FAA, Pilot Accused of Negligence

The families of four people killed in a 2004 plane crash at West Virginia's Wheeling-Ohio County Airport (HLG) filed lawsuits against the pilot and the FAA, each claiming negligence. One suit seeks $150,000 in damages; the second lawsuit seeks an unspecified amount of money.

As Aero-News reported, Mark Long, Tracy Gibson and Gary Egbers were aboard a single-engine Piper PA-32-R Saratoga when it crashed on July 18, 2004 and five people perished. Their families filed a federal lawsuit against the FAA.

Egbers was the president of Commercial Packaging in Normal, IL. Gibson and Long were employees, and the other passenger, Tom Hollar, was a business associate, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Hollar's family has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against one of Egber's companies, Commercial Bag, contending the pilot was careless and negligent during the 2004 business trip.

According to one lawsuit, the FAA knew in June 2004 that the airport's ILS was malfunctioning, due to signal reflection related to the installation of a new ILS antenna. The suit also claims the plane's altimeter was not functioning properly.

The second lawsuit contends as Egbers was piloting the Saratoga (file photo of type, below) he committed the fatal error that caused the crash. Attorneys for Commercial Bag dispute Egbers was at the controls when the plane crashed -- saying safety pilot and fifth passenger Brian Bastion could have been at the controls.

Egbers was found in the left seat of the aircraft, but according to the filed flight plan, the safety pilot was pilot in command.

Commercial Bag has, in turn, filed a defamation lawsuit against minority shareholder, Lori Morris, who is Egbers' daughter. Morris is accused of making allegations of misconduct leading up to the plane crash.

Several of the accusations were directed at Aaron Egbers, son of the accused pilot. Aaron Egbers, who was head of Commercial Bag's aviation department before the crash, is now the company's CEO.

The NTSB's Probable Cause report states the accident was caused by "the pilot's failure to maintain terrain clearance while executing an instrument approach. A factor was the night instrument meteorological conditions."

FMI: Read The Full Probable Cause Report