Aviation accident claims seek compensation after a plane or helicopter crash. An NTSB probable cause finding does not decide liability and generally cannot be used in court. Michael D. Christensen Law Offices LLC investigates independently and pursues every responsible party in Columbus, Ohio. Call 614-300-5000 for a free consultation.
Aviation cases begin in a strange place. The wreckage is in federal custody. Investigators you have never met are examining it alongside representatives from the aircraft manufacturer, the engine manufacturer, and the operator — none of whom work for you. A preliminary report appears in a few weeks and says almost nothing. And you are told the real answer will come in a year or two.
In the meantime, nobody explains the three things that matter most: that the report you are waiting for cannot be used in court, that your family has no seat at the investigation while the manufacturers do, and that legal deadlines are running the entire time.
Attorney Mike Christensen represents seriously injured people and grieving families throughout greater Columbus. Aviation cases are a specialized field, and where a case warrants it we associate with aviation-specialized co-counsel — at no additional cost to you, because the fee is divided among the lawyers rather than added to your bill.
What an Aviation Accident Claim Involves
An aviation claim is a civil case for compensation, entirely separate from the federal safety investigation. It is not a criminal matter, and no government agency will pursue money on your behalf.
What makes these cases distinct is the layering. A single crash can involve Ohio negligence law, Ohio product liability law, federal aviation regulations that define the standard of care, a federal statute of repose that can bar manufacturer claims outright, and a separate federal claims process if air traffic control was involved. Handling one of those correctly and missing another is how cases are lost.
They are also expensive to prove. Airworthiness experts, metallurgists, engine specialists, accident reconstructionists, human factors experts, and meteorologists are routine rather than exceptional. That cost is why an honest early evaluation matters, and why the firm advances case expenses.
The NTSB Report Will Not Prove Your Case
This section is the most important thing on this page. Almost every family we speak with has the same expectation, and it is wrong in both directions.
The Board’s Report Is Not Admissible
Federal law provides that no part of a Board accident report — the document containing the NTSB’s determinations, including its probable cause finding — may be admitted into evidence or used in a civil action for damages. The NTSB’s own regulations at 49 CFR Part 835 state this directly and define the terms.
The same regulation draws a second line that matters enormously. A factual accident report — the report containing the results of the investigator’s investigation — is treated differently. The Board states that it does not object to, and there is no statutory bar to, admission of factual accident reports in litigation.
So the picture is this. The Board’s conclusion about what caused the crash stays out. The underlying factual material the investigation generated — measurements, teardown findings, wreckage documentation, weather data, recorder readouts — is a different category and is often available through the public docket.
Which Means a Finding of Pilot Error Is Not the End
Families read “probable cause: the pilot’s failure to maintain airspeed” and conclude there is nothing to pursue. That conclusion is frequently wrong.
The NTSB determines probable cause for safety purposes, with finite resources, on a record it assembles for its own reasons. It is not adjudicating liability, it does not hear from every interested party, and it does not conduct the kind of adversarial discovery that surfaces a manufacturer’s internal failure data or a repair station’s records. Civil litigation regularly develops evidence the investigation never examined — a component with a known failure history, a maintenance task signed off but never performed, a design that made a foreseeable error unrecoverable.
The reverse is also true: a probable cause finding favorable to your position does not win your case, because you cannot put it in front of a jury.
Your Family Has No Seat at the Table
Under 49 CFR 831.11, the investigator-in-charge designates parties to the investigation — organizations whose employees, functions, activities, or products were involved and who can supply qualified technical personnel. In practice that means the aircraft manufacturer, the engine manufacturer, the operator, and the FAA.
The same regulation prohibits a party representative from occupying a legal position or being a person who also represents claimants or insurers. So the lawyer for a grieving family cannot participate. The manufacturers whose products may have caused the crash are inside the process, contributing technical analysis. The people who lost someone are outside it.
That asymmetry is not a conspiracy — the party system exists to give investigators technical expertise, and the NTSB publishes guidance on how party status works under its investigation procedures. But it does mean that if nobody is developing evidence on your behalf, nobody is developing evidence on your behalf.
