Airplane Impacted Home In Palm Coast, FL

The sons of a Florida woman who was fatally injured in an accident in Palm Coast, FL in which an airplane impacted a house in January, 2013 have filed a wrongful death lawsuit naming the FAA as a defendant.

Charisse Peoples was one of three people fatally injured in the accident. According to a report from television station WFTV, an attorney for the family said that the pilot of the Beech H35 Bonanza had advised air traffic controllers that he was experiencing engine problems with the aircraft and vibration from the propellers. The suit alleges that the controllers did not vector the airplane to the nearest airport using the most direct route.

Attorney Timothy Loranger told the station that the pilot was told to land at Flagler airport when Ormond Beach was closer. Loranger said it is likely that the plane could have landed safely at Ormond Beach, but it went down less than a mile from Flagler airport, impacting the home. One person in the home at the time of the accident escaped uninjured.

The FAA said it would not comment on the suit.

The NTSB determined the probable cause of the accident was "total loss of engine power after the failure of the No. 4 connecting rod due to oil starvation, which resulted in a subsequent forced landing. Contributing to the accident was the pilot’s failure to clearly state that the aircraft had lost all power and the air traffic controllers’ incomplete understanding of the emergency, which resulted in the controllers vectoring the airplane too far from the airport to reach the runway."

The NTSB's determination is not admissible as evidence in court.

(Image of damaged home from YouTube)

FMI: www.ntsb.gov/_layouts/ntsb.aviation/brief.aspx?ev_id=20130104X61334&key=1