working on updating "propeller era" rules and establishing new rules and guidelines that deal with flying time and pilot fatigue. Legislators hope that the new FAA rule, scheduled to be released on November 19, will make significant leaps in preventing pilot fatigue.

Aviation Tragedies Prompt Stricter Regulation

In many regulated industries, catastrophic events can propel significant changes in regulation. In the case of regional air carrier safety, however, greater regulation years ago may have prevented some recent airplane accidents.

According to the National Transportation Safety Board, pilot ability may have been a factor in the vast majority of regional air carrier accidents in the past 10 years. Pilot fatigue related accidents have also long concerned the board, which has included pilot fatigue on its list of "most wanted safety fixes" since 1990.

With the recent action on aviation safety legislation, it is clear that congressional representatives are taking the reports on pilot ability and training seriously. Some in congress disagree with the notion that regional carriers share the same level of safety as the major airline carriers, even though the FAA imposed one level of safety for the entire carrier industry in 1995. The proposed legislation seeks to increase pilot training and development to create a baseline standard for all commercial pilots, whether they fly major or regional carriers.

However, proposed legislation does not address one major concern: pilot pay. Pilots and safety advocates argue that pay has deterred more experienced pilots from taking jobs with regional airlines, where pay scales are lower. Proponents of the bill hope, however, that raising the training and development standards of pilots will eventually equally affect the standards in wages. Legislators also hope that the FAA will have addressed the issue of wages during their update of aviation safety rules.

Finally, proponents of the new legislature hope that implementing stricter aviation safety-related practices and directly managing the issue of pilot fatigue will greatly improve passenger and flight safety for all air carriers, including commuter and regional carriers.

Distracted Truck Driver Causes Fatal Chain-Reaction Crash on I-210

2010-11-29T16:08:00.000-08:00

A fiery multi-vehicle crash on November 18 on California’s Interstate 210 has left two men dead and two others injured. According to the California Highway Patrol, a tractor trailer caused Thursday’s fatal chain-reaction crash when the driver failed to see traffic ahead of her slowing. The 55-year-old driver of the semi was traveling eastbound on the freeway at about 55 miles per hour as she approached an area where traffic had begun to slow. The tractor trailer then slammed into a pickup truck, which exploded into flames and overturned. The momentum of the crash kept moving forward, causing a chain-reaction crash involving at least 10 other vehicles.

The two men inside the pickup truck were found dead. Two others were taken to area hospitals with minor injuries, authorities said. There have been no arrests made and the crash remains under investigation. Authorities did say that the driver’s lapse of attention likely caused the fatal crash. Read more

American passengers have limited rights in international airline crashes because of a treaty known as the Montreal Convention

2010-11-19T15:05:00.000-08:00

Not every passenger on an airline flight is treated equally, regardless of what fare was paid. This is not about first class vs. coach. We’re talking about how passengers or their heirs are treated in the event of an airline crash.

Many of us think that everyone involved in an airline crash gets well compensated by whatever airline is responsible. This is not always the case. Most people are surprised to learn that passengers on international tickets (even if a segment of the flight is strictly domestic) are not treated exactly the same as those on purely domestic itineraries.

Take the crash of Continental Connection dba Colgan Air Flight 3407, which crashed on February 12, 2009 at Clarence Center, New York. Some passengers on this flight were coming home from other countries. These passengers had transferred from international flights at Newark, connecting to Colgan Air’s Flight 3407 to Buffalo. The families of these international passengers have the same choice of law available to them as the families of the passengers taking Flight 3407 as their only flight or connecting from another flight from a location within the United States, with some important exceptions.

If a flight goes out of control, climbs, dives and rocks wildly from side to side all due to pilot negligence, domestic passengers can recover for the full extent of their emotional distress injuries. These injuries often are more severe, debilitating and lasting than a broken bone or laceration. Yet, in defiance of medical/scientific knowledge and common sense, passengers on a domestic flight with an international leg to their itinerary are discriminated against and denied equal justice unless they can prove that some physical injury was the source of their emotional/mental suffering.

Another recent tragedy was that of American Airlines Flight 331, which crashed as it attempted to land at Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston, Jamaica, during a torrential downpour on the night of December 22, 2009, carrying 154 people. The Boeing 737 800 skidded on the slippery runway and slammed into a sandy embankment a mere 15 feet from the Caribbean Sea. The impact literally tore the airplane apart.

Of the 154 people on board, over 40 were hurt, at least four of them critically, but all survived to tell the harrowing story. Survivors described the panic that ensued after the aircraft overshot the runway with some being struck by overhead luggage that fell around them. Witnesses said the air around the wreckage was thick with the smell of smoke and burning jet fuel.

Since American Airlines Flight 331 was an international flight between Miami and Jamaica, the rights of all the passengers on this flight will be governed by an international treaty known as the Montreal Convention.

For those passengers aboard Colgan Air Flight 3407 on this domestic last leg of their itinerary which also had an international segment, the rights of their heirs are also being governed by the Montreal Convention.

The Montreal Convention

The Convention for the Unification of Certain Rules for International Carriage by Air, commonly known as the Montreal Convention, is an international treaty that regulates liability for international travel. The Montreal Convention was promulgated in 1999 by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a specialized agency of the United Nations that controls international air navigation and transport. The Montreal Convention superseded the provisions of the Warsaw Convention, which had governed most international air accident personal injury claims since 1929 when the airline industry was still in its infancy.

The Convention has over 150 member states, including the United States and Jamaica. The United States adopted the Montreal Convention in 2003, becoming the 30th member state to ratify the new treaty.

The Montreal Convention Defined: The Montreal Convention applies to the international carriage of persons, baggage or cargo by aircraft, where international carriage means any flight between points in each of two state parties or any flight between points within the same state party, as long as the flight also stops in a point in another foreign state.

For any flight covered by the Convention, the air carrier is liable for passenger injury or death from an accident on board, or during embarking or disembarking.

Changes from the Warsaw Convention to the Montreal Convention

The Montreal Convention revised the Warsaw Convention in three significant ways:

1. Two-tier liability system

The Montreal Convention increased liability limits, based upon the significance of the damages. Under this new system, air carriers are strictly liable for proven damages above 100,000 Special Drawing Rights, or SDRs.

(SDRs are a mix of currency values established by the International Monetary Fund. Tying the value of damages to SDR units allows the available damages to rise with inflation. Currently 100,000 SDRs can be converted into roughly $150,000).

If damages exceed 100,000 SDRs, the carrier will be liable without limit unless it can prove that it was not negligent, or that a third party was solely responsible for the accident.

2. Amended jurisdictional provisions

Under the Warsaw Convention, injured people were limited to pursuit of their legal claims in courts where the carrier was domiciled or had its principal place of business, where the carrier had a place of business where the contract was made, i.e., where the ticket was purchased, or where the flight was scheduled to terminate. Under the Montreal Convention victims and their families are now allowed to sue foreign carriers in their place of permanent residence.

3. Liability insurance

The Montreal Convention now requires that all international carriers have liability insurance, a mandate that was not present during the Warsaw Convention.

These changes reflected a shift from an approach that benefitted airlines to an approach that is friendlier to consumers, and although the Montreal Convention is a clear improvement over the Warsaw Convention, is not consistently just.

Better for Consumers, but Not Always Ideal

The Montreal Convention is certainly an improvement over the Warsaw Convention for injured people, but the terms may still be less favorable than the general negligence laws of domestic jurisdiction.

Under the Montreal Convention, an injured party has two years to bring a claim, a time limit that is less than many domestic states. Also, under the Montreal Convention, an injured person can only recover compensatory, not punitive, damages.

