For those of us that fly often, we assume that we will make it safely to our destination. We’ve all heard the odds right? On a single flight on a commercial airliner, if we fly on one the top 25 safest commercial airlines then our odds are about 1 in 10,000,000 of being involved in an accident. Flying with one of the airlines with the worst safety records still puts you at about 1 in 700,000. Experts tell us that our lifetime odds of dying in a place crash are about 1 in 66,000 making it far more likely that we will die by drowning, hurricane or even suicide. These statistics are comforting to say the least, but are they deceiving? Notice that these statistics address the risk of being involved in an accident in a commercial airplane. Your chances are not nearly as good of avoiding an accident in a commuter or general aviation airplane.
According to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), figures for the year 2008 are an example of the vast difference in statistics for commercial versus on-demand or general aviation flights. During the year 2008, there were a total of 28 accidents with two of those producing fatalities. There were three fatalities as a result of those two accidents. During the same time period, there were a total of 63 commuter and on-demand accidents. Of those, 19 produced fatalities for a total of 66 fatalities. Add to those numbers a shocking 1,559 general aviation accidents of which 275 produced fatalities for a total of 495 fatalities. Without a doubt, these statistics tell us that airplane accidents in non-commercial aircraft are more frequent than in commercial aircraft.
Airplane accidents happen for a number of reasons. The most common causes are: pilot error; air traffic control error; faulty equipment or design defect; lack of proper maintenance; and natural causes (ie: bird strikes or lighting strikes). As you can see, most of these causes involve human error. While airplanes do crash as a result of unavoidable causes, the harsh reality is that most airplane accidents could have been avoided.
If you have been involved in an airplane accident, you may be entitled to compensation for any injuries that you suffered as a result of the accident. Likewise, if you have lost a loved one in an airplane crash, then as a surviving family member, you may be entitled to file a claim in a wrongful death lawsuit, according to airplane accident attorney Emery Ledger of Ledger & Associates in California. Airplane accident cases are governed by the laws of negligence. If the crash was caused in whole or in part by someone else’s negligence, then you may be entitled to compensation for any damages you have suffered. Sometimes, more than one person’s negligence caused the accident. For instance, if both the pilot and the air traffic controller were negligent, then under California law, they would both share responsibility for compensating you for your injuries. Only an experienced California airplane accident attorney can evaluate the specific circumstances of your case and advise you how best to proceed.
If you have been injured in an airplane accident, or have lost a loved one in an airplane accident, contact airplane accident attorney Emery Ledger of Ledger & Associates at 1-800-300-0001 or visit him on his website at www.ledgerlaw.com
