Airplane Accidents

A plane crash that occurred near Elgin over the weekend sadly resulted in the death of the pilot of the small aircraft. According to The Huffington Post, the single engine plane was trying to take off from a private airport Sunday afternoon around 1 p.m. when, due to as of yet unknown causes, the plane crashed. The 69-year-old pilot, a resident of Hampshire, was the only one on board and was pronounced dead at the scene. Authorities are still investigating the cause of this fatal airplane accident.

The aviation safety website 1001crash.com states that airplane accidents are less likely to occur today than they were 20 years ago; however, when airplane accidents and crashes do occur, they can cause extremely serious injuries to those on board and possibly result in wrongful deaths. A plane accident typically is not just caused by one thing, but some of the main contributors of crashes include:

• Human error;
• Airport/air traffic control;
• Weather conditions; or
• Maintenance of the aircraft.

A traveler is less likely to be involved in an accident on a scheduled passenger flight than other types of flights, such as a charter, demonstration, or training flight.

An airline has the responsibility to provide the highest duty of care to their passengers, and if they fail to provide a safe and secure flight, any negligent parties should be held accountable. An airplane accident injury victim has the right to seek compensation for their pain and suffering, medical bills, and lost wages. The airplane accident lawyers in Illinois of the Bradley Law Firm can help you receive deserved compensation for your injuries so you can focus on healing and moving past the devastation of a plane accident. Please call (312) 252-1488 for a complimentary consultation.

An airplane’s “black box,” formally known as a flight data recorder, tracks and records a large amount of information about the plane. For many years, investigators have used this information after a plane crash to determine what went wrong and, if possible, how to keep it from happening again. Now researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have developed a way to use black-box data that could potentially prevent crashes from occurring.

The new tool is a computer program that continually scans the data a flight data recorder gathers. By sorting data into subsets and highlighting pieces of data that don’t fit into any of the subsets, the program can alert airplane maintenance personnel to potential problems by pointing out parts of the aircraft that are not working as well as they should in order for the plane to operate safely.

Airlines already use computer programs that check a plane’s overall performance after each flight. These programs, however, can only catch what they are programmed to look for, and they generate large amounts of information that maintenance crews still have to review by hand if they are going to catch every possible glitch. The new program does the reviewing as well as the data-gathering, which alerts users to information that falls outside what’s “normal” for that particular plane. While the new software is experimental and needs more work, researchers hope that it can further reduce the number of airplane accidents in the future.

Airplane crashes are uncommon, but they can have devastating results. If you or someone you love has been injured or lost in an Illinois airplane accident, the experienced Chicago airplane crash attorneys at The Bradley Law Firm can help. To learn more, call us today at 312-252-1488 for a free and confidential consultation.

Airplane crashes in Illinois can devastate families, oftentimes leaving their loved ones with serious or fatal injuries. Depending on the size of the aircraft, the number of crash victims can vary, but the end result remains the same. Officials who are assigned to investigate the causes of airplane accidents may not only want to determine the cause of the crash, but also whether it could have been prevented.

While there are a variety of plane accident causes, a few are more common than others. These include:

• Air traffic controller negligence: Air traffic controllers are responsible for directing plane when and where to go. If that individual makes a mistake, a plane can crash while still on the ground or attempt to land when it is not safe to do so.
• Design defects: Because of the intense pressures that airplanes must stand up to, including wind, high altitude, and varying temperatures, airplanes with cheap parts or a design flaw may increase the risk of an Illinois plane crash.
• Manufacturer error: The manufacturing of plane components is complex and should be handled with the utmost care; however, designer or manufacturer error can contribute to the production of defective or faulty plane parts.
• Pilot error: Even the most skilled pilot can make a small error which can have a snowball effect and endanger the lives of all aboard the aircraft. Recently, there have been reports of pilots flying while distracted, such as texting while flying.

Poor or lack of maintenance: Due to the economic struggle that some airlines are facing, it is possible that some may try to cut corners when it comes to properly maintaining their aircrafts, which places all passengers and crew in danger.

If you have been involved or have lost a loved one in an airplane crash in Illinois, you deserve to know your rights. The experienced Chicago plane accident attorneys at The Bradley Law Firm can help you understand your legal options and build a strong case on your behalf so you can receive a fair and just compensation package. To schedule a free and confidential consultation of your case, call The Bradley Law Firm at 1-800-360-5072 today.