Missouri Accident Lawyer Blog

More specifics about Sunday evening's deadly St. Louis area plane crash are beginning to emerge, including the names of the victims.

Authorities have tentatively identified the victims as former head of the Missouri Division of Commerce and Industrial Development, Donald Estell, 65, and Robert Clarkson, 68. The identifications are being labeled as tentative because they are based on circumstantial evidence until genetic testing can confirm them definitively.

Estell, an experienced pilot, was flying the plane according to the flight records. Records also show that the flight left Vero Beach, Fla. an hour later than scheduled.

According to an Associated Press report, officials say they plane encountered a light rain just before they were supposed to land in the St. Louis area, but that the weather shouldn't have been a serious factor for an experienced pilot like Estell.

Officials from the FAA and NTSB will continue to investigate the cause of the crash, though a full report on the fatal crash might take months.

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Photo by St. Louis Post Dispatch

A small private airplane that was bound for St. Louis Downtown Airport crashed Sunday evening into a Belleville home several miles short of the runway. Two people were believed to have been on board the plane. There were no survivors, according to authorities.

According to the St. Louis Post Dispatch report on this St. Louis area plane crash, the plane had left from Vero Beach, Fla. and was scheduled to land at St. Louis Downtown Airport around 6:30 p.m. The plane was a single-engine Piper Meridian based at Downtown Airport and registered to a Clayton company, according to the Post Dispatch.

The plane began to dive and witness reports state that the plane was making whining noises as it dove towards the home of John and Mary Elliott in the Aero Estates development. Thankfully, nobody was home at the time of the crash.

The plane crashed into a hanger attached to the home that housed two planes and an antique car. Flames quickly spread from the hangar to the house, which was completely destroyed.

Names of the victims have not yet been released.

Authorities are still investigating the cause of the crash. It was raining and foggy at the time, though no indication has been made that weather contributed to the fatal plane crash.

In 2007, there was a Missouri plane crash also involving a Piper Meridian. In that incident, the wings separated from the body of the plane in mid-air causing the plane to crash. The Piper Meridian has also been the target of concerns over the nose landing gear which reportedly caused several planes to turn hard uncontrollably upon landing.

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Photo from Baxter Bulletin

A Chesterfield, Missouri man, his son and another teenager were killed Friday when their five-passenger plane crashed during takeoff from a grass airfield in Arkansas.

The pilot was Warren Langford, 52 and his son was Brendan Langford, 15. Both were pronounced dead at the crash site. Jacob Ritz, 15, was taken to Baxter Regional Medical Center in Mountain Home, Arkansas where he was also pronounced dead.

Two others, Donald Beckerle, 43, and his son, Joshua Beckerle, 15, were injured and taken to the hospital for treatment. Joshua Beckerle’s injuries were considered very serious, but his current condition was not available, according to the St. Louis Post Dispatch.

The plane they were flying was a Piper Cherokee Lance owned by Propaire Inc., a St. Louis based company. The Piper Cherokee Lance is a small, single-engine plane designed to carry five to six passengers. It has a range of 1000 miles. According to the Post Dispatch, Langford and the others had flown down to an Arkansas resort earlier in the week and were taking off for their trip home when the fatal plane crash occurred.

According to witnesses in the Baxter Bulletin, the plane was tilting back and forth as it tried to take off. It then crashed through a fence at the end of the runway before hitting some trees.

Federal Aviation Administration officials are investigating the deadly plane crash, but no cause has been released yet.

FAA and NTSB investigators will look into the various mechanical and structural problems that could have contributed to this crash. If it turns out that negligence on the part of Piper Aircraft Company or Propaire Inc. contributed to this incident, the families of those onboard may be able to hire an aviation accident lawyer to help recover damages. These investigations can be long, complicated and difficult processes, especially in the case of a fatal accident, but they are important to help make sure a similar accident doesn’t happen in the future.

The Piper PA-32R line of aircraft, which includes the Cherokee Lance involved in the Arkansas crash, has been at the center of a couple high profile incidents. In 1999, John F. Kennedy Jr. and two others were killed when a Piper Saratoga, a variant of the Piper PA-32R, crashed into the Atlantic Ocean. A 2008 Piper Saratoga crash in Ohio claimed the life of Michael Connell, a communications and technology expert for leading Republicans including George W. Bush, John McCain, and Karl Rove.

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Photo from Chicago Tribune

Two people were killed in a plane crash on Thursday at an airport near Joliet, Illinois.

Authorities have identified the victims as Stuart Seffern, 50, and Deborah Loiselle, 52. They were flying a small, single-engine Lancair 360 plane and apparently crashed trying to land at Joliet Regional Airport. Since the airport is uncontrolled, pilots land without communicating with the ground and no distress calls were received by radio.

FAA and NTSB officials are investigating the crash to determine exactly what went wrong and whether the crash was the result of pilot error or a mechanical failure.

