Aviation Accidents

Serving Aviation Accident Victims Nationwide

Aviation disasters are at the heart of Fleming | Nolen | Jez, L.L.P.’s history. Our founder, George Fleming, began his career as an attorney for the United States Department of Justice representing the United States in major airplane crashes and other aviation disasters. We handle all types and degrees of aviation and airline accidents: from aviation crash disasters to injuries on planes, such as head injuries, fractures, and musculoskeletal injuries. If you have been hurt in an aviation accident, we encourage you to contact our firm right away.

While aviation accidents are rare, the lawsuit that follows can be extremely complex, especially when it involves a commercial airline. Plane accidents can occur for any number of reasons, including pilot failure, mechanical error, weather, sabotage, and human error, so determining liability and compensation requires a considerable amount of detailed work. This isn’t your run-of-the-mill accident, so you should know what to expect ahead of time.

What Causes Plane Accidents?

Many different factors can contribute to aviation accidents, including but not limited to:

Dangerous or defective equipment
Aircraft design problems
Structural aircraft problems
Negligence by a federal air traffic controller
Errors by the pilot
Violations of Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regulations

Accident Scene Investigation

Federal investigators will begin to investigate the crash site as soon as they can arrive following an aviation accident. You and your attorney can also choose to hire your own private investigators to report information back to you, which can be worth the price if it provides key information that helps your case.

Drawn Out Resolutions

Aviation accidents are not easy to resolve, which can be extremely frustrating for those seriously injured in the incident. The National Transportation Safety Board typically takes control of the plane wreckage to perform their own investigation, and they can keep it from six months to more than a year, or even longer depending on the situation. This means you cannot receive compensation for your losses until the investigation is over. An attorney can help you obtain the evidence necessary to file your lawsuit before the statute of limitations runs out.

Experienced in Aviation Accident Cases

Over the years, Fleming | Nolen | Jez, L.L.P. has represented many clients in general, agricultural, and commercial aviation cases.

For example, our firm represented five of the families of the 260 passengers killed when American Airlines flight 587 crashed leaving New York in the Queens neighborhood of Belle Harbor.

Our aviation accident lawyers also represented an American tourist who was severely injured when she was directed into a spinning Tropic Air jet propeller and the families of persons lost in a TAN SAHSA airlines crash in Honduras.

Other confidential settlements have been reached by Fleming | Nolen | Jez, L.L.P. for families in the ValuJet aircraft disaster in the Florida Everglades, the US Air flight 427 aircraft disaster near Pittsburgh, and the Arrow Air crash near Gander, Newfoundland when 248 members of the Army’s 101st Airborne Division died.

Fleming | Nolen | Jez, L.L.P. has represented clients against the following defendants named in this partial list in aviation lawsuits:

Aerojet General Corporation
Aerospatiale Helicopters
Avco Lycoming
Beech Aircraft
Bend Corporation
Cessna Aircraft
COPA Airlines
Gates Learjet
Grupo TACA
Lockheed Corporation
Martin Baker Aircraft
Pratt and Whitney
Tan Sahsa Airlines
United Air Lines
Aeromexico Airlines
Airbus
American Airlines
Bell Helicopter
Boeing Corporation
Continental Airlines
Delta Airlines
Grumman
Gulfstream Aerospace
McDonnell Douglas
Piper Aircraft
Sikorski Helicopters
Tropic Air
US Air