Miami Personal Injury Lawyer - Mass Transit (Airline, Cruise Ship, Train, Bus)

Plane Headed For Ft. Pierce Crashes When Taking Off From Charleston. All Are Confirmed Dead.

Gabrielle D'Alemberte — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 08:44:23 GMT

Tragedy struck again Wednesday for a small airplane and its passengers. Federal authorities said four people were killed when a small plane headed to Fort Pierce, FL, crashed Wednesday shortly after departure in South Carolina. Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen said the Piper PA-23 was engulfed in flames when firefighters arrived. The aircraft crashed shortly after departure at 6:45 a.m.

Bergen said the plane was headed to St. Lucie County Airport in Fort Pierce. The pilot has been identified the pilot as Peter Radding of North Charleston, S.C. One of Radding’s neighbors, Jim Deaton, told The Post and Courier of Charleston, S.C., that Radding had planned to stop in Florida, pick up more passengers, then head to the Bahamas.

It’s the second four-person, fatal crash in the Southeast. On Sept.20, a Piper PA-32R Saratoga plunged into the Everglades killing pilot Bruce Barber, his wife, son and a family friend. It was the "fourth fatal accident at the (Dorchester, SC) airport in recent years" according to Jason Ward, a Dorchester Counter Administrator who commented on the investigation.

Radding had 40 years of flight experience, and, like Barber, was described as very meticulous with his airplane. The front seat passenger in Radding's plane, James Randolph Hargenrader, was also a licensed pilot. National Transportation and Safety Bureau officials were expected on the scene late Wednesday. There had been no public speculation by officials as to the cause of the crash by late Wednesday afternoon. Radding was reputed to be an excellent pilot, and "volunteered to fly mercy air ambulance trips and introduced young people to flying".

One is left to wonder in an accident like this, where there are experienced pilots and (for now) a seemingly maintained aircraft, how does something like this happen. The trouble with airplane crashes, is the fuel generally causes tremendous damage to the remaining parts, and essentially wipes out evidence of what went wrong. Meanwhile, the family members who are left, are devastated by the accident, and all the questions remaining. It seems a difficult decision to make, but allowing the FAA do do the only investigation on the aircraft may result in more questions than answers, which is why experts are retained to perform an "oversight" of the inspection, particularly in the hours and days immediately following the crash, which is when most of the information is gleamed.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Gabrielle D'Alemberte

Is 2009 is becoming a record year for Airplane/Airliner crashes?

Gabrielle D'Alemberte — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 15:21:25 GMT

As 2009 has unfolded, we have read about several high-profile airline crashes, many of which resulted in fatalities and serious injuries. While accidents are nothing new, the combination of the Internet, the 24-hour news cycle and an insatiable desire by the media, and consumers, for front-page news has brought them to the public consciousness.

And the public is not the only one listening.

Federal Aviation Administration chief Randy Babbitt recently called for the need to “step up professionalism” in citing crashes that occurred due to preventable negligence. “The biggest factor I think for all of aviation is the need to step up professionalism in the workplace,” Mr. Babbitt said in prepared remarks. “It’s definitely there in the vast majority of the aviation workforce, but it’s not uniform throughout the industry.” ¹

There are few professions where the consequences of lack of professionalism on human life are greater than with flying an airplane. Throw in bad weather, long commutes, inexperience, low wages, sleep deprivation and antiquated rules, and you have a recipe that is sure to produce some disasters.

That’s why Randy Babbitt has it right. Professionalism, in all aspects of a flight – from mechanics to air traffic control to pilots – is crucial to maintaining air travel’s excellent safety record and reputation.