Compensatory damages will be governed by the law that would otherwise apply to damages in the absence of the application of the Montreal Convention, but, in no event will the Montreal Convention include compensation for pure emotional distress without physical injury. Survivors of the Jamaica crash who did not suffer physical injuries, but who are suffering from debilitating conditions like post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), will have a legal hurdle in their way in order to be fully compensated under the Montreal Convention.

Although PTSD does cause physical injury to the brain, the majority rule is that any physical injury to the brain is caused by the terror and emotional distress, as opposed to direct physical injury caused by the event itself. In other words, under this analysis, the emotional distress is the cause of the injury, instead of the injury causing the emotional distress, and therefore not recoverable. This makes as much sense as saying that luggage falling on one during the airplane’s erratic flight, not the pilot’s negligence, was the cause of that passenger’s injury.

Consequently, air carriers usually contend that, for instance, PTSD, standing alone, may not currently be compensable under the Montreal Convention.

We believe the better analysis is to deem a physical injury as a threshold matter, where once the physical injury is established, all emotional distress from both the horror of the event and from the physical injury is compensable, just as it would be under most state laws applicable to domestic flights with international stops. We are working tirelessly to make this the applicable universal standard under the Convention.

In the Supreme Court case controlling this issue, an Eastern Airlines aircraft lost power in all engines over the ocean on May 5, 1983. The aircraft, on a flight between Miami and the Bahamas, almost hit the water before the flight crew restarted one of the engines. The plane limped back to the airport. No one suffered physical injury, however, but lawsuits were filed claiming the emotional distress (anxiety) of not knowing whether the aircraft would make it back to the airport. The Court held that, under the Convention, emotional distress in the absence of physical injury is not compensable.

Rules like this are actually relics of a past era before science and medicine taught us about emotional injuries, and stem from judges’ mistrust and belief that such injuries are easily faked. We now know better, and this judge-made rule must, and can be, changed.

Seek Legal Counsel

Survivors of those killed or passengers injured in international aviation accidents like the American Airlines Jamaican incident should consult experienced aviation lawyers to determine whether the Montreal Convention applies to their potential claims, or whether other international or domestic law might come into play. Aviation law is complicated and it is advisable to seek the advice of skilled and knowledgeable attorneys with experience handling aviation disaster cases.

Qantas Grounds Superjumbo Jets After Midair Engine Failure

2010-11-10T19:06:00.000-08:00

A Qantas flight experienced an engine blow-out midair on November 4, 2010, prompting the airline to ground its Airbus A380 aircraft. Qantas flight QF34, a double-decker Airbus A380 superjumbo jet, was carrying 459 people when it experienced engine failure about 15 minutes after take-off from Singapore. The plane was able to make a safe emergency landing back in Singapore, about one hour and 50 minutes after the initial take-off. On board were 433 passengers and 26 crew members. No one was injured.

Federal investigators have begun a probe into the engine failure. It remains unclear what caused the midair mishap but some experts have mentioned a possible ‘uncontained engine failure,’ which occurs when jet engine debris punctures the outer parts of the engine. There have been conflicting reports among witnesses and officials on what may have caused the failure. People on board the plane and on the ground reported loud blasts before the left engine (closest to the fuselage) caught on fire and began to shed smoke and debris. Qantas has said that there was no explosion and called the problem an “engine issue.” According to the LA Times, the A380’s left inner engine had visible burn marks and was missing a plate section. The left wing also showed signs of damage.

“Catastrophic engine failures with modern day jet engines are rare events, but when they happen it can very often result in injury and death,” said Baum Hedlund attorney and former airline captain John A. Greaves. “Fortunately on this occasion the pieces of the shattered engine did not breach the fuselage.”

The airline has suspended A380 services while an investigation into the midair mishap takes place. Investigators are sure to inspect the shattered Rolls-Royce engine as well as the more than 100 pieces of debris collected along the Indonesian island of Batam. Rolls-Royce and Airbus are also expected to participate in the investigation.

Although Qantas has a stellar safety record, with no passenger or crew deaths since the late 1950s, this is not the first safety incident involving an A380. In 2009, a Singapore Airlines Q380 suffered engine malfunction and was forced to turn around mid-flight. Also that year, a Qantas A380 had two tires burst on landing in Sydney.

NTSB Says Pilot at Fault for 2008 Denver Runway Crash, Points Finger at Lack of Proper Pilot Training

2010-11-03T20:31:00.000-07:00

The National Transportation Safety Board released their report on the probable cause of the December 20, 2008 Continental Airlines Flight 1404 Denver runway accident. The NTSB determined that the captain was at fault for the directing the Boeing 737 plane off the runway, which left him and five passengers critically injured. According to the NTSB, the accident occurred due to strong crosswinds that “exceeded the captain’s training and experience.” As the plane began its take-off roll down a runway at the Denver International Airport, strong winds rocked the plane and caused it to veer to the left of the runway. The plane then caught on fire.

None of the 115 people on board were killed but six people were seriously injured. This could have been avoided, according to the NTSB, if the pilot used the rudder for directional control instead of the “tiller” for directional control on take-off. Investigators found that the captain failed to properly input the aircraft’s rudder and instead used the nosewheel steering tiller, which was “ineffective and inappropriate for steering the airplane.” The tiller is to be used to control steering during taxi, not for directional control after the aircraft is accelerating for take-off.

Contributing to the accident, the NTSB said, was the lack of crosswind training for pilots in the airline industry. The NTSB also partly blamed the air traffic control system, which did not require or facilitate the dissemination of key wind information to the air traffic controllers and the pilots.

In their July 13, 2010 report, the NTSB failed to discuss the captain’s failure to abort the take-off when he started losing control at a speed under 100 knots, as called for in the procedures set forth in the flight manual. “Had the captain aborted, instead of continuing the take-off roll as he was losing control” says Baum Hedlund attorney and former airline captain John Greaves, “he could have stopped the aircraft instead of running it off the runway in his attempt to take-off.”

The NTSB sent 14 recommendations to the Federal Aviation Administration regarding their investigation of the accident.

Baum Hedlund aviation attorneys represent several passengers and crew from this Continental Airlines runway accident.

Airplane Maintenance Outsourcing Tests Bounds of Safety

2010-11-02T11:08:00.000-07:00

While the aviation industry is currently awaiting implementation of brand new Transportation Security Administration security rules to strengthen domestic and foreign aircraft repair stations against terrorist threats, safety at these maintenance facilities is the subject of an investigation conducted by National Public Radio (NPR).

NPR recently published a three-part series which has energized an ongoing debate about the outsourcing of airline maintenance to repair shops overseas. To many frequent fliers, this is news. This growing cost-cutting approach, however, has been at the forefront of controversy for a few years.

Drowning from financial pressures and suffering from a hard hit economic crisis starting in the months after 9/11, the aviation industry scrambled to find ways to cut costs in order to stay afloat. Airlines began to increase profits by reducing flight volume and implementing other passenger amenity changes that dismayed many travelers. Disgruntled travelers, however, have been largely unaware of another cost-cutting approach that an increasing amount of airlines have adopted: the global outsourcing of aircraft maintenance.

The airline industry says outsourcing is one of the most effective ways to cut costs. It has also become popular, as less and less airlines send their planes to their own local repair shops and instead opt for less expensive private maintenance.

