Mother Files Lawsuit against FAA in Medical Helicopter Crashed

The mother of a 17-year-old girl, who was killed in a police helicopter crash, has filed a lawsuit against the Federal Aviation Administration.  The lawsuit alleges that the agency’s air traffic controllers gave the pilot wrong information about the weather, and that this contributed to the crash. The lawsuit does not seek any specified amount in damages.

The lawsuit has been filed by Stephanie Younger, the mother of Ashley Younger.  On the night of September 27, 2008, Ashley Younger was involved in an automobile accident in which she suffered serious injuries.  She was being airlifted to the hospital for treatment of her injuries, when the helicopter crashed.  The weather was rainy at the time.  Also killed were the pilot, a paramedic and an emergency medical technician.

According to the National Transportation Safety Board, the primary cause of the crash was the helicopter pilot’s rapid descent.  The NTSB investigative report, also faulted the pilot’s wrong judgment in deciding to fly even in adverse weather conditions.  The NTSB had words of criticism for air traffic controllers at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and Andrews Air Force base.  Now, Ashley’ mother has filed a lawsuit against the federal aviation agency.

According to the lawsuit, air traffic controllers were unresponsive and inattentive.  The lawsuit alleges that the pilot informed the traffic controllers that he had come up against deteriorating weather conditions that prevented him from continuing the flight.  The lawsuit alleges that the air traffic controllers gave the pilot outdated information that made him believe that the level of visibility was much greater than it actually was.

This is not the first lawsuit from that crash.  The paramedic’s widow had also filed lawsuit related to the crash, and in response to that, the agency had blamed the pilot’s actions for the crash.  For California helicopter crash lawyers, this is yet another incident that illustrates the serious issues that we have with inexperienced, unprofessional or plain negligent air traffic controllers.