This isn’t the first time that the air travel industry has needed to step up the accountability. In 1996, following two crashes that killed more than 300 people, a White House commission told the airline industry and its regulators to slice the domestic rate of fatal accidents 80 percent over 10 years. ²

In 2007, after cutting the domestic fatal accident rate by nearly 65%, former administrator of the FAA Marion C. Blakey proclaimed, “This is the golden age of safety, the safest period, in the safest mode, in the history of the world.”² To get to that point, adjustments were made, including to the alarm system that warned, too often falsely, of an imminent collision with a mountain; and changing the approach system at a major domestic airport.

It was put best by John Cox, an Air Line Pilots Association safety representative for 20 years, who told the New York Times in 2007: “It’s not one thing. It’s a series of small things.” Meaning the biggest changes weren’t rocket science, just small issues found in everyday operations, he said, which were corrected before an accident could occur. ²

In 2009 and beyond, the call for professionalism should be heeded by doing the little things right, and there are a few areas that can be looked at to bring the vast minority of aviation industry personnel up to snuff.

Checking the Weather

Could professionalism be as simple as checking the weather? Recent reports show that literally throwing caution into the wind is not the best policy.

Earlier this year, an ATR-72 turboprop plane carrying 68 passengers and four crew members slid off the runway at Koh Samui airport in Thailand. The aircraft slammed into an old air traffic control tower, killing Captain Chartchai Punsuwan while his co-pilot remains in a critical condition in hospital. Seven passengers were injured. According to early reports, the plane was attempting to land in a storm, and heavy rain and strong winds may have played a role in the accident. ³

It was just one of a string of weather-related airplane emergencies this year. Two people were hurt when a Detroit-bound Delta Air Lines plane was “hammered” with severe weather, a spokesman said, and was forced to land in Kentucky. And at least 28 passengers aboard Continental Flight 128 were injured as the plane flew from Rio de Janeiro to Houston. The flight made an emergency landing in Miami. ⁴

Between 1994 and 2003, there were 4,167 weather-related accidents, according to a report by the Federal Aviation Administration’s National Aviation Safety Data Analysis Center. Of those accidents, 1,717 show no record of a weather briefing. ⁵

If the weather is monitored than maybe fewer risks should be taken if a flight is potentially going to land during a thunderstorm.

Sleep Deprivation

In a National Transportation Safety Board safety study of US major carrier accidents involving flight crew from 1978 to 1990, one finding stated: “Half the captains for whom data were available had been awake for more than 12 hours prior to their accidents. Half the first officers had been awake for more than 11 hours.” ⁶

This may seem like a tired argument since the study’s last subjects were analyzed nearly 20 years ago. But consider that many of the current rules for pilots’ work schedules haven’t changed in nearly 50 years. ⁷

And commuter flight rules may need the most attention. Passengers probably have no awareness that the pilot and crew of their plane may be on their sixth flight of the day, and that before the first of those six flights, the pilots and crew weren’t tucked in a comfortable bed but packed into a dark “crash” house with several other commuter airline crew members trying to sneak in a couple hours of shut-eye. ⁸

There could be as many as 1,000 such houses in the United States in cities like Pittsburgh, Newark, Houston and Chicago. Joe Williams, a spokesman for Pinnacle Airlines, parent company of Manassas-based regional carrier Colgan Air, said that Pinnacle supports "the right of our pilots to live where they choose. . . . Some pilots choose crash pads, and some choose to move to the area where they are based." ⁸

Airplane crew members bemoan low pay as a reason for the need to use a crash house, and some industry people agree.

According to a Washington Post story, "The sad truth of this industry is that [air travel] has been and remains one of the great bargains for the consumer," said Bill Swelbar, a researcher at the International Center for Air Transportation at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "When adjusted for inflation over the last 30 years, fares are down some 50-plus percent. And that just does not make for a sustainable business model. It doesn't make a model that allows them to compensate their people well, like they have in the past." ⁸

Mr. Babbitt told the Wall Street Journal that "It's absolutely unsafe to think" that commuter cockpit crews can fly as many hours as long as pilots who may fly one long-range route during the same day. 9