According to a 2008 audit conducted by the Department of Transportation's Office of the Inspector General (OIG), nine major air carriers, AirTran Airways, Alaska Airlines, America West Airlines, Continental Airlines, Delta Air Lines, JetBlue Airways, Northwest Airlines, Southwest Airlines, and United Airlines, outsourced 71 percent of their heavy airframe maintenance checks in 2007. Almost 27 percent of these heavy airframe repairs were outsourced to repair shops overseas. Roughly 20 percent of these repair shops are in developing countries. Therefore, about one in every five planes is being sent to developing countries such as Africa, Asia and South America, to be overhauled and repaired.

Why Outsource?

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) requires airlines to perform regular maintenance on their aircraft at least once every two years, which can be quite costly. On average, a union mechanic working in the U.S. will make about $100 per hour. An airline can cut that cost in half if they send their plane to a non-union mechanic in the U.S. If the airline sends their aircraft to a developing country, their savings triple. Maintenance has quite simply become one of the biggest ways air carriers can cut costs because of the much cheaper labor rates overseas.

As maintenance outsourcing continues to become more prevalent, critics of the outsourcing trend have become increasingly more vocal about their worries that although outsourcing does indeed slash costs, it is doing so at the potentially high price of safety.

Outsourcing Raises Serious Safety Questions

The problem with outsourcing, particularly to maintenance and repair shops located overseas, is that these shops are difficult to monitor. In addition to the 4,227 domestic repair shops located in the U.S., there are roughly 700 FAA approved foreign repair shops in 70 countries. The FAA is required to inspect and monitor all of these on a regular basis through a system of checks and balances. According to the DOT's Inspector General, this system is flawed.

The OIG report, Air Carriers' Outsourcing of Aircraft Maintenance, Federal Aviation Administration Report Number: AV-2008-090, issued on September 30, 2008, became a scathing review of the FAA's role, or lack thereof, in the inspection and supervision of many foreign aircraft maintenance shops, which are supposed to maintain comparable safety standards to the U.S. counterparts.

The Inspector General reported that the FAA and industry inspectors have not been properly monitoring aircraft maintenance work. According to the report, "while the FAA has begun moving its safety oversight toward a risk-based system, it still relies too heavily on air carriers' oversight procedures, which are not always sufficient."

Specifically, the OIG determined that the "FAA did not (1) have an adequate system for determining how much and where the most critical maintenance occurs, (2) have a specific policy governing when certificate management inspectors should visit repair stations performing substantial maintenance, (3) require inspectors to validate that repair stations have corrected deficiencies identified in air carrier audits, and (4) have adequate controls to ensure that inspectors document inspection findings in the national database and review related findings by other inspectors. As a result, the FAA could not effectively target its inspection resources to those repair stations providing the highest volume of repairs, which caused deficiencies at repair stations to go undetected or reoccur and prevented inspectors from obtaining sufficient data to perform comprehensive risk assessments."

Close Calls Don't Inspire Confidence

One foreign shop, in particular, became the focus of NPR's report on the industry's growing trend of outsourcing maintenance. That particular facility is Aeroman repair station in El Salvador which made a mistake that could have potentially been catastrophic. In January 2009, a US Airways jet traveling from Omaha to Phoenix was forced to land in Denver after the pressure seal around the main cabin door started to fail. It was later discovered that the mechanics at Aeroman had installed an important door component backwards.

In another case at Aeroman, a mechanic crossed the wires connecting the gauges to a plane's engines, a potentially catastrophic mistake that was thankfully caught by an airline employee before the plane left with passengers. According to records obtained by NPR, this was not the first instance of problems with wire connectors. In late September of 2009, US Airways discovered another wire mix-up caused by mechanics at Aeroman. Thankfully these mishaps were caught, and no one was hurt.

NPR also interviewed mechanics at the Aeroman repair shop who declared their own concerns regarding safety there. According to the mechanics, there is often a great deal of pressure to repair planes quickly, even if safety is sacrificed. They confessed that some employees stored glues at temperatures different than those required by law, which means that the glues could fail, potentially causing parts of the airplane to quite literally fall apart.

When asked about FAA inspections, the mechanics revealed that the inspections are pre-announced so management has time to prepare for the inspection and the FAA inspectors find nothing wrong. NPR reported that the mechanics were paid between $5,000 and $10,000 per year, and some did not speak English, making the reading of the aircraft repair manual impossible.

Still, aviation officials maintain that outsourcing maintenance is safe and that the Aeroman repair shop in El Salvador is one of the best run foreign repair shops in the world. The vice president in charge of maintenance at US Airways stated that he was "impressed with the facility, having been to a number of heavy-maintenance providers here in the U.S."

Also, officials argue, there hasn't actually been an accident due to a maintenance mishap since 2003, and that the accident in 2003 was caused by a mistake made in an American repair shop. Many people fear, however, that it might take a catastrophic accident to wake the industry up to the dangers of outsourcing.

Is having our planes fixed overseas safe? Or are we taking too big of a risk? Many readers, especially those that frequently board an airliner, might find themselves asking the same question: Should we be worried?

So, Should We Be Worried?

The naysayers argue that our safety record proves we have very good maintenance. The FAA, also, assures the public that there is nothing to worry about. Industry analysts say that there is no reason for concern. Kevin Michaels, director of consulting with AeroStrategy said that foreign repair shops are harmless and productive, adding that "over the last 10 years, we've seen a significant growth." And according to the senior Vice President of Air Transport Association, the industry's safety record shows that repair companies overseas do excellent work and that El Salvador's Aeroman is one of the best repair shops in the world.

In other words, according to some, there is absolutely nothing to worry about.

Others disagree and argue, yes, we should most definitely be worried. The Inspector General of the Department of Transportation in particular has warned for the past six years that the monitoring of these foreign stations is far below standard, declaring that the "FAA still does not have comprehensive data on how much and where outsourced maintenance is performed." The Inspector General added that "problems existed, such as untrained mechanics, lack of required tools and unsafe storage of aircraft parts."

And what about the stellar safety record? One official said "The absence of an accident doesn't mean you're safe. We should be monitoring and doing our job before there's an accident, not after."

Legislators are also worried. Senator Clair McCaskill (D-MO) has been pushing legislation in Congress that would require tougher standards on foreign repair shops and their oversight. "When you have a situation like this, where you're going to El Salvador because it's going to be a lot cheaper, and the company in El Salvador is going to make a lot more money if they can promise the planes out more quickly, then that is a dangerous stew that we are stirring," McCaskill said.

NPR Series

USDOT OIG Audit: Air Carriers' Outsourcing of Aircraft Maintenance, Federal Aviation Administration Report Number: AV-2008-090, Issued on September 30, 2008.

Former Airline Captain Divulges Secrets Your Pilot Won’t Tell You

2010-10-28T16:51:00.000-07:00

Our very own John Greaves, a former airline captain turned aviation attorney, was quoted in a rather hair-raising Reader’s Digest article entitled “50 secrets your pilot won’t tell you.” The article is the magazine’s November issue cover story and its contents are as eye-opening as the title implies. Reader’s Digest asked 17 pilots and ex-pilots to comment on their jobs, give readers some advice and offer a window into what goes on behind the cockpit door. Many of their candid remarks will surprise you.

Some tidbits are nice to hear. For example, the air circulating in the plane is much cleaner than you ever imagined. It is actually cleaner that the air circulating in many public buildings. Most information, however, is quite alarming. Some airports are a nightmare for even the most seasoned of pilots and you might end up 35,000 feet in the air, blissfully unaware that the plane you are in is flying 500 miles an hour on only one working engine. Yikes.

John divulged a few “secrets” himself. He had some words of advice for passengers who might not take the glowing seat belt sign seriously. “It’s one thing if the pilot puts the seat belt sign on for the passengers. But if he tells the flight attendants to sit down, you’d better listen. That means there’s some serious turbulence ahead,” John said. When asked about the cockpit, John said “Do pilots sleep in there? Definitely. Sometimes it’s just a ten-minute catnap, but it happens.”

