Also Names State Police, And Surveying Company Which Hired The Pilot

One of the passengers aboard a Cessna 337A which went down in a wooded area of New Jersey in 2008 has sued the pilot's estate, as well as the state police whom she says called off their search too early. The suit was filed by Jacalyn Brown of Galloway Township in New Jersey. The accident killed the pilot, John Ambroult of Massachusetts, as well as marine scientist Stephen Claussen from Washington state. A fourth person, scientist Juan Carlos Salinas from Mexico City, Mexico, was also injured in the crash.

In her lawsuit, Brown says her employer, Geo-Marine Inc., was "specifically advised that the aircraft was unsafe." Geo-Marine had hired Ambroult and his plane to conduct offshore survey work. The Press of Atlantic City reports that Ms. Brown's team reported several issues with the airplane following a flight on April 18th, 2008, in which there was smoke in the cockpit that seemed to be electrical in origin. The report said the pilot "didn't seem to be on his best game with regards to flying," and that Ambroult told them that the smoke "was not an issue and it only affects fuel gauges." There were also problems reported with radio communications.

The NTSB gave insufficient fuel and improper in-flight fuel management as the probable causes of the accident, with pilot fatigue a contributing factor. The probable cause report also indicated that the ELT beacon battery was four years out of date. The ELT was still inoperative when a fresh battery was attached during the investigation.

That is significant because, while several witnesses saw the plane go down, state police had a difficult time locating the accident scene. Authorities called off the first search after two hours when they were unable to locate the wreckage. Ms. Brown says the length of the search caused her injuries to worsen. The accident site was located nearly four hours after the airplane went down just before 1300 local time.

Ms. Brown would not discuss the lawsuit, which was filed in Ocean County Civil Court and seeks unspecified damages.

FMI: www.occis.com/Law/OC-Courts/oc-courts.html