AVIATION LAW

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Air travel has made it possible for millions of people to get to far away destinations in a matter of hours rather than days of driving. Every year, millions of people travel cross-country - even overseas - to visit family, take vacations, or go to business meetings. In addition to commercial air travel, there are millions of Americans who have private pilot licenses and own or rent small planes for recreational use. Air travel is generally safe, but when something goes wrong, it can result in serious injuries to and death of hundreds of people.

There are two types of aviation laws: those that apply to commercial airlines (such as United and American) and charter companies, and those that apply to private, recreational planes. Airline companies that charge fares and are in the business of flying persons from one destination to another are considered to be "common carriers," and as such, owe the highest degree of care to protect their passengers from harm. Even if they are just the slightest bit careless ("negligent") in their operations and passengers are injured or killed as a result of that carelessness, the injured passengers - or their survivors (i.e., their next of kin, such as a spouse, child, or parent) in the case of a deceased passenger - are entitled to recover all monetary damages for their injuries or for their loved one's death.

Airline accidents happen for a number of reasons. The most frequent reasons for airplane crashes include the carelessness of the pilot or other members of the flight crew (such as the co-pilot or navigator) in operating the plane; the failure of the maintenance crew to conduct a thorough preflight inspection and perform necessary services to ensure the plane is safe ("airworthy") for its next flight; negligence of the traffic controllers; and defects in the design or manufacture of the aircraft.

When a plane crashes, often there is little left of the plane to inspect to find the exact cause of the accident. Because so much evidence is destroyed or disintegrated, proving fault of the airline or manufacturer can be difficult, even if the "black boxes" - which record cabin conversations and flight data - are found intact. In recognition of this difficulty, the courts have created the rule that, when a plane crashes, there is an inference of fault (negligence) on the part of the flight crew or maintenance workers. Thus, the burden is shifted to the airline company to prove that it did nothing wrong and its employees were not the cause of the crash.

The law applied to private, recreational airplanes is essentially the same as the law that applies to the operation of motor vehicles: the duty to exercise reasonable care under the circumstances. The most common cause of private plane crashes is pilot error. For instance, the pilot flying under visual flight rules (VFR) fails to see another plane and collides with it, causing both planes to crash to the ground. Or the pilot gains altitude ("climbs") too steeply and quickly, causing the plane to stall and crash to the ground. Flying too low to the ground frequently results in tragic accidents. In other cases, the pilot may fail to conduct a complete and careful preflight inspection of the plane to make sure it is airworthy, resulting in a tragic failure during flight that causes the plane to crash.

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