Read the complete article here.

NTSB Issues Safety Recommendation Based on 2001 Airline Crash near JFK

2010-10-26T15:38:00.000-07:00

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) recently issued a safety recommendation to the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) regarding the November 2001 American Airlines Airbus crash near JFK. The crash of Flight 587, which was flying to the Dominican Republic, took the lives of all 260 passengers and crew, as well as five people in Belle Harbor, a neighborhood in Queens. While all such airline crashes are tragic, this one was particularly devastating, coming just two months after the horror of 9/11 and just a few miles from Ground Zero.

Flight 587 encountered wake turbulence from a Boeing 747 shortly after takeoff, and the pilot’s steering response created severe strain on the rudder mechanism. Sounds of likely mechanical failures could be heard in the recorded data recovered from the plane’s wreckage, as well as the pilots’ desperate attempts to right the aircraft. In other words, the structural failure of the vertical stabilizer was caused by an overreaction by the pilot to the presence of air turbulence caused by another aircraft. The aircraft may have corrected itself without any input from the pilot at all, like the January 10, 2008 Air Canada Airbus incident over Washington State, noted by the NTSB in its new recommendation.

Soon after its crash investigation commenced, the NTSB issued a safety recommendation for updates in training of all pilots of transport-category airplanes.

The NTSB’s 2004 final report on the incident found the cause of the crash to be “the in-flight separation of the vertical stabilizer as a result of the loads beyond ultimate design that were created by the first officer's unnecessary and excessive rudder pedal inputs.” The vertical stabilizer is the “fin” or “tail” of the aircraft, with the side-to-side moving rudder that controls aircraft nose direction.

The “loads” referenced by the NTSB are aerodynamic stresses caused by rapid movement of the rudder in an attempt to combat the aircraft movement caused by the wake of the nearby Boeing 747. The report, however, also pointed to “characteristics of the Airbus A300-600 rudder system design and elements of the American Airlines Advanced Aircraft Maneuvering Program,” as a contributing factor in the crash.

The Airbus A-300 involved in the November 2001 crash was built in France, subject to European regulatory oversight. In its new recommendation, issued on August 4, 2010, the NTSB encourages modification of European certification standards to ensure safe handling qualities “in the yaw axis throughout the flight envelope,” as well as instituting limits for the sensitivity of rudder pedals. The yaw axis refers to the axis about which the aircraft nose and tail moves side-to-side. The flight envelope refers to the outer boundaries of flight for which the aircraft is designed.

The NTSB recommendation involves limiting rudder movement so that the aerodynamic stresses or “loads” do not exceed the design maximums. The NTSB also suggests review and modification, if necessary, of all existing models of the Airbus A300-600 and A310 aircraft.

Aviation litigation involves complex issues and cases can take years to be fully resolved. People who deserve compensation for their losses require dedicated advocacy from an experienced law firm with diverse resources and the tenacity to fully protect a client’s interests. A skilled aviation lawyer must remain aware of the latest legal developments, from changes in case law to regulatory updates. The NTSB’s recommendations come too late for the families who lost loved ones on Flight 587. A positive response by the EASA to the NTSB’s recommendations, together with training air transport pilots in proper rudder handling, would be welcome steps toward future airline safety.

Lawmakers Push for Stricter Natural Gas Pipeline Safety Standards in Wake of San Bruno Explosion

2010-10-13T14:05:00.000-07:00

In the wake of the deadly San Bruno natural gas pipeline explosion, government officials have begun to push for stricter gas pipeline safety standards. On September 22, just two weeks after the September 9 explosion that killed eight people and destroyed 37 homes, California senators Diane Feinstein and Barbara Boxer introduced a bill to bolster safety standards. The bill, called the Strengthening Pipeline Safety Enforcement Act, would mandate better inspection devices and tests and would double the number of federal pipeline inspectors to 200 over the next four years. The bill would also require automatic electronic shut-off valves “wherever technically or economically feasible," and would authorize penalties of up to $2.5 million for violations of safety standards.

Representative Jackie Speier, D-SF, also introduced similar legislation called the Pipeline Safety Community Empowerment Act of 2010. Speier’s bill would also mandate the installation of automatic shut-off valves wherever they are technologically feasible. The probe into the deadly San Bruno blast revealed that it took workers almost two hours to shut off the manual valves, time that could have potentially saved lives and homes. The bill would also mandate that gas line operators provide the location information of pipelines as well as emergency response plans to emergency responders and regulators, among other provisions.

As the investigation into the cause of the fatal blast continues, state legislators hope that a similar catastrophe will be avoided in the future. "The pipeline explosion in San Bruno was a tragedy that must never occur again in any American neighborhood," Feinstein said in a statement. "The American people must be assured that the pipelines that crisscross the nation and run beneath their streets are safe."

Family Sues Food Express, Inc. of Arcadia, California for Fatal Truck Crash

2010-10-06T12:52:00.000-07:00

Truck accident attorneys from Baum Hedlund, Paul Hedlund and Robert Foss, filed a lawsuit today on behalf of the family of Robin Rae Udey, who was killed on Jan. 25, 2010 in a truck crash in Wasco County, Oregon. Truck driver, Ronald Jory, was driving a commercial truck pulling two loaded tanker trailers for Arcadia, California-based Food Express, Inc., when, according to witnesses, he drove at dangerously fast speeds around a curve on a snow and slush covered highway. He lost control of the big rig while approaching the curve and crossed the center line. His truck collided with Mrs. Udey’s SUV, heading in the opposite direction.

The Udey family is suing Food Express, Inc. for negligence and wrongful death. The truck crash lawsuit alleges that Food Express, Inc., among other things, was negligent, careless and reckless in the hiring training and supervision of Jory. Read more about this truck crash lawsuit.

PG&E’s History Points to Questionable Spending and Neglect

2010-10-01T16:59:00.000-07:00

Pacific Gas & Electric, Co., has become the focus of intense scrutiny since the explosion of a natural gas pipeline in San Bruno California killed eight people and destroyed nearly 50 homes on September 9, 2010. Investigators are looking into possible neglect of the aging pipeline by the utility giant, a possible cause for the unexpected and devastating explosion. Documents and records about PG&E’s history have surfaced that suggest the utility has repeatedly failed to protect its clients and the public.

Some of these reports are focused on PG&E’s questionable spending. Three years ago state regulators agreed to pay the company nearly $5 million to replace portions of the South San Francisco natural pipeline, the same pipeline that burst. The work was scheduled to take place in 2009, but it never happened. It is unclear where the money was spent.

This is just one example of what appears to be decades of PG&E spending money allotted for pipeline replacement on “other priorities.” Between 1993 and 1995, the gas company was given $80 million more than it spent for its gas pipeline replacement program - a sum big enough to have completely replaced the highest risk pipelines in the Bay Area.

Although many experts believe that the ratepayer will bear this burden, we, at Baum Hedlund, firmly believe that PG&E will ultimately be held completely accountable.

Investigation into Fatal San Bruno Blast Focuses on Possible Causes

2010-09-29T20:04:00.000-07:00

The investigation into the cause of the ruptured gas pipe that killed seven people and left a San Bruno neighborhood in ashes has begun and officials are looking at every angle.

The California Public Utilities Commission is spearheading the investigation alongside the National Transportation Safety Board. Investigators have turned their attention to the possibility of internal corrosion on the 30-inch-diameter pipeline as one potential cause for the blast.