The results of this sleep deprivation can be fatal. Studies show exhaustion can impair a pilot's judgment in much the same way alcohol does. Overtired pilots can focus on a conversation or a single chore and miss other things going on around them, including critical flight information. ⁷

Additionally, studies show that the average adult needs seven to eight hours of sleep to function at maximum capacity. Without this sleep, doctors say, accidents, depression, anxiety and cardiovascular problems can occur. ¹⁰

But there is hope on this point. An advisory committee on pilot fatigue delivered its recommendations to the Federal Aviation Administration in late summer, though the FAA asked for them not to be made public. Though to counter that point, it has been reported that since 2002, the National Transportation Safety Board has made 16 safety-related recommendations of the on-demand flight industry, but that the FAA has not implemented any of them. ¹¹

Time will tell if this go-round will produce results.

Follow the rules

On Aug. 8, a small airplane and a tourist-carrying helicopter collided over the Hudson River in New York killing all nine people aboard both vessels.

On Sept. 16, it was reported that the mid-air crash could have and should have been prevented.

The pilot of the plane read back the wrong radio frequency to an air traffic controller but wasn’t corrected by the controller, a federal safety official said. The air traffic controllers tried to warn the plane’s pilot that he was approaching the helicopter but couldn’t reach him because they were on two different radio frequencies. ¹²

It was reported earlier that the air traffic controller was on the telephone at the time of the crash and that the controller’s supervisor also wasn’t in the building, as required, at the time of the Aug. 8 crash, the FAA said in a statement in mid-August. The FAA placed the employees on administrative leave. ¹³

In his remarks on professionalism, the FAA’s Mr. Babbitt cited specifically the February crash of a Pinnacle Airlines Corp. Colgan unit plane near Buffalo, N.Y., which killed 50 people, and a 2006 accident in Lexington involving Comair with 49 fatalities as examples of inexperienced pilots who didn't follow basic operating standards. The captain in the Colgan crash had failed three in-cockpit exams, called “check rides,” before he came to the airline. ¹⁴

“Whether you have a wrench in your hand, whether you sit at a yoke or carry a clipboard, wear a headset or work in the galley, I'm not seeing consistent professionalism," Mr. Babbitt said. ¹⁵

Merriam Webster defines a professional as someone who is “characterized by or conforming to the technical or ethical standards of a profession.” Which means something as basic as recognizing an incorrect code could have saved nine lives.

Risky Business

Even the most prepared pilots face risk when they take to the skies.

South Florida resident Bruce Barber was meticulous when it came to flying. His business partner, Eric Elliott, described him as “always ahead of the activity. Every possible piece of gear you could have on a plane, he had,'' including three GPS systems and a storm scope. ¹⁶

Another friend said of Mr. Barber: “He was a very safe pilot -- very cautious. If there was going to be bad weather, we left earlier or we didn't go. In the last six months, he got a new radar system. He was very fussy about that plane.'' ¹⁶

Yet on Sept. 20, flying his small personal aircraft, Mr. Barber, his wife, son and friend perished in a crash that still doesn’t have a cause.

The industry does have tools for helping pilots become more aware of For the 13^th year in a row this fall, Bombardier’s safety seminar, Safety Standdown, challenged “pilots and crew to expand their understanding of the human factors involved in aviation accidents. Knowledge Ace refers to the concept of using the acquired information to minimize the possibility of human error,” said Rick Rowe, chief pilot of Learjet, in BART International magazine. “Knowledge-based training integrated with skill-based training is our greatest defense against error, bridging the gap between what the industry gets and what it needs. New for this year’s event were a Smart Pilot workshop and Mind and Body Wellness - a workshop examining cardiovascular risk factors among pilots and crew. ¹⁷

In the end, the responsibility to maintain professionalism will fall on many shoulders. Flight crews know their work schedules and it is ultimately their responsibility, like anybody with a job, to come to work ready to go. The FAA needs to put modern, relevant rules in place that jibe with what science and research has shown are the most tiring or non-tiring flights. The airlines have to make tough choices with an eye on their bottom lines of hiring more crews or risk over-taxing existing crews. And the passengers, ultimately, may face the choice of paying higher fares to fund the extra crews that may end up saving their lives.