Lancair planes are smaller and typically purchased in kits for home assembly. Some of the main fuselage sections come pre-assembled from the Lancair Company, but everything else, including cockpit instrumentation, is assembled by the plane’s owner. This particular plane was originally owned by the Lantzair Flyers Club, of which Sefferen had been president, but was later purchased by Sefferen and a friend.

There were clear skies around the airport at the time of the crash and officials doubt the plane could have struck power lines or trees as the airport is in the middle of large clearing.

Local news outlets are reporting that witnesses have called in saying the plane burst into flames in mid-air as it approached the runway. These reports have not been confirmed by officials.

A series of other recent Lancair crashes prompted investigation by FAA officials, NTSB officials and personal injury attorneys. The NTSB reports that there have been 122 Lancair crashes in the U.S. since 1989 resulting in 92 deaths.

The report does state that despite the home assembly of most of the planes, pilot error rather than mechanical failure was to blame in a majority of the crashes.

Still, anybody involved in a plane crash should contact an experienced aviation accident lawyer to discuss their rights.

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The National Transportation Safety Board released a special report Tuesday that identified numerous safety issues with the skydiving industry.

The report was in response to several recent tragedies across the country involving malfunctioning parachutes and poorly maintained planes used to launch the parachutists. One of these incidents was a 2006 plane crash in Sullivan, Mo. that killed six people.

According to the report, while public perception is that the jump is the most dangerous part of skydiving, a large percentage of the accidents were the result of improper plane maintenance, lack of pilot training, and inadequate FAA oversight and surveillance.

Approximately 3 million parachutists fly every year. Since 1980, 172 people have been killed in airplane accidents unassociated with the actual jumping and deploying of the parachute. Parachute malfunction or skydiver error during the jump only accounted for 30 deaths during that same span.

The Sullivan crash that prompted the investigation was also detailed in the report. In that incident, a de Havilland DHC-6-100 plane, operated by Skydive Quantum Leap, crashed shortly after takeoff. The NTSB determined that the probable cause was the pilot’s failure to maintain airspeed after losing power in the right engine.

The Board recommends more safety restraints within skydiving planes as well as more comprehensive pilot training and FAA surveillance. Many of the pilots involved lacked necessary training to spot potential mechanical failures.

All skydivers accept the risk associated with their sport every time the go in the air. This does not mean, however, that skydiving companies are free from all legal obligations to ensure a safe flight and jump. Improper plane maintenance and pilot error are unacceptable and are the leading causes of plane tragedies in Missouri.

If you would like more information about personal injury law as it relates to aviation, visit our website. If you have specific questions about your case, contact us at The Bradley Law Firm.

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Updating a story that we have been following, the cause of the plane crash that killed two pilots near Kansas City has been released. The official cause of the crash was dual engine power loss.

The National Transportation Safety Board released an accident report on Thursday that outlined the details of the crash. The plane had been on training exercises and had made stops in Topeka and Lawrence before heading to a “practice area” for maneuvers. The Aero Commander then did a series of sharp turns at low altitudes when the engine power failed.

Murray Brown, 47, and James Jambor, 24, who were the pilots on board, apparently tried to land the plane in the Leavenworth County field where they crashed. The landing gear was down and the flaps were at an approach setting, but the plane hit the ground at a too severe 53-degree angle.

Both men were pronounced dead at the scene.

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Photo from KY3 News / Mark Parent

Two people were injured Sunday morning when their aircraft failed to successfully take off and ran over the end of the runway at Taney County Airport.

The owner and pilot of the plane, Gary Grandpre of Crete, Illinois, was taken to Skaggs Health Center in Branson along with his wife, whose name was not released, according to a KY3 report. Both suffered moderate injuries. Their children, who were also in the plane, were uninjured.

The plane, which was a Cessna Skymaster, appeared to lose power during takeoff. Witnesses say the plane was briefly airborne before falling back to the runway and blowing out a tire. The aircraft skid over 800 feet and off the end of the runway.

The FAA will look into the cause of this incident and whether a mechanical error was to blame.

This is the second Skymaster crash in the past month. In June, a Cessna Skymaster went down off the coast of Maine, killing both the pilot and a passenger. That crash is still under investigation.

Some pilots have commented on the unique design of the Skymaster and how it may be more difficult to fly if you are not used to it. If an engine loses power, it is very had to maintain control of the aircraft and glide it to a safe landing.

The Bradley Law Firm handles Missouri and Illinois aviation matters including jet and prop planes, as well as helicopter cases. If you have any questions regarding your aviation case, contact us for a free consultation.

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Photo by KQTV, St. Joseph

Murray Brown, 47, and James Jambor, 24, were killed Tuesday when their twin engine Aero Commander plane crashed in Leavenworth, Kansas shortly after taking off from a downtown Kansas City airport, Kansas Highway Patrol said.

