South Florida Injury Attorney Blog

Two men have died in a Lantana aviation accident, the Miami Herald reported May 7. Pilots James Howard Henderson, of Lake Worth, and James Breazeal, of Windermere near Orlando, took off from Palm Beach County Park Airport at 11:30 a.m. that morning. The plane had barely lifted off the ground when it encountered engine trouble. The pilot -- authorities are not sure which man was in control -- made a sharp u-turn and tried to land back on the runway. Possibly seeing that they were headed for a group of people on the ground, the pilot turned harder and hit the ground at a speed approaching 100 mph, causing the plane to clip two parked planes, cartwheel across the airstrip and crash into a parked semi truck.

The airplane in the accident was a 1975 Beechcraft K35. Breazeal’s son told the newspaper that his father and Henderson had been working to restore the plane’s engine. In a separate story, a former aircraft mechanic told the Herald that he had inspected the plane and recommended that it be grounded because of corrosion. Nonetheless, Breazeal obtained a new tail number for it in October. The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the causes of the crash.

We may never know what happened to cause this crash, unfortunately. But if it turns out that human error or parts defects caused the problems, the pilots’ families and other victims would have the right to file an Aventura airplane crash lawsuit. According to yearly studies by the NTSB, human error by both pilots and people on the ground is the most common contributor to aviation accidents, far above weather and mechanical issues. And given the age of the plane, and its status as a refurbished craft, defective or otherwise flawed airplane parts could also be a factor. If that turns out to be the case, the manufacturer of the defective part would be strictly liable in a Palm Beach aviation accident lawsuit.

Our firm, Cohn, Smith & Cohn, represents victims of all types of aviation accidents in South Florida -- including commercial plane accidents and helicopter crashes as well as private plane accidents like this one. Aircraft disaster cases can be particularly hard on victims and their families, who must wait months for a federal investigation to clear and then navigate through the laws that may apply, which could include multiple states’ laws as well as federal aviation law. The Pembroke Pines aviation crash attorneys at Cohn, Smith & Cohn can help. To learn more at a free, confidential consultation, please contact us online or call our main Hollywood office at (954) 431-8100 as soon as possible.