The Timeline Problem
A preliminary report typically appears within a few weeks and contains little more than basic facts. The final report and probable cause determination commonly take a year or more, and complex investigations take longer.
Waiting for it is how people lose claims. Legal deadlines run on their own schedule and do not pause for a federal investigation. Wreckage gets released and disposed of. Maintenance shops close. Records are purged on retention schedules. Witnesses move. And in air traffic control cases, a federal administrative deadline can expire before the final report is even published.
Talk to a Columbus Aviation Accident Attorney Today
Call 614-300-5000 or 866-866-8058. Consultations are free and available 24/7. You pay no legal fee unless we win, and we advance case expenses.
You can also contact our Columbus office or request a free case evaluation online. Hablo Español.
Aviation Cases We Handle
General Aviation and Private Aircraft
Single and twin-engine piston aircraft, turboprops, and light jets operated privately under the general operating rules. This is the largest category of aviation fatalities nationally and the most common case type at fields around central Ohio.
Flight Training Accidents
Instructional flights, solo student flights, and check rides. These cases raise distinct questions about instructor qualifications, the school’s aircraft maintenance program, syllabus adequacy, and the enforceability of any waiver a student signed.
Charter, Air Taxi, and Fractional Operations
Commercial on-demand operations carry a higher regulatory burden than private flying, including operational control, crew duty limits, and maintenance program requirements. Who actually held operational control is frequently contested and frequently decisive.
Commercial Airline Incidents
Beyond catastrophic crashes, airline claims include turbulence injuries, evacuation injuries, falling baggage, jetway and boarding incidents, and ground handling injuries. International itineraries are governed by treaty rules with their own liability structure and time limits.
Helicopter Crashes
Rotorcraft present different failure modes than fixed-wing aircraft — main and tail rotor systems, drivetrain and gearbox components, autorotation performance, and different inspection intervals. Tour, utility, law enforcement, news, and corporate operations each add their own operational context.
Air Ambulance and Medical Transport
Helicopter emergency medical services operate under schedule pressure, at night, and in marginal weather. These cases frequently involve dispatch and weather-decision practices as much as mechanical issues, and they can injure crew, medical personnel, and patients.
Agricultural and Utility Aviation
Crop dusting and aerial application, powerline and pipeline patrol, and survey work — low-altitude operations with obstacle strike and wire strike risk.
Cargo and Corporate Flight Departments
Freight operations and company flight departments, where crew injuries raise overlapping workers’ compensation and third-party questions.
Drone and Unmanned Aircraft Claims
Drones are aircraft under federal law and commercial operations are regulated. Claims can involve the operator, the operator’s employer, the manufacturer for airframe or battery defects, and software providers. Injuries include lacerations from rotors, impact trauma, and lithium battery fires.
Ground, Ramp, and Airport Injuries
Propeller and rotor strikes, jet blast, ground service equipment, fueling incidents, hangar accidents, and falls in terminals and on jetways. Some of these are ordinary premises liability claims and some are aviation product cases, and the distinction affects which rules apply.
Balloons, Gliders, and Sport Aviation
Hot air balloon, glider, ultralight, and experimental amateur-built aircraft accidents, where certification status and waivers raise their own issues.
Common Causes of Aviation Accidents
“Pilot error” is the most-cited cause and the least useful description. The real question is always why the error happened and whether something else made it unrecoverable.
Pilot and Crew Factors
- Loss of control in flight, including stall and spin at low altitude
- Continued visual flight into instrument conditions
- Spatial disorientation at night or over featureless terrain
- Fatigue, duty-time violations, and schedule pressure
- Inadequate preflight planning, weight and balance errors, or fuel planning failures
- Insufficient training or currency in the specific aircraft
- Medical incapacitation or impairment
Mechanical and Component Failures
- Engine failure from crankshaft, cylinder, valve, or turbocharger defects
- Propeller and rotor blade failures and hub cracking
- Fuel system defects, contamination, and vapor lock
- Flight control cable, linkage, and actuator failures
- Landing gear collapse and brake failure
- Avionics, autopilot, and instrument failures
- Structural and airframe fatigue
Maintenance and Inspection Failures
Improper repairs, unapproved parts, missed or falsified inspections, failure to comply with airworthiness directives or service bulletins, incorrect reassembly, and logbook entries for work that was never performed. Repair stations and independent mechanics are frequent defendants, and their records are among the most productive evidence in these cases.
