The National Transportation Safety Board said a plane crash in Akron that killed nine people was caused by gross negligence and failure to follow proper flight safety procedures. Federal investigators discovered numerous failures by the charter company’s business jet that crashed into an Akron, Ohio, building last November, killing everyone aboard.
The National Transportation Safety Board released a report of their conclusions on Tuesday saying that the on-demand charter company called Execuflight was negligent in the hiring of two of their pilots who caused the crash. According to investigators, the company failed to conduct necessary background checks and gave one of the captains a passing grade after he failed a test. It has also been determined that the Federal Aviation Administration inspector failed to catch inadequate operations at the company as well as inadequate pilot training and plane maintenance.
Moments before the crash, investigators have determined that the pilots onboard ignored checklists and violated company procedures for approaching and landing at the Akron airport. The result was the Hawker 700A crashed over two miles short of the Akron runway in November 2015. Seven passengers and two pilots were killed. No one on the ground was injured. Investigators called the actions of the pilots sloppy and said that the company and FAA inspectors fell short of their obligations as well. Both pilots were terminated from their previous employers and Execuflight never looked into it before hiring the men and putting them in control of a plane.
If you believe gross negligence resulted in the death of your loved one, contact Meyerkord & Kurth, LLC, to find out if you have grounds for a wrongful death claim.