A PG&E document shows that PG&E knew and was concerned about corrosive liquids found in four Bay Area natural gas pipelines, including the one that burst in San Bruno. Federal investigators are also looking into the inferior shut-off valves, which took workers almost two hours to manually close after the explosion. Some state officials have said that those valves should have been automatically or remotely controlled.

There have also been reports, or rumors, of residents smelling gas before the explosion. Investigators have been looking into these reports, which if true, would suggest that a small leak was present before the explosion. If the reports are false and there was no gas smell before the blast, that could indicate a sudden catastrophic failure in the pipeline.

JetBlue Pilots Engaged Parking Brake Before Runway Tire Blow-Out

2010-09-23T11:50:00.000-07:00

Last month’s JetBlue Airways hard landing at Sacramento seems to have been caused by pilot error, the NTSB said in their preliminary report of the mishap. On August 26, 2010, JetBlue Flight 262, an Airbus A320, experienced four tire blow-outs after landing at Sacramento International Airport in California. The aircraft then caught fire and seven passengers were injured during the evacuation process. According to the NTSB, the investigation of the incident found evidence that the main landing gear was locked on touchdown. Investigators also found that the parking brake had become engaged during landing approach and remained engaged throughout the landing. Baum Hedlund, airplane crash lawyers, represent a passenger injured during the evacuation.

San Bruno Gas Pipeline Explosion Rocks Suburban Neighborhood, Killing at Least Four and Injuring Dozens

2010-09-21T14:14:00.000-07:00

A high-pressure Pacific Gas and Electric Co. gas line ruptured on Thursday, September 9, 2010, sending a wall of fire into a quiet California neighborhood just 14 miles from San Francisco. The Crestmoor neighborhood in San Bruno, California, was rocked by the thunderous explosion at around 6:15 p.m, which engulfed the suburban neighborhood in flames, killing at least four people and destroying 37 homes. Over 50 people were injured, some critically. Three people remain listed as missing.

Investigators with the California Public Utilities Commission and the National Transportation Safety Board arrived on Friday to find a 30-foot crater surrounded by a neighborhood that had mostly been turned into ashes. No one knows why the 30-inch diameter pipe—the main transmission line for gas in the neighborhood—burst with what seems to have been no warning.

The probe has been focused on possible corrosive liquids within the pipeline as well as a rumor that residents smelled gas before the fatal blast. PG&E remains at the forefront of the investigation. Although the personal toll of the explosion is clearly overwhelming, it is yet unclear just how large the financial toll will be. News on this mass disaster

Former Senator Among Five People Killed in Alaska Plane Crash

2010-09-21T11:40:00.000-07:00

A plane carrying nine people crashed in southwest Alaska on August 9, 2010. Five people died in the crash, which occurred in a remote area about 20 miles north of Dillingham. Four people were seriously injured.

Former Senator Ted Stevens was onboard the plane and was confirmed as one of the fatalities. Stevens, the longest-serving Republican senator in American history, was 86 years-old. Also killed in the crash was the pilot and three other passengers, including a 16-year-old girl.

Authorities said that also among the other passengers of the plane was former NASA administrator Sean O’Keefe, who survived the crash.

The plane, a DeHavilland DHC-Z3T Otter, is believed to have encountered bad visibility in the moments leading up to the crash. The flight was headed to Bristol Bay, an area popular for summer sports fishing. At about 8 p.m. another aircraft spotted the wreckage lying on a 40-degree slope and called the Alaska National Guard.

Six “good Samaritans” were able to reach the downed plane on Monday evening. They were able to tend to the wounded overnight.

Alaska Air National Guard rescuers were able to access the remote scene the following morning by helicopter. Federal investigators have released a preliminary accident report on the crash.

Buses Carrying High School Students Involved in Multi-Vehicle Crash, Two People Confirmed Dead in Missouri

2010-08-11T15:13:00.000-07:00

An accident involving two buses packed with high school students, a passenger vehicle and a Volvo truck tractor has left two people dead and dozens of students injured. The buses were transporting high school band members to Six Flags Great Adventure theme park, a trip that the group took annually.

The multi-vehicle pile-up occurred at about 10 a.m. on Thursday August, 5, 2010, as the buses traveled behind the pickup and the tractor without a trailer on Interstate 44, near Gray Summit, Missouri.

The tractor, owned by Climate Express, apparently slowed for construction-related traffic when it was rear-ended by the pickup truck. The first bus, which authorities are saying was carrying girls, then slammed into the pickup with such force that it ran over and crushed the vehicle. The second bus, carrying high school boys, then barreled into the first bus.

The accident killed high school student, Jessica Brinker, 15, and Daniel Schatz, 19, driver of the GMC Sierra pickup truck that struck the rear of the stopped tractor.

Transportation authorities have begun a probe into the cause of the fatal collision.

Sleep Apnea Could Open Door for Truck Accident Plaintiff’s Attorneys, Companies Urged to Better Manage Potentially Deadly Health Problem

2010-07-07T16:45:00.000-07:00

According to a June article published in http://www.truckinginfo.com/, three in ten semi drivers suffer from sleep apnea, a health problem that puts truck drivers at a greater risk of crashing. Some safety experts believe that this truck safety and public health problem could very quickly become a legal problem for the trucking industry.

Anne Ferro, chief of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, (FMCSA) says that sleep apnea causes fatigue which is estimated to be an associated factor in 13 percent of all tractor trailer crashes. Experts are saying that a carrier can now assume that a certain percentage (three out of ten) of their drivers are likely to suffer from sleep apnea. This fact alone can clear the way for plaintiff’s attorneys in fatigue-related truck accident cases. Since health records show symptoms of apnea, plaintiff’s attorneys may now have an effective weapon that indicates truck company management lapses on fatigue issues.

“Driver fatigue is the main cause of trucking accidents,” according to Robert Foss, a trucking attorney from Baum, Hedlund, Aristei & Goldman. “Fatigue is a major safety issue and is always looked at during my law firm’s truck crash investigations.”

Hopefully, the prospect of sleep apnea being used against them in court will urge trucking companies to nip this potentially deadly problem in the bud. During a conference hosted by the American Sleep Apnea Association and sponsored by FMCSA and American Trucking Associations, safety experts discussed how sleep apnea could be effectively regulated by trucking companies and by the trucking industry.

In an effort to offer regulatory guidance, the board recommended the screening of every commercial truck driver and listed specific criteria for the denial of medical certification. The FMCSA is also currently drafting a final rule that will establish new standards regarding the detection and correct diagnosis of sleep apnea.

First a Personal Disaster, Then Mass Disasters

2010-06-15T14:59:00.000-07:00

"Ilyas Akbari’s parents faced an excruciating dilemma: stay in war-torn and dangerous Afghanistan with their two small children, or do anything to get the family out. At a time when children were prohibited from leaving the country, the Akbaris’ drugged their 3- and 2-year-olds, stuffed them into suitcases, and spent their life savings bribing their way out of Afghanistan."

Akbari is now a mass disaster attorney at Baum, Hedlund, Aristei & Goldman, and focuses on wrongful death personal injury cases. He represents clients in commercial transportation accidents involving death or traumatic injury, pharmaceutical products liability and class action lawsuits. Read the Ilyas Akbari story published in Southern California Rising Stars 2010 — July 2010

“When we first came here, we didn’t have anything, but my parents always did what they could for others,” he says. “I’m fighting for people who have lost it all: their lives or the lives of loved ones.”

