Defendants Not Yet Named, But Bombardier Is A Likely Target

One of the two people on board a Bombardier Challenger 600 airplane that survived an accident in Aspen, CO plans to file a lawsuit in Pitkin County in Colorado, but no defendants have yet been named.

The survivor is Miguel Henriquez. He was aboard the airplane that impacted the runway and caught fire January 5. Photos of the accident were posted on social media sites by celebrities who happened to be at the airport at the time of the accident.

Henirquez has retained the aviation law firm Ribbeck Law Chartered, according to a report in the Aspen Daily News. The firm has not yet indicated who will be named as defendants in the suit.

An attorney with the firm told the paper that Bombardier may be a primary focus of the suit, as it was the company that manufactured the plane and trained the pilot, Moises Carranza, according to the attorney. Carranza also survived the accident. His copilot, Sergio Emilio Carranza Brabata, was fatally injured.

The attorney, Marvin Mateo, said that Carranza "was not really trained to land a plane at Aspen airport." He executed a missed approach on his first attempt to land on January 5 in wind gusts of up to 30 knots. The winds at Aspen that day were reportedly a tail wind for the runway on which Carranza was attempting to land.

Mateo also said the airport could be named in the suit for failure to cancel flights due to the weather and other factors.

FMI: www.ntsb.gov