Fuel Problems
Misfueling — jet fuel into a piston aircraft or the reverse — contamination with water or debris, and fuel exhaustion or starvation. Misfueling cases point directly at the fixed base operator or line service company that pumped the fuel.
Air Traffic Control and Ground Handling
Faulty instructions, inadequate separation, failure to relay weather or traffic, runway incursions, and coordination breakdowns between facilities. These claims run against the federal government through a specific process described below.
Design Defects
Aircraft that handle unforgivingly at the edges of their envelope, fuel systems that fail to feed in foreseeable attitudes, seats and restraints that fail in survivable impacts, and cabins that do not provide realistic post-crash egress or fire protection. These are product liability claims and are analyzed under Ohio’s statutory framework.
Weather and Environmental Factors
Icing, thunderstorms, microbursts, wind shear, turbulence, and mountain wave. Weather rarely stands alone as a cause — the question is usually what forecast and briefing information was available, what the operator’s dispatch practices were, and whether the aircraft was equipped and certified for the conditions.
Which Federal Rules Applied — and Why It Changes Your Case
Federal aviation regulations largely define the standard of care in these cases. Which set of rules governed the flight is therefore one of the first facts to establish, because the duties owed to you differ substantially.
Part 91 — General Operating Rules
The baseline rules covering private and non-commercial flying. Requirements for pilot currency, aircraft inspection, and operational limits are the least demanding of any category. Most small aircraft crashes in Ohio occur under these rules, and the comparative thinness of the regulatory framework is part of why manufacturer and maintenance claims matter so much here.
Part 135 — Charter and On-Demand Operations
Commercial operators carrying passengers or cargo for hire on demand face substantially higher requirements: certificate holder status, operational control obligations, crew duty and rest limits, defined maintenance programs, and drug and alcohol testing. When a flight was operated illegally under Part 91 to avoid these requirements — an issue regulators have pursued repeatedly — that fact alone is powerful evidence.
Part 121 — Scheduled Air Carriers
Airlines operate under the most demanding framework, including training programs, dispatch, maintenance controls, and recordkeeping. The regulatory density means violations are easier to identify and document when they occur.
Part 107 — Small Unmanned Aircraft
Commercial drone operations have their own operating rules covering remote pilot certification, altitude and visual line-of-sight limits, and restrictions on flight over people. Whether an operation complied is usually central to a drone injury claim.
Why the Distinction Matters Practically
Beyond the standard of care, the category affects who the defendants are and what insurance exists. A Part 135 operator carries commercial coverage and has a certificate to protect. A private owner flying under Part 91 may carry a modest policy with limits that will not approach the value of a serious injury — which makes the manufacturer, the repair station, and the fuel provider correspondingly more important.
Aviation Insurance Works Differently Than You Expect
This is a practical reality that shapes general aviation cases more than almost anything else, and it is almost never explained.
Per-Passenger Sublimits
Many general aviation liability policies are written with a combined single limit that is then subject to a separate, much lower sublimit for each passenger. A policy that appears to carry a seven-figure limit may cap recovery for any individual passenger at a small fraction of that figure.
The practical consequence is severe. A family reading “one million dollar policy” may be looking at a per-seat sublimit a tenth that size. Obtaining the actual policy — the full form and endorsements, not the insurer’s summary — is essential early work, and it frequently reframes the entire strategy toward manufacturers, repair stations, and other defendants whose coverage is not similarly limited.
Other Coverage Worth Finding
- Hull versus liability coverage. Hull coverage insures the aircraft itself and does nothing for you. Only the liability portion responds to injury claims.
- The operator’s or charter company’s commercial policy. Typically far broader than a private owner’s.
- The repair station’s or mechanic’s professional liability coverage. Separate from anything the aircraft owner carries.
