Aviation

A sightseeing tour of two small planes turned into tragedy Monday when they collided over Alaskan waters, killing at least six people aboard and injuring 10 more. The planes were carrying sightseeing tourists from the Princess Cruise Lines that confirmed the crash. One small plane had five people aboard, four tourists and the pilot. All were killed on that plane, according to media reports. The other plane was flown by a local sightseeing operator and…

Clifford Law Offices of Chicago and Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy of San Francisco filed lawsuits on Monday, April 29, 2019 on behalf of the families of 10 Canadians who were killed in the tragic crash of an Ethiopian Airlines Max8 aircraft. The victims include three generations of one family, and the wife and three children, including a nine-month old of another family, all from the Toronto area. The complaints come on the heels of Boeing’s…

Clifford Law Offices of Chicago and Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy of San Francisco, internationally recognized aviation firms, filed lawsuits on Monday, April 29, 2019, on behalf of the families of 10 Canadians who were killed in the tragic crash of an Ethiopian Airlines Max8 aircraft. The victims include three generations of one family, and the wife and three children, including a nine month old of another family, all from the Toronto area. The complaint was…

Despite assurances from Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg that fixes to the Max aircraft will make the planes “even safer,” on April 15, 2019, United Airlines announced that it will be grounding its Max8 fleet through mid July. Boeing’s top executive apologized last week for two recent crashes of the Max8 aircraft and admitted that a software update would prevent further disasters, according to ABC Network News. The announcement by United Airlines comes on the heels…

The Ethiopian government released earlier this week its preliminary report to the public for the March 10, 2019 accident involving Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302. The report included plots of the Flight Data Recorder data and a detailed time history of events including those derived from the Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR). Review of these data show the MCAS automatic stabilizer trim activations occurred between 250 and 340 knots indicated airspeed (KIAS), which is on the upper…

PRESS CONFERENCE THURSDAY, 11/4/2019 AT 11 A.M. CST IN CHICAGO Clifford Law Offices of Chicago and Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy of San Francisco, internationally recognized aviation firms, filed a lawsuit on Thursday, April 4, 2019 on behalf of the family of a 24-year-old woman and U.S. citizen who was killed in the tragic crash of an Ethiopian Airlines Max8 aircraft March 10. The detailed complaint was filed in federal district court in Chicago against Boeing, manufacturer of the…

Aeromexico Airlines told a federal judge on Wednesday, March 27, 2019 that it would not contest liability in the tragic incident involving 103 on board July 31 when a plane took off in heavy rain in Durango, Mexico, then crashed moments after takeoff near the runway before catching fire. Thankfully all passengers and crew survived. Clifford Law Offices represents a number of the passengers aboard, including a group from the Chicago area. Litigation is pending…

Robert A. Clifford, one of the nation’s top aviation attorneys, wrote a letter yesterday to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) head offering 10 suggestions he could do to improve the workings of the agency in light of the two recent Boeing Max8 planes. With a focus on safety, Clifford wrote FAA Acting Administrator Daniel K. Elwell of short and long-term priorities that may help restore the public’s confidence in flying, particularly as a new head…

As a new Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) chief is about to take the controls with a distinguished aviation education, airline career and “culture of safety” record behind him, it causes one to pause and think just what should the immediate and longer-term safety priorities of the agency be. After many decades of representing airplane accident victims and their families, as well as working closely with our accident investigation and safety engineering experts, the following initial…