158 People Mourned as Probe into Air India Crash Begins

2010-05-28T13:59:00.000-07:00

Early reports indicate that Air India’s Boeing 737-800 veered off a hilltop runway upon landing at Mangalore airport in southern India on Saturday, May 22, killing 158 people. The Air India Express Flight #182 plane was arriving from Dubai when it overshot the runway, broke into pieces and burst into flames. A large crowd looked on in horror as Indian rescue personnel hurried to put out fires and search for survivors. Only eight people out of the 166 aboard the plane survived in what is now the worst Indian air disaster in a decade.

Safety authorities, including the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) have begun their investigation into what caused this tragic accident. Investigators will look into possible technical failures as well as how far and how fast the plane landed on the runway. Weather conditions and visibility conditions were good at the time of the crash.

If early reports are correct, this catastrophic disaster will be dubbed a “runway excursion,” a term given by safety experts for crashes involving runway overruns. In the past 20 years, runway excursions have accounted for nearly 40% of all commercial aircraft accidents, with most occurring during landings. Many runway excursions are caused by unsafe runways or lack of cockpit discipline. Investigators will look at the size and makeup of the safety zone at the end of the runway in Mangalore airport, which is reported to be about 300 feet, far smaller than recommended by international safety standards. Authorities will also look into the possibility of pilot error.

The air crash investigation is being conducted by India's Directorate General of Civil Aviation. The U.S. team helping India with the investigation consists of Joe Sedor, the NTSB’s Senior Air Safety Investigator, an NTSB flight operations specialist, an NTSB aircraft systems specialist, and technical advisors from the Federal Aviation Administration and Boeing.

Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill Destroys Wildlife and Livelihoods

2010-04-30T17:29:00.000-07:00

About 5,000 barrels of oil, or 210,000 gallons, are estimated to be spilling into the Gulf of Mexico each day, a week after what is becoming the nation’s worst environmental disaster in decades, predictably worse than the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska’s Prince William Sound.

On April 20, 2010, a BP oil rig inexplicably exploded more than 40 miles off the Louisiana coast, unleashing a massive oil spill that has threatened the ocean wildlife as well as the fishing industry and tourism, leaving thousands of jobs and livelihoods in peril.

This oil spill will no doubt have a devastating effect on hundreds of species of fish, birds and other wildlife along the rich seafood grounds of the Gulf Coast. Also in danger are the livelihoods of fishermen and businesses that have for generations earned a living from the shrimp, oysters and other marine life on the coast. Oil company BP PLC has taken full responsibility for the spill and has stated that they “will clean it up and where people can present legitimate claims for damages we will honor them.” According to the locals, however, BP has already let them down. A fishing guide in Florida said “They lied to us. They came out and said it was leaking 1,000 barrels when I think they knew it was more. And they weren’t proactive.”

The government and the Coast Guard have also been facing questions on whether enough has been done to plug the underwater oil leak. In a White House Garden event on Friday, ten days after the explosion, president Barack Obama directed that no new offshore oil drilling leases will be issued unless oil rigs have new technologies in place to prevent this type of catastrophe. Obama also gave Interior Secretary Ken Salazar 30 days to report on what new safeguards are needed to protect against oil spills from similar deepwater drilling rigs in the future. For now, a state of emergency has been declared in Florida’s Panhandle coastal counties and hundreds are now forced to anxiously wait in anticipation of the hardship they will face as the oil seeps closer to the coast.

Is Your Captain on Antidepressants?

2010-04-17T15:59:00.000-07:00

The FAA has proposed a rule to allow commercial pilots to fly revenue passengers while taking one or more of the enumerated selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors ("SSRI"). The proposal raises many important safety issues that need to be fully and clearly addressed to the traveling public.

SSRIs are popular antidepressants used for the treatment of depression, anxiety, bipolar and a host of other mood and mental disorders. Millions of people take SSRIs, and it is reasonable to assume that some commercial pilots do, or if this rule is enacted will, take these drugs. Currently, it is a disqualification for flight duty for a commercial pilot to be on one of the enumerated SSRIs.

The FAA has proposed that a pilot taking SSRIs for a year can be eligible for a First Class Medical Certificate and then be able to exercise airman certificate privileges, including the Airline Transport Pilot certificate required to serve as captain in airliners carrying passengers and cargo. Full disclosure of the studies, if any, regarding issues such as how the long-term use of these SSRIs affect pilot performance, needs to be made to the public. Do any scientific studies on long-term usage support the rule? Is there any peer-reviewed medical literature that supports such a proposal?

Questions concerning long-term SSRI usage effect on pilot cognitive function and motor skills need to be publicly aired. How will long-term use of an SSRI affect alertness? Perception? Judgment? Memory? Fatigue? Emergency response? Will aircraft control and other mental and physical abilities under the extreme pressure of dire emergencies be compromised in any degree? Would performance have been affected by long-term SSRI use in a situation like the emergency landing in the Hudson River after the bird strike which disabled both of the aircraft’s engines? For that matter, would a First Officer on such drugs have been able to provide the necessary assistance required in such an emergency?

SSRIs are notorious for side effects, some quite serious such as suicidal behavior and hostility, that often afflict a patient after dose alteration – up or down. How does the FAA propose to monitor such activity, and will a new one-year waiting period begin after every dose adjustment? And what about monitoring the severe withdrawal reactions patients experience when they stop taking the drug or just miss some doses when they forget to bring their SSRI pill bottle when travelling?

Airline passengers should not be guinea pigs unwittingly impressed into an experiment to determine whether long-term SSRI usage might compromise their safety. In the absence of solid research, testing, and experience, it may well be of highly questionable ethics to turn SSRI-drugged commercial pilots into test pilots at the potential risk to passengers and people on the ground. How many passengers would willingly ride on an aircraft commanded by a pilot that has been under the influence of SSRIs for a year or longer?

Or undergoing withdrawal reactions due to having ceased taking the pills or having missed some doses because they left the pills at home? Will passengers ever know?

The traveling public deserves to have complete, documented answers to these questions.

John A. Greaves

Airline Transport Pilot

Ret. Airline Captain

Airline Disaster Attorney

Senate Passes FAA Air Safety Bill

2010-03-31T17:19:00.000-07:00

The U.S. Senate passed The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Reauthorization Bill last Monday, March 22, 2010, a little over a year after the tragic Flight 3407 crash near Buffalo, New York. The new legislation is called the FAA Air Transportation Modernization and Safety Improvement Act. The bill will address the safety gaps that led to the tragic crash of Flight 3407 and other crashes before it, and will enact several safety regulations in regional airline travel.

Since the House passed a competing bill in May of last year, this means that both the House and the Senate have each passed their versions of the bill.

Issues still remain which need to be cleared up before the House and Senate bills can be merged into one. For instance, there are some controversial provisions in the House bill that were left out of the Senate version. One of these provisions is aimed at voiding airline alliance’s antitrust immunity requiring alliances to reapply. This is a provision that airlines do not want to see passed. Also included in the House bill is raising the cap of landing fees from $4.50 to $7.00. This fee is used for airport renovations and will be included in the price of airline tickets.

Most importantly, the House bill deals more directly with pilot training, with added text straight from the pilot-training bill into the FAA bill.

The bills do have some things in common, including requirements for the FAA to inspect repair stations overseas at least twice a year. Also, the House and Senate bills both require an increase in pilot training hours although the amount differs with each bill. The House bill will require pilots have 1,500 hours of flight time instead of the 250 that is currently needed to fly for a commercial airline. The Senate bill will require a total of 800 hours of flight time. These provisions are highly important since the February 2009 crash of Flight 3407 sparked outrage and criticism of air safety, specifically pilot training and fatigue, which were major factors in the crash.