- The fixed base operator’s policy. For fueling and line service claims.
- Manufacturer product liability coverage. Where a repose period does not bar the claim.
- The flight school’s policy and any renter’s coverage. Which may or may not extend to the student or renter.
- Your own underinsured motorist coverage. Generally not applicable to aircraft, but worth confirming in mixed-cause incidents involving ground vehicles.
Aviation policies also frequently contain exclusions that ordinary injury lawyers do not anticipate — pilot warranty provisions requiring specific certification, ratings, or recent flight time, and exclusions for operations outside stated purposes. An insurer may attempt to deny coverage entirely on the basis that the pilot did not satisfy a policy warranty, which is a fight worth having rather than accepting.
Who Can Be Held Liable in an Aviation Case
- The pilot, or the pilot’s estate. Where operational decisions contributed. Most pilots carry liability coverage through an aircraft policy.
- The aircraft owner. Owners have responsibilities for airworthiness and for whom they permit to fly the aircraft.
- The operator or charter company. Including questions of operational control, crew scheduling, and dispatch.
- A maintenance facility or repair station. Often the most productive defendant in mechanical failure cases.
- The airframe manufacturer. Subject to the repose analysis below for general aviation aircraft.
- The engine, propeller, and component manufacturers. Each analyzed separately, with its own timeline.
- A fuel supplier or fixed base operator. For misfueling, contamination, or negligent line service.
- A flight school or instructor. For training, supervision, and aircraft condition.
- An airport operator. For runway condition, obstruction clearance, lighting, and wildlife management.
- The federal government. For air traffic control errors, through the process described below.
Identifying every party early is what separates a claim limited to one modest aircraft policy from one that reaches manufacturer and repair station coverage. Our page on identifying every responsible party covers that analysis in a broader context.
GARA: The 18-Year Deadline That Can Bar Your Claim Before the Crash
If your case involves a general aviation aircraft, this is the first question a competent lawyer asks — usually before asking how the crash happened.
What GARA Does
The General Aviation Revitalization Act of 1994, Public Law 103-298, created a federal statute of repose that generally bars civil claims against the manufacturer of a general aviation aircraft, and against manufacturers of its components, systems, subassemblies, and parts, brought more than 18 years after delivery.
It applies to aircraft with fewer than 20 passenger seats that were not engaged in scheduled passenger-carrying service at the time of the accident — which covers the overwhelming majority of the piston aircraft and light aircraft flying in and out of Ohio fields.
Why a Repose Period Is Different From a Deadline You Can Meet
A statute of limitations runs from the date you were injured. A statute of repose runs from an event in the product’s history — here, delivery. The consequence is unusual and harsh: the manufacturer’s exposure can expire years before the accident ever happens. A 1978 aircraft that crashes tomorrow presents a manufacturer claim that was time-barred decades ago.
Because so much of the American general aviation fleet is old, this issue arises in a large share of cases. It also explains why maintenance providers, fuel suppliers, and recent parts manufacturers frequently become the meaningful defendants in general aviation litigation.
The Rolling Clock on Replacement Parts
GARA contains a provision that matters enormously and is routinely overlooked. For any new component, system, subassembly, or part that replaced another or was added to the aircraft, a fresh limitation period runs from the date of that replacement or addition.
So an overhauled engine, a replaced propeller, a new fuel pump, or an avionics upgrade installed six years ago carries its own timeline — regardless of how old the airframe is. Establishing the maintenance history of the specific component that failed is therefore not a detail. It can be the entire case.
The Exceptions
- Knowing misrepresentation or concealment. Where the manufacturer knowingly misrepresented, concealed, or withheld required information from the FAA that is material and relevant to the aircraft’s performance or maintenance and causally related to the harm.
- People not aboard the aircraft. GARA does not bar claims by persons who were not occupants at the time of the accident. Ground victims are outside its protection entirely — a distinction that can make an otherwise-barred claim fully viable.
- Emergency medical patients. Where the injured person was a passenger receiving treatment for a medical or other emergency.
- Written warranty claims. Actions brought under a written warranty enforceable under law.