Both men were pronounced dead on the scene. Brown and Jambor were the only passengers on board.

The plane was owned by Central Airlines, a cargo shipping company with 36 twin engine planes in their fleet. A statement released by the company said Brown, who had 20 years of experience as a pilot, was doing a training exercise with Jambor when the plane went down.

While the cause of the crash is not yet known, the Aero Commander model has been under scrutiny from the FAA over safety concerns in the past. According to a Civil Aviation Safety Authority report, senior FAA officials met with engineers in the mid 90’s to examine concerns over the Aero Commander’s wings, which seemed to be prone to cracking from stress fatigue. This wing instability was believed to have caused several fatal crashes.

The Aero Commander model in the Kansas crash was built in 1971, according to the patrol report.

FAA and NTSB officials will no doubt look into the wing stability as well as countless other possibilities as they investigate the cause of the crash. These investigations are extremely important as they can reveal mechanical defects that can be corrected in other aircraft so that similar crashes can be avoided.

The Bradley Law Firm handles aviation matters, including jet and prop planes as well as helicopter cases. If you have any questions about these types of cases, please contact us.

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On May 25, 2008, a MD500E helicopter crashed around 7:20 p.m. in Sunrise Beach, Missouri within Camden County. The helicopter was landing at a lakeside residence after a short sightseeing tour around the Lake of the Ozarks, when it suddenly spun out of control and barrel rolled into the water. Five people were on board, including 9-year-old Zachary West of Eureka, Missouri, who died in this tragic crash. Divers recovered his body at 10 a.m. the following day trapped inside the wreckage.

Four others, including the pilot, escaped as the MD-500 helicopter rolled into the water. The pilot was identified as Keith Baker, 50, of Sunrise Beach, MO. His passengers included his son, Nick Baker, 13, along with his friend Michael Barth, 13, and Anna Bierman, 24, of Macks Creek, MO. Each of them jumped from the helicopter after it hit the water and swam to shore.

The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating the accident. The MD-500 helicopter is manufactured by McDonnell Douglas and is considered a light helicopter, largely used in the civilian sector and modeled after the military Hughes chopper.

An eerily similar incident occurred in 1997 near Guam when the cyclic trim switch malfunctioned in an MD-500, which caused the pilot to lose control of the helicopter and barrel roll into the water. In that incident, one of the two passengers was killed. It was determined the helicopter's cyclic trim switch was field modified and this is what caused the crash. Interestingly, this switch was the subject of a mandatory service notice for MD-500s in 1994, requiring replacement of the trim switch due to reports the switch was sticking. However, the switch was a non-repairable item, which called into question why the switch was taken apart. The NTSB cited operator failure to comply with the safety bulletin and flying with an equipment discrepancy as the causes of the Guam crash.

In the Lake of the Ozarks crash, it is expected the cyclic trim switch will be looked at to determine if it played any role in this crash. The pilot will undoubtedly be the best source of what went wrong and will be able to point investigators in the right direction.

In aviation cases, it is extremely important to determine the cause of each and every accident so it does not happen again.

The Bradley Law Firm handles aviation matters, including jet and prop planes as well as helicopter cases. If you have questions about these types of cases, please contact us.

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A V-tailed Bonanza passenger airplane crashed near Springfield, Illinois in Sangamon County today. The four seat aircraft was attempting to land at Abraham Lincoln Capital Airport, when it crashed approximately a hundred yards from the Farmingdale Road and Highway 54 intersection.

At this time, authorities say at least three men were killed in this Illinois airplane accident. Initially, it was thought a fourth man was in the airplane, however no other victim has been found. Nobody on the ground was reported to be injured.

The names of the victims has not been released and it is not yet apparent if they have been identified. State police and the FAA responded to further investigate.

When the victims are identified, we will update the blog.

Witnesses indicate they saw the airplane looping towards the ground. This often times indicates something went wrong with the aircraft. The FAA will conduct an investigation and determine the cause of the crash.

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A Missouri pilot and his passenger were killed in an airplane crash near Labelle, Missouri. Stevens Walker, 71 was the pilot of the Zodiac 601XL, an all metal "kit airplane", manufactured by Zenith Aircraft Co. According to the Missouri Highway Patrol, the plane crashed nose first into a field. The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board have not yet released their determination of why the plane went down.

Here is a picture of what the plane looks like, according to the manufacturer's web site:

At this point, it is unclear whether there would be a viable Missouri product liability case for the family's lawyer to file against the airplane company. If investigators find the kit plane was defectively designed, then a product liability claim for airplane design defect may be viable. However, if the reason the plane crashed was because of some failure to properly assemble the plane, then a lawsuit would probably not be viable.

If you or a loved one have been involved in an airplane crash and believe you may have a claim, contact us at The Bradley Law Firm to discuss your case for free.

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