Firm News

Flight 3407 of Continental - Colgan Air Investigation Intensifies

Posted on May 07, 2009

The federal investigation into the crash of Continental Connection Flight 3407 near Buffalo, New York is focusing in on an important potential shortcoming on the part of Colgan Air, which operated the Continental Connection aircraft. The National Transportation Safety Board's investigation is looking into Colgan's pilot training program, especially regarding how the plane's stall protection system operates in icing conditions.

At the same time, the Federal Aviation Administration is reportedly investigating whether Colgan Air has over scheduled its pilots in violation of federal rules. It is unclear, however, whether the FAA's investigation is connected with the Flight 3407 crash in any way.

If either insufficient training, or pilot fatigue related to over-scheduling of pilots, turns out to be a cause of the crash, it would have important potential consequences for Colgan Air in terms of potential liability for the crash and death of 50 persons on board.

Generally, an airline can be held liable for the acts of its employees where the employees were negligent in performing their duties within the course and scope of their employment. In that sense, an airline's liability essentially hinges on whether their employees negligently carried out their duties.

On the other hand, if an airline has an inadequate training program or over scheduled its pilots, those would implicate direct actions on the part of the airline itself, for which it could be held liable regardless of whether the pilots themselves acted wrongly. It might also open the possibility of punitive damages against the airline, which are generally available to punish and deter similar future behavior.

The federal investigations surrounding Flight 3407 and Colgan Air are still ongoing, and we must wait to see how the facts in this case play out. If, however, it turns out that either inadequate training or over-scheduling of pilots factored into the Flight 3407 crash, Colgan Air would likely face substantially higher potential liability in connection with the crash.

Read more about the Flight 3407 Investigation...

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