Courts have also addressed whether items such as flight manuals count as “parts” for the rolling-clock provision, with meaningful consequences for post-sale revisions. This is genuinely technical litigation, and the analysis should be done by someone who has done it before.
Suing the Federal Government for Air Traffic Control Errors
When an air traffic control error contributes to a crash, the claim runs against the United States — and it does not begin in court.
These claims proceed under the Federal Tort Claims Act. Before any lawsuit can be filed, a claimant must present a timely administrative claim to the agency and comply with the applicable regulations. The FAA maintains public information on its administrative tort claim procedures, and its claim rules appear at 14 CFR Part 15. Failure to exhaust this process can bar a lawsuit permanently.
The Deadlines, Precisely
- Two years to present the administrative claim. Typically on Standard Form 95, stating a sum certain. The claim must be received by the agency within two years of accrual — mailing does not stop the clock.
- Six months for the agency to act. It may settle, deny, or do nothing. Inaction can be treated as a denial.
- Six months after denial to file suit. In federal district court, and this window is unforgiving.
Now consider the interaction with the NTSB timeline. A final report that takes eighteen or twenty months arrives with only months left on a two-year administrative clock — or after it has already run. Families who reasonably decided to “wait and see what the report says” have lost this claim entirely without ever knowing they had one.
There are also structural features worth knowing: FTCA claims are tried to a judge rather than a jury, and the substantive law applied is generally the law of the state where the conduct occurred.
The Deadlines That Actually Apply
Several clocks can run at once in an aviation case, and they are not the same length.
Ohio Personal Injury and Wrongful Death: Two Years
Under Ohio Revised Code 2305.10, an action for bodily injury or a product liability claim generally must be brought within two years after the cause of action accrues. A wrongful death action under R.C. 2125.02 generally must be commenced within two years after the date of death.
Federal Administrative Claim: Two Years, Then Six Months
As described above, where air traffic control is implicated.
GARA: Eighteen Years From Delivery, With Rolling Restarts
Independent of everything else, and capable of barring a manufacturer claim regardless of how promptly you act.
Ohio’s Product Repose Period
Ohio separately limits product liability claims accruing more than ten years after delivery to the first purchaser, with exceptions. Which repose period governs a particular aviation defendant is a question worth resolving early.
International Flights
Claims arising from international carriage are governed by treaty rules that establish a distinct liability framework and a two-year period for bringing an action, with specific rules about where suit may be filed. If any part of the itinerary was international, say so in your first conversation.
Claims involving minors and claims against government entities follow different rules again. Confirm the applicable dates with an attorney rather than assuming.
Evidence in an Aviation Accident Case
Much of what matters is in federal custody at first, held by defendants, or on a retention schedule that will expire.
- The wreckage and its components. Under NTSB control during the investigation. Securing an opportunity to inspect before release and disposal is time-critical.
- Engine teardown and component examination findings. Often performed with manufacturer representatives present as parties.
- Maintenance logbooks and airworthiness records. Airframe, engine, and propeller logs, work orders, parts traceability, and compliance with airworthiness directives.
- The pilot’s logbook, certificates, and medical. Currency, training, and recent experience in type.
- Air traffic control audio and radar data. Communications, flight track, and altitude data.
- Weather briefings and forecast products. What was available and what the pilot actually obtained.
- Recorder and avionics data. Flight data and cockpit voice recorders where installed, and increasingly onboard avionics, engine monitors, and portable devices that log flight data on smaller aircraft.
- Fuel records and line service documentation. Which truck, which product, which sump samples.
- The NTSB public docket. Factual materials released during the investigation, which are a different category from the Board’s report.
- Manufacturer service difficulty and field failure data. Prior failures of the same component, obtained through discovery.
- Witness accounts and video. Including security cameras near airports and phone video, which disappears quickly.
A preservation letter sent early puts owners, operators, repair stations, and insurers on notice that records and components must be retained. It costs nothing and often cannot be replicated later.
If the Person You Lost Was the Pilot
This situation is common in general aviation and badly served by most legal websites.
