Two people dead and more than 180 people sent to hospitals, after Asiana Airlines’ Boeing 777 crashed Saturday morning while landing on runway 28 left at San Francisco International Airport. There were 307 people on board, including 16 crew. The passengers included 61 U.S. citizens, 77 Korean nationals, and 141 Chinese nationals. Among the injured, 49 are in serious condition and five, including a child, remain in critical condition. The cause of the crash has not been determined, but investigations are under way.
The last fatal U.S. crash was a Continental Express flight operated by Colgan Air, which crashed into a house near Buffalo, N.Y. on Feb. 12, 2009. The crash killed all 49 people on board. Private-plane crashes since then have killed 30 times as many people. Data from the 2012 U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) shows that crash rates on private-plane flights have risen 20 percent since 2000.
According to research done by a group run jointly by industry and the federal government, many general aviation accidents have resulted from pilot error and negligence. Other common reasons for aviation accidents include the following:
- overloaded planes;
- failing to check weather reports;
- maintenance problems;
- violating Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regulations;
- structural design issues;
- defective plane parts;
- flight employee negligence;
- air traffic controllers;
- third party’s negligence; and
- airport administration.
If you or someone you know have been injured in an aviation accident, contact the attorneys at Abraham, Watkins, Nichols, Agosto, Aziz & Stogner by calling (713) 222-7211 or 713-222-7211.