In late September, a fiery crash at Bexar County regional airport sent two men to the hospital, after two small planes collided while trying to land. The collision caused one of the planes to flip, while the other caught on fire and “became engulfed.” Thankfully, neither man appeared to have sustained life-threatening injuries - but depending on the nature of the situation, a civil lawsuit might be in the offing, if an injured person believes that the harm they suffered occurred as a result of someone else’s negligence or recklessness. If you have been injured in a plane crash, it is worth consulting an attorney so as to understand your options.
Common Causes and Effects
Civil aviation injuries and fatalities are rare, but statistics show them rising in recent years, including one fatality on a commercial airliner in 2018, where a woman was partially sucked out of a plane in flight. The majority of the injuries and deaths in plane crashes happen on small planes, like the ones trying to land in Bexar County, but the injuries themselves tend to be the same types regardless of the nature of the crash. Burns are some of the most common injuries, whether from direct heat or from other sources like electrical implements; others include broken bones, brain injuries, and spinal injuries.
The causes of aviation accidents can be difficult to pinpoint at times, which is why the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) or the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) will investigate after a crash. The most frequently seen causes, especially in small plane crashes, include design defects in the airplane itself (that might give rise to a product liability case), negligent maintenance, commercial crew error, and negligence on the part of the air traffic controller. Alleged negligence from another pilot is actually quite an uncommon cause, simply because the frequency of collisions is relatively rare.
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