The passing of the bills has been credited to the steadfast lobbying of the surviving family members of those killed when Flight 3407 crashed at Clarence Center, New York in February 2009. Senator Charles E. Schumer said in a statement after the passing of the Senate bill, “Make no mistake about it, because of tonight’s actions and the year of work before it, people will be safer when they fly, and it is due to one factor – the strength, fortitude, and focus of the 3407 Families.”

By passing the extension of FAA programs for one month, Congress has given themselves until the end of April to reach a compromise. Hopefully, Congress will come to an agreement that honors the lives of those lost in air accidents like that of Flight 3407 and hopefully, this bill will forever change the face of safety in our skies.

The FAA’s Probe into American Airlines Might End with Record Fine

2010-02-18T15:30:00.000-08:00

According to government and industry officials, the Federal Aviation Administration is close to ending a two year probe into safety violations at American Airlines. Officials familiar with the inquiry told the Associated Press that the investigation could end with the airline receiving one of the largest fines in FAA history. This means that the fine amount could be greater than the $10.2 million fine proposed against Southwest Airlines in 2008, which is the largest fine the agency has given to date.

The FAA’s investigation is focused on improperly secured wiring in American Airlines 290 MD-80 planes. The loose wiring led to a potential fire threat and caused the temporary grounding of hundreds of planes in April 2008. The FAA has yet to comment on a fine and says that the investigation is still ongoing.

Also coming to an end is the Transportation Department inspector general’s inquiry into allegations of maintenance problems at American. In the next several days, the inspector general is expected to release an audit that voices his disapproval regarding the FAA’s lack of oversight of aircraft maintenance at American. Apparently, American’s maintenance issues (which involved ineffective aircraft landing gear and electrical problems in windshield heating systems) were brought to the inspector general by the Allied Pilots Association after FAA inspectors disregarded their complaints.

Source: Fox News

FRONTLINE exposes the major airlines' trend of outsourcing flights in "Flying Cheap"

2010-02-09T10:26:00.000-08:00

Tonight, FRONTLINE will present “Flying Cheap,” a story about the airline industry and the dangerous safety issues associated with the little-known trend of major airlines outsourcing flights to smaller regional carriers. The story will focus on last years tragic Continental Connection Flight 3407 crash, which plummeted into a home in Clarence Center, New York, killing 50 people. Although the Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 aircraft was flying under the name of Continental Connection, it was being operated by the regional airline Colgan Air.

The National Transportation Safety Board recently released their final conclusions on the cause of this crash and determined that pilot error was to blame. The NTSB also contributed the accident to Colgan’s inadequate training and ineffective operating procedures. The NTSB also said that “Colgan Air did not pro-actively address the pilot fatigue hazards.”

Today, regional carriers, which have a poor safety record when compared to major airlines, operate more than half of all scheduled domestic flights in the United States. In “Flying Cheap” FRONTLINE correspondent and veteran safety expert, Miles O’Brien, will investigate this trend and how it has affected the safety of our air travel. The program also vows to “examine how well the Federal Aviation Administration, the agency responsible for overseeing safety of the airline industry, has been doing its job.” This edition of FRONTLINE will air tonight, February 9, 2010, at 9 P.M. ET on PBS. YouTube Sneak Peek

How to rebuild in the wake of Haiti’s quake

2010-01-29T12:03:00.000-08:00

The mass disaster caused by the 7.0 earthquake in Haiti on January 12, 2010, was the most powerful earthquake to hit Haiti in almost 200 years. The destruction has left the nation’s densely populated capital, Port-au-Prince, in complete ruins. The most recent official reports place the death toll at 150,000, although that number is expected to be much higher since victims remain buried underneath tons of mangled rubble and families have buried loved ones on their own.

In the days that followed the catastrophic quake, horrific images of death and devastation flooded the media prompting a massive international call for aid. Days after the devastating disaster, survivor rescue missions have become body recovery operations. In the months and years to follow, immediate humanitarian aid will then lead to the next phase for the Haitian people and the international community; the massive job of rebuilding the shattered country.

This devastating natural disaster has also brought attention to the importance of earthquake awareness and earthquake preparedness, especially in areas near fault lines. Any picture of the Haitian quake’s aftermath will display a street filled with rubble or a building flattened into a mountain of cement. Experts believe that many buildings, particularly in the city of Port-au-Prince, collapsed during the quake because they were never fit for this type of disaster. Professor Mostafa Elengebawy, Ph.D., earthquake expert and professional engineer, recently wrote:

"Building performance in Haiti earthquake was very poor including unreinforced masonry and nonductile reinforced concrete buildings. . . Many buildings collapsed just like pancakes as builders put the reinforced concrete roof on top of low-grade bricks, construction blocks, or thin columns. Other nonductile reinforced concrete buildings collapsed because builders or owners were trying to cut costs by skimping on cement, adding excessive water, and reducing the amount of reinforcing steel.”

Although California’s structures would seem much more ready to withstand an earthquake of this magnitude, some buildings built decades ago have not been retrofitted to today’s seismic standards. Professor Elengebawy, also warns that buildings retrofitted before the 1980's are at risk of suffering damage due to temblors. As Haiti prepares to rebuild, many remain hopeful. Bill Clinton, the UN envoy to Haiti, has said that Haitians are “going to be given the opportunity to re-imagine their country, through the rebuilding of Port-au-Prince. . .” Hopefully the rest of the world, particularly those areas on or near fault lines, will also see an opportunity in this tragedy to begin or continue preparing themselves.

Commercial Tanker Truck Collides with Bus, Killing 4 and Injuring 7

2010-01-26T17:31:00.000-08:00

On January 7, a commercial tanker and shuttle bus collided in Springfield, Ohio. Four people were killed and another seven were sent to area hospitals for treatment. The collision occurred after a Mack commercial truck lost control as it traveled westbound on Interstate 70 at State Route 40. The truck jackknifed and swerved over the median before hitting a passenger car and smashing into the bus, which was carrying nine passengers and the driver.

The driver of the bus was killed, as well as three other passengers. They were pronounced dead at the scene. The other passengers of the motor coach bus were taken to hospitals with unspecified injuries. The driver of the tanker was also taken to an area hospital for minor injuries, officials said.

The shuttle bus, a Chevrolet 17-seat motor coach, was en route to an assisted-living facility. It was returning from Creative Learning Workshop, a center that provides vocational services to adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities, when the crash occurred.

Officials investigating the fatal collision have not yet said if weather was a factor in the crash. At the time, many parts of Ohio were covered in up to 12 centimeters of snow.

California Department of Fish and Game Loses Three Biologists in Helicopter Crash

2010-01-06T18:06:00.000-08:00

California’s Department of Fish and Game (DFG) lost three biologists on Tuesday, January 5, 2010, when the helicopter they were traveling in crashed in the Sierra National Forest. The men were conducting an aerial survey, studying deer behavior in Madera County, when their Bell 206 helicopter operated by Landells Aviation of Desert Hot Springs, crashed in the forest near Redinger Lake. Fire, started by the helicopter crash, delayed rescuers from getting to the crash site.

Killed in the crash were biologists Clu Cotter, DFG Associate Biologist, 48 years old, Kevin O'Connor, DFG Senior Biologist Supervisor, 40 years old, and Tom Stolberg, DFG Scientific Aid, 31 years old, all of Fresno. Helicopter pilot Dennis (Mike) Donovan was also killed in the crash.

The FAA has confirmed that the helicopter hit an unmarked power line. Power lines above 200 feet are required to be visibly marked. The FAA and NTSB are investigating.

