An aviation attorney predicts families of the midair collision victims will be filing lawsuits against both the U.S. government and American Airlines in the coming days.
No survivors are expected after an Army Black Hawk helicopter on a training mission collided with an American Airlines regional jet carrying 64 people as the jet was preparing to land at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on Wednesday evening. Three soldiers were aboard the Black Hawk.
“Typically, right after — obviously, the families are dealing with a lot of shock and grief right now — a lot of times it’s really hard for people to wrap their minds around aircraft accidents because they’re just not supposed to happen,” James Brauchle told Fox News Digital on Thursday, adding that air travel is “extremely safe.”
“We haven’t had a commercial accident in the U.S. involving a U.S. carrier since 2009.”
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Crews retrieve wreckage of American Airlines Flight 5342 in the Potomac River in Washington, D.C., on Thursday. The plane was involved in a fatal collision with a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter on Wednesday night. (Leigh Green for Fox News Digital)
Buffalo-bound Colgan Air Flight 3407 killed all 49 people on board on Feb. 12, 2009, after the plane stalled and crashed into a home, killing a person inside.
Brauchle said the families’ main question as they struggle with their grief is “why did this happen? How did this happen? How could it have happened? And they really are seeking answers.”
He added that once they get through their “initial shock, that’s usually the next step is seeking the answers and wanting to know why this happened.”
A boat in the water after Wednesday night’s crash. (Al Drago/Getty Images)
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Brauchle said he doesn’t think there’s ever been a commercial aircraft crash in the U.S. that didn’t result in litigation.
“So, I’m going to assume that that’s going to happen,” Brauchle said. “And that’s usually done, obviously, through the filing of a lawsuit.”
Based on his professional experience, he said, the airline and the government are both likely to be sued.
An American Airlines aircraft sits on the tarmac at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on Thursday. (Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images)
Brauchle said the government’s accountability could be twofold.
“One for obviously operating the helicopter, because it was being flown by the Army, but also air traffic control that’s regulating and monitoring that airspace is FAA, which is again a government agency,” he said.
Brauchle cautioned that it is early in the investigation.
https://www.foxnews.com/us/aviation-attorney-discusses-likely-lawsuit-government-american-airlines-filed-victims-families