Families often assume that because their loved one was in command, there is nothing to pursue. That is not how it works.
- Fault is shared, not assigned wholesale. Ohio applies modified comparative fault, which reduces recovery in proportion to the decedent’s share and bars it only if that share exceeds everyone else’s combined.
- Manufacturers and maintenance providers remain reachable. A pilot’s mistake does not excuse a defective component or an improperly performed inspection, and often the mistake was unrecoverable precisely because of the defect.
- The probable cause finding is not binding. For the reasons explained earlier.
- There may be more than one policy. Aircraft hull and liability coverage, an operator’s policy, a repair station’s policy, and manufacturer coverage.
If the pilot was flying for work, there may also be an Ohio workers’ compensation claim alongside the civil case — the two interact and should be coordinated.
If You Are Crew, a Mechanic, or Ground Personnel
Pilots, flight attendants, medical crew, mechanics, line service technicians, and ramp workers injured on the job generally have an Ohio workers’ compensation claim. That claim pays medical care and partial wage loss regardless of fault, and it generally bars suing your employer.
It does not bar a claim against anyone else — an aircraft or component manufacturer, a maintenance contractor that is not your employer, another operator, or a ground handling company. Those third-party claims pay pain and suffering and full lost earning capacity, which workers’ compensation does not. Our workers’ compensation and workplace injury pages explain how the two fit together.
Compensation in a Columbus Aviation Accident Case
Our page on accident compensation covers these categories in more detail.
- Emergency treatment, surgery, hospitalization, and rehabilitation
- Future medical care, assistive equipment, and home modification
- Attendant care and long-term nursing costs
- Lost wages and diminished earning capacity
- Pain, suffering, and loss of enjoyment of life
- Disfigurement and permanent disability
- Emotional distress, including post-traumatic stress
- Loss of consortium for a spouse
- Punitive damages where conduct showed conscious disregard for safety, subject to Ohio’s statutory limits
Ohio does not cap economic damages. Noneconomic damages are limited in many tort actions under Ohio Revised Code 2315.18, with an important exception for permanent and substantial physical deformity, loss of use of a limb, loss of a bodily organ system, and permanent physical functional injury preventing independent self-care. Survivable aviation crashes frequently produce injuries within that exception. The cap does not apply to wrongful death actions.
Product claims against manufacturers are governed by the Ohio Product Liability Act, including the design defect standard, and comparative fault under R.C. 2315.33 reduces recovery by the claimant’s share.
Injuries in Survivable Aviation Accidents
- Traumatic brain injuries from impact and deceleration
- Spinal cord injuries including vertical compression fractures characteristic of aircraft impacts
- Severe burns from post-crash fire, which is the leading cause of death in otherwise survivable crashes
- Complex fractures of the lower extremities and pelvis
- Internal organ damage and crush injuries
- Smoke inhalation and airway injury
- Catastrophic injuries requiring lifetime care
If Your Family Lost Someone in a Crash
Aviation accidents are disproportionately fatal, and families are left waiting on an investigation that will take a year to tell them something they cannot use in court.
In Ohio, a wrongful death claim is brought by the personal representative of the estate for the exclusive benefit of the surviving spouse, children, and parents, with other next of kin also able to recover. Compensable losses include lost financial support, lost services, funeral and burial expenses, and the family’s loss of society, companionship, care, and guidance. Our Columbus wrongful death attorney page explains how an estate is opened and who has authority to bring the claim.
There is no requirement that you decide anything now. But a conversation early can preserve evidence and protect deadlines that will otherwise pass while you are waiting for answers.
How an Aviation Case Gets Built
- Free consultation. What aircraft, what operation, when it was manufactured, who maintained it, and whether air traffic control was involved. Those questions drive everything that follows.
- Immediate preservation. Letters to the owner, operator, repair stations, fuel provider, and insurers demanding retention of the aircraft, components, and records.
- Repose analysis. Aircraft delivery date, component installation dates, and whether GARA or Ohio’s product repose period bars any defendant — before money is spent on the wrong theory.
- Protect the federal administrative deadline. If ATC involvement is even possible, the FTCA clock is calendared immediately.