An American Airlines Plane Crash Lands in Jamaica

2009-12-23T15:04:00.000-08:00

On December 22, American Airlines Flight 331, a Boeing 737-800 carrying more than 150 people, skidded off a wet runway as it attempted to land at Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston, Jamaica. The flight originated from Washington, D.C. and Miami International. All 148 passengers and six crew members on board survived the accident. Over 40 passengers were treated for minor injuries and at least two passengers were more seriously injured.

The aircraft attempted to land in heavy rain. It touched down on the slippery tarmac just before it began to slide along the runway and through a fence before coming to rest on a sandy embankment less than 15 feet from the Caribbean Sea. The left landing gear collapsed and the fuselage was significantly cracked during the mishap. Both engines broke off on impact. Bleeding passengers were removed from the wreckage which witnesses said smelled like smoke and burning jet fuel. The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board have sent officials to investigate the wreckage and determine whether the plane should have attempted to land in bad weather.

California family sues trucker for unsafe driving in desert sand storm

2009-12-18T17:06:00.000-08:00

Robert Foss, a truck accident attorney, filed a lawsuit today on behalf of the surviving Ramirez brothers against those involved in the Nov. 9, 2008 fatal multi-vehicle collision on I-40 near Ludlow, California which resulted in the tragic death of their father, Jose Ramirez, 66 and their younger brother, Robert Ramirez, 15.

Jose and Robert were killed on Interstate 40, in San Bernardino County, when a Midway Transportation, Inc. tractor-trailer rear-ended their car at a high rate of speed during a dust storm and pushed it completely into and under a J.B. Hunt tractor trailer, which was stopped on the highway. Visibility at the time was reduced to between 0 and 50 feet.

The Ramirez’s are suing the four truck companies and the truck drivers involved in the fatal pile up as well as the State of California, the CHP and Caltrans, for negligent and unlawful conduct. Allegations include reckless driving by the Midway truck driver, who was traveling in excess of 50 mph in an area where strong winds, dust storms and reduced visibility forecasts were repeatedly broadcast.

“The Ramirez family wants justice. My clients want to see that highways are made safe during dust storms as a result of this lawsuit. They want truck drivers to remove themselves from roadways during hazardous conditions such as dust storms, as required by federal law,” said the family’s attorney, Robert Foss, of Los Angeles.

The complaint also claims that the other big rigs, which weigh up to 40 tons and can cause catastrophic injury and death when involved in accidents with passenger vehicles, had a responsibility to be off the road during such extreme conditions.

Additionally, the lawsuit asserts that the CHP and Caltrans did not warn motorists of the impending dangerous conditions when they had the duty and the opportunity to do so.

Tour Bus Driver Suffered Chest Aneurism Before Fatal Crash, Company Employee Says

2009-11-19T10:59:00.000-08:00

According to a Strain Bus Line Motor Coach Tours employee, the driver of the tour bus that crashed on Wednesday afternoon in Minnesota suffered a chest aneurism, possibly causing the bus to swerve onto oncoming lanes before flipping over into a ditch. Two women were killed and another 21 people were injured in the accident. The company employee confirmed that driver Ed Erickson, 52, of Elgin, Minn., was in stable condition at Saint Mary’s Hospital as of Thursday morning. Erickson, Strain Bus Line’s only full time driver, was able to speak to law enforcement who have begun an investigation into the crash.

http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2009/11/18/tourbuscrash/

Tour Bus Crashes in Southern Minnesota, Killing Two

2009-11-19T10:09:00.000-08:00

In the afternoon of November 18, 2009, a Strain Bus Line Motor Coach Tours bus crashed at Interstate 90 in southern Minnesota, west of Austin. State officials have so far reported two fatalities and 21 people have been injured. Rescuers and investigators continued to work at the crash scene late into the evening.

According to authorities, the bus was headed eastbound on the southern Minnesota Interstate when it suddenly swerved into the westbound lanes and flipped over.

According to a Strain Bus company employee, based in Rochester, MN, the tour busses operate every Wednesday from Rochester to Diamond Jo Casino in Northwood, Iowa. It appears the bus was returning from the casino, which is about 30 miles southeast of Austin, authorities said.

The Associated Press has reported that Strain Tours, aka Bold Lines Inc., is a small operation with only six drivers and four buses. According to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration Web site, http://www.safersys.org/CompanySnapshot.aspx (type in “Strain Tours”) Strain Tours has not had an accident in the past 24 months.

In 2002, the company had to pay a fine regarding drug testing for its drivers, It also paid a fine to settle a case regarding driver duty times and record keeping.

On November 16, 2009, just two days before this crash, the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, announced the DOT’s Motorcoach Safety Action Plan which would require all motorcoaches to have seat belts and enhanced roof strength. The plan also addresses the need for increased use of new technologies which will address driver distractions, rules on texting, limited cell phone use, electronic on-board recording devices and better ways to monitor and improve bus driver fatigue.

Trucker goes to prison for running red light, causing death

2009-11-18T10:21:00.000-08:00

A Stafford, Virginia circuit court judge has sentenced James Edgar Smith of Gwynn, to five years in prison for causing the death of Susan Lee Haines, 57, when he ran a red light and crashed into her vehicle on Route 17 on Feb. 2, 2009. Smith was previously convicted of involuntary manslaughter.

Smith’s tractor-trailer was reportedly loaded with sand, weighed 83,000 pounds and was without left front brakes and faulty right front brakes when he ran the red light, according to police reports.

Due to state sentencing guidelines, Smith will only have to serve three months of the five-year sentence.

Susan Haines and her husband had been married 30 years. She had a masters degree in Ornithology and served in the Save Crows Nest and Audubon Society. For the last six years, she worked as a water quality monitor at the headwaters of Aquia Creek, which is a constructed wetlands--a tributary of the tidal segment of the Potomac River located in Northern Virginia.

Cara Luther, the truck accident attorney representing Mr. Haines stated, “If the police reports that Mr. Edgar drove his 83,000 pound truck without proper brakes are true, the reported sentence he will serve would seem very lenient for his actions that so recklessly and completely disregarded public safety.”

http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2009/102009/10272009/503407

NTSB's Probable Cause of Maryland State Police Medevac Helicopter Crash

2009-10-27T20:00:00.000-07:00

ABC2 News MD Medevac Crash Coverage

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) announced at a public board meeting today that the probable cause of the September 27, 2008 crash of a Maryland State Police medevac Aerospatiale (Eurocopter) near Andrews Air Force Base was primarily due to pilot error.

The pilot, one flight paramedic, one field provider, and one of two automobile accident patients being transported were killed. The other patient being transported survived with serious injuries from the helicopter accident.

The family of the patient killed in the helicopter crash, Ashley Younger, attended today's hearing with their helicopter crash attorney, Cara Luther of Washington, D.C. Ms. Luther stated that “Ashley’s family is pleased that the NTSB appears to have thoroughly investigated this accident to determine its cause. They are hopeful that all of the recommendations that the NTSB has made to the various organizations are fully adopted without further delay so that this type of crash never occurs again.”

The NTSB found that the pilot failed to adhere to instrument approach procedures when he did not prevent the helicopter's descent at the MDA (minimum descent altitude). Furthermore, the Board concluded that the pilot likely became preoccupied with looking for the ground, which he could not identify before impact because of the lack of external visual cues.

The NTSB noted several contributing factors to the cause of the accident:

the pilot's limited recent instrument flight experience
the lack of adherence to effective risk management procedures by the Maryland State Police
the pilot's inadequate assessment of the weather
the failure of the Potomac Consolidated Terminal Radar Approach Control (PCT) controller to provide the current Andrews Air Force Base weather observation to the pilot
the increased workload on the pilot due to inadequate FAA air traffic control handling by the Ronald Reagan National Airport Tower and PCT controllers