Brett & Coats is pursuing a lawsuit on behalf of two of the families who lost loved ones in the October 7, 2007 crash of a single-engine Cessna Caravan near White Pass, Washington.The suit alleges that Cessna was aware of major defects with the Caravan including poor performance in icy conditions and a miscalibrated stall-warning system – errors that many believe contributed to this fatal crash.
Brett & Coats is teamed with The Nolan Law Group, a Chicago aviation firm which is also handling several other national and international Cessna 208 B Caravan lawsuits. The Cessna 208 B is primarily used as a freight carrier from small cities, and while it typically operates well in good weather, it should never have been certified to fly into icing conditions.
What we have discovered in that litigation is that Cessna faked the data to get the plane certified to fly in icing conditions. The FAA requires a plane to demonstrate that it can fly 14.7 miles in icing conditions. Cessna conducted 5 shorter test flights, added the total miles together, and told the FAA that the plane had met the 14.7 mile standard. And on the day of the ice testing, the spectrometer was broken, but instead of fixing it, Cessna had the pilot estimate the size of the ice particles by looking out the window at 150 miles per hour and estimating the size of ice particles down to the size of a human hair.
The firms are involved in pretrial procedures in Kansas City, Kansas, where a Federal Multi-District Litigation has been established to handle the discovery process near Cessna’s headquarters.
Any family who lost a family member in the October crash may contact the firm of Brett & Coats at (800) 925-1875. The firm is prepared to provide representation to survivors of all passengers in this case.
We are hopeful that this lawsuit will help to prevent more crashes in the future.
When this litigation is over the Cessna 208 B will no longer be certified to fly in icing conditions. Too many planes have gone down. Too many people have died.
About Brett & Coats, P.L.L.C
The personal injury law firm of Brett & Coats helps victims of accidents and negligence throughout Washington State. Attorneys with the firm have more than 33 years of experience representing injury and wrongful death claims. Brett & Coats has received the highest rating (A-V) from the Martindale-Hubbell Law directory. Partner Dean Brett has consistently been recognized as a Super Lawyer by Washington Law and Politics Magazine, and is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, an organization of the top 1% of lawyers in each state.
