Family sues American in Queens plane crash
Airline accused of improperly training pilots on use of rudders
By TERRY MAXON
Staff Writer
The Dallas Morning News
The family of a woman and son killed in
a November airplane crash in Queens, N.Y., have
filed suit Thursday alleging that American
Airlines, Inc. improperly trained its pilots
on use of airplane rudders.
The suit, filed in U.S. District Court
in Dallas, also accused American of not properly inspecting
and maintaining the airplane involved, an Airbus A300.
An American spokesman declined to comment
on the suit.
American's Flight 587 crashed Nov. 12 into a Queens neighborhood,
less than two minutes after taking off from John
F. Kennedy International Airport on a trip to
the Dominican Republic. The accident killed all 260 people aboard
the plane and five on the ground.
The
National Transportation Safety Board has not
determined a cause, but the investigation is focusing
on why the aircraft's vertical stabilizer, made
of composite materials, broke off shortly after
takeoff.
The husband, parents and children of Renya
Brito Prospero, 49, filed one lawsuit.
The husband, Wigberto Prospero of New
York, also filed a suit as adoptive father of Wilberto
Pablo Brito, 9, who died along with Ms. Prospero, his
adoptive mother.
The suit alleges that American's 'Advanced Aircraft Training
Program' for pilots emphasized the heavy use of
the rudder to recover from turbulence and other
upsets. The
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) criticized
that emphasis on rudders, which are moved by cockpit
foot pedals.
The suit also said American had been
warned before the crash 'that its pilots were utilizing
the rudder in a manner that could structurally compromise
the aircraft.'
Investigators said the American jet had
encountered wake turbulence, and the suit claimed that
data from the crashed airplane 'indicate that the flight
crew made excessive rudder inputs.'
The suit, filed by Dallas law firm Heygood, Orr, Reyes, Pearson & Bartolomei and Austin lawyer Michael L. Slack,
did not specify the amount of damages the plaintiffs
are seeking.
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