- Independent investigation. Because the family cannot be a party to the NTSB process, an independent technical investigation runs in parallel, including arranging wreckage inspection where possible.
- Records assembly. Maintenance logs, airworthiness compliance, pilot records, ATC audio and radar, weather, and fuel documentation.
- Expert workup. Airworthiness, powerplant, metallurgy, human factors, meteorology, and reconstruction.
- Damages development. Treating physicians and, where warranted, life care planners and economists.
- Coverage investigation. Every applicable policy across every defendant.
- Demand, negotiation, and litigation. Aviation cases frequently require suit because the decisive material sits with manufacturers and repair stations. Our page on filing a lawsuit explains that process.
What to Do After an Aviation Accident
- Get medical treatment and document everything. Including injuries that seem minor and any smoke or fuel exposure.
- Do not authorize disposal of the wreckage or any component. Not by an insurer, not by a salvage company, not by the owner.
- Preserve everything you have. Photographs, video, flight planning materials, text messages, headset or device recordings, and anything the pilot left behind.
- Write down what you remember while it is fresh. Weather, sounds, engine behavior, radio calls, and the sequence of events.
- Identify the aircraft precisely. Registration number, make, model, and year. The registration number is how records are located.
- Note who maintained it and where it was based. The repair station and home field are starting points for the records that matter most.
- Cooperate with NTSB and FAA investigators. Tell them the truth. That is different from giving a recorded statement to an insurer or a manufacturer’s representative.
- Do not sign a release or accept an early settlement. Aviation insurers sometimes move quickly, before the technical picture is developed.
- Be careful on social media. Assume defense counsel will read everything.
- Call an attorney before the report comes out, not after. This is the single most important item on the list.
What It Costs to Hire Us
Nothing up front. Aviation cases are handled on a contingency fee, meaning the attorney fee is a percentage of what is recovered. There is no hourly billing and no retainer, and if there is no recovery there is no attorney fee.
Case expenses are substantial in aviation work — engineering experts, metallurgical testing, and records acquisition — and the firm advances them. Where a case warrants aviation-specialized co-counsel, the fee is divided among the lawyers rather than added to your recovery, so bringing in additional expertise costs you nothing.
The consultation is free and is a real evaluation. If a repose period bars the manufacturer claim or we do not believe a viable case exists, we will tell you.
Why Choose Michael D. Christensen Law Offices
Attorney Mike Christensen has represented seriously injured people and grieving families throughout greater Columbus, handling catastrophic injury and wrongful death matters. Aviation cases reward early action, independent investigation, and candor about what a claim will take to prove.
- Local and reachable. Our office is at 3341 W. Broad Street in Columbus, serving Franklin County and the surrounding counties.
- Independent investigation from the start. Because your family cannot be a party to the federal investigation.
- Every deadline calendared immediately. Ohio limitations, the federal administrative clock, and repose analysis.
- Specialized co-counsel where warranted. At no additional cost to you.
- Overlapping claims screened. Product liability, workers’ compensation, and premises claims that may accompany an aviation case.
- Expenses advanced. Expert and testing costs carried by the firm.
- Hablo Español. Spanish-language assistance is available.
- Available 24/7. No fee unless you win.
Free Consultation With a Columbus Plane Crash Lawyer
If you or someone you love was hurt or killed in an aviation accident, call 614-300-5000 now. Do not wait for the NTSB report — deadlines run while it is pending. The consultation is free, the call is confidential, and you owe no fee unless we recover for you.
Columbus Aviation Accident Claims & Lawyer FAQs
Do I Still Have a Case if the NTSB Blamed the Pilot?
Often yes. The NTSB determines probable cause for safety purposes using limited resources, and its finding is not a legal ruling on liability. Litigation frequently uncovers maintenance failures, component defects, or design problems the investigation never explored. A probable cause finding of pilot error does not end the analysis.
Can the NTSB Report Be Used as Evidence in Court?
No, not the Board’s report itself. Federal law bars admitting any part of a Board accident report, including its probable cause determination, in a civil damages action. The factual accident report produced by investigators is treated differently, and there is no statutory bar to admitting factual materials.
