American Airlines D.C. Plane Crash Update
We join the local and national community in mourning those lost in the National Airport mid-air disaster in Washington D.C. Almost all local residents have flown that same route into National Airport. It is not hard to picture many passengers enjoying the night view of Washington’s glowing landmarks when tragedy struck just a minute before touchdown on Runway 33. Affected families across the country will feel the ripple effect of this tragedy. Fathers, mothers, sons, and daughters are gone in an instant, leaving families to pick up the pieces and try to carry on. 
Citizens will demand answers because answers help continually improve flight safety processes for all future airline passengers. In due course, the NTSB, FAA, military, and other responsible agencies will collect all available data, including weather, maintenance records, cockpit recordings, flight data recordings and other materials. They will release preliminary and then final reports regarding the cause of the mid-air collision, as well as recommendations for any available improvements to aviation processes. Final reports can take more than a year to release.
Aviation Safety in The United States
Aviation safety in the US has seen a dramatic improvement since the 1970s. There are nearly 10 million uneventful scheduled passenger flights annually in the U.S. The last commercial aviation disaster in Washington, D.C., was 42 years ago. The last commercial aviation disaster anywhere in the country was 16 years ago. Our firm, Sussman & Simcox, is one of the few law firms in the Washington Metro area to have handled a commercial aviation disaster in the past 20 years and successfully represented a Maryland family affected by the Comair jet disaster in Lexington, Kentucky, also involving a commuter jet.
In the coming months, the affected families will face countless issues, including jurisdictional questions as aircraft move across the airspace of different states, strict notice provisions to the military and federal government, estate, and inheritance issues arising in the home states of many families, the identification and return of recovered personal belongings, and numerous other questions that can overwhelm affected families.
Contact a Personal Injury Attorney Today
If you know any family that has been directly affected by this tragedy, at an appropriate time, politely ask that they consider seeking help from a local law firm with experience in this area. Contact us today for a free evaluation.