What is GARA and How Does It Affect My Case?
The General Aviation Revitalization Act imposes an 18-year federal statute of repose protecting manufacturers of general aviation aircraft with fewer than 20 seats. It runs from delivery, not from the crash, so a claim can be barred before the accident happens. Important exceptions exist, including replacement parts.
Can I Sue the Aircraft or Engine Manufacturer?
Sometimes, and it is often the most valuable claim. Ohio product liability law governs defect claims against manufacturers of airframes, engines, propellers, avionics, and components. For general aviation aircraft, GARA’s 18-year repose period must be analyzed first, along with whether any exception applies.
Can I Sue the Government for an Air Traffic Control Error?
Yes, but only through a specific federal process. Claims involving FAA controllers fall under the Federal Tort Claims Act, which requires an administrative claim filed with the agency before any lawsuit. The agency then has six months to respond, and denial starts a separate six-month window to sue.
What if My Loved One Was the Pilot?
You may still have claims. The pilot’s estate can pursue manufacturers, maintenance providers, fuel suppliers, flight schools, and air traffic control if their failures contributed. Being pilot in command does not automatically assign all fault, and Ohio’s comparative fault rules reduce rather than eliminate recovery in most cases.
How Long Does an NTSB Investigation Take, and Should I Wait for It?
A preliminary report typically appears within a few weeks, but the final report and probable cause finding often take a year or more. Do not wait. Legal deadlines run independently of the investigation, and physical evidence and records can be lost while the report is pending.
Who Can Be Held Liable in a Plane Crash?
Depending on the facts: the pilot or the pilot’s estate, the aircraft owner, the operator or charter company, a maintenance facility or repair station, the airframe, engine, or component manufacturer, a fuel supplier, a flight school, an airport operator, and the federal government for air traffic control errors.
What if the Crash Happened During a Flight Lesson?
Flight training crashes raise distinct issues. Potential defendants include the flight instructor or the instructor’s estate, the flight school, the aircraft owner, and the maintenance provider. Training records, syllabi, instructor qualifications, aircraft rental agreements, and any liability waiver the student signed all become central.
What if I Was Injured on the Ground?
Ground victims often have stronger claims than occupants. GARA’s 18-year repose expressly does not bar claims by people who were not aboard the aircraft, which means the manufacturer defense that shields a claim by a passenger may not apply to you at all. This is frequently overlooked.
Are Helicopter Crashes Handled Differently Than Airplane Crashes?
The legal framework is similar but the technical issues differ substantially. Helicopter cases frequently involve rotor and drivetrain components, autorotation, main and tail rotor failures, and different maintenance intervals. Air ambulance and news helicopter operations add their own regulatory layer and operational pressure questions.
Do Drone Injuries Count as Aviation Cases?
Yes. Drones are aircraft under federal law and operations are regulated. Claims can run against the operator, the operator’s employer, the manufacturer for a defective airframe or battery, and a software provider. Whether the flight complied with federal operating rules is usually a central question.
How Much is a Columbus Aviation Accident Case Worth?
Value depends on injury severity and permanence, lifetime medical and care costs, lost earning capacity, the number of liable parties, and available insurance. Aviation cases are expensive to prove because they require engineering and airworthiness experts, which is why viable claims tend to involve serious or fatal injuries.
What Evidence Matters Most in an Aviation Case?
The wreckage and its components, engine teardown findings, maintenance logbooks and airworthiness records, the pilot’s logbook and certificates, air traffic control recordings and radar data, weather briefings, fuel records, avionics and recorder data, and the NTSB public docket of factual materials.
How Much Does a Columbus Aviation Accident Attorney Cost?
Michael D. Christensen Law Offices handles these cases on a contingency fee. There is no upfront cost, no hourly billing, and no fee unless we recover for you. Case expenses are advanced by the firm, and the consultation is free and creates no obligation.
Ohio Personal Accident Resources:
Ohio hit and run accidents devastated over 12,500 victims in 2023 alone. That’s more than 34 people every single day who watched another driver speed
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