Citations

1. www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601110&sid=ajzpzsoVMJfU

2. www.nytimes.com/2007/10/01/business/01safety.html

3. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8182962.stm

4. www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2009-08-04-turbulence_N.htm

5. www.asias.faa.gov/aviation_studies/weather_study/wbrief.html

6. http://aeromedical.org/Articles/Pilot_Fatigue.html

7. www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32648418/ns/travel-news/

8. www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/03/AR2009080302837.html

9. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124950069377208687.html

10. www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/03/04/sleep.stress.economy/index.html

11. http://mobile.wsvn.com/news/articles/national/MI129871/

12. www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5i7snJnN8kUVlX69sAmaPg4IPi6aQD9AOJVA02

13. www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=anrLkbMmv5qc

14. www.nytimes.com/2009/06/16/nyregion/16colgan.html

15. www.usatoday.com/travel/flights/2009-09-14-faa-buffalo-crash_N.htm

16. www.miamiherald.com/news/broward/story/1245084.html

17. www.bartintl.com/content/faa’s-randy-babbitt-ntsb-chairman-and-nbaa-president-slated-open-safety-standown

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Gabrielle D'Alemberte

Family’s weekend trip ends in tragedy when Piper Aircraft goes down in the Everglades

Gabrielle D'Alemberte — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 08:24:53 GMT

Bruce Barber was meticulous when it came to flying.

His business partner, Eric Elliott, described him to the Miami Herald “`It's all about risk management,'' he said. ``You're always preparing for something to go wrong. You want to get everything where it's supposed to be in case you lose power'' and need to land. Mr. Elliott continued: Mr. Barber was ``always ahead of the activity. Every possible piece of gear you could have on a plane, he had,'' including three GPS systems and a storm scope.

Family friend Danny Ponce said of Mr. Barber: “He was a very safe pilot -- very cautious. If there was going to be bad weather, we left earlier or we didn't go. In the last six months, he got a new radar system. He was very fussy about that plane.''

So what went wrong on Sunday, Sept. 20, when the Piper PA-32R Saratoga plunged into the Everglades in Broward County killing Mr. Barber, his wife Karen Chubbuck Barber, son Payton, and family friend Phillip Marsh of Coral Springs?

A Federal Aviation Administration official said Mr. Barber reported engine trouble and called in a “mayday” before communication cut out. But the National Transportation Safety Board (NTS B) may take months to figure out what exactly went wrong.

If there was a manufacturer defect or if there was pilot error on account of Mr. Barber, there may be damages to be gained or a lesson to be learned. But now the moment belongs to mourning a philanthropic, model family and the future of 10-year-old Chloe Barber, the daughter who didn’t make the trip with her parents and brother.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Gabrielle D'Alemberte

Air Traffic Controller On A Personal Phone Call Just Before the Hudson Crash

Gabrielle D'Alemberte — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 11:37:00 GMT

Quoting from the the Daily Record, the Chairman of the NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board) Deborah Hersman, "...told a congressional committee Wednesday that shortly after the single-engine Piper took off from Teterboro Airport in New Jersey, a Teterboro controller handed off the plane to nearby Newark Liberty International. During the handoff, the controller instructed the Piper pilot to contact Newark and gave him the radio frequency.

Less than a minute after the incorrect readback, the plane collided with an air tour helicopter, sending both aircraft hurtling into the river. All three people aboard the plane and a pilot and five Italian tourists aboard the helicopter were killed."

While recent scruntiy has come over pilot fatigue (especially since the commuter plane crash this summer Buffalo, little has been suggested about air traffic controllers' role in recent crashes. Until now that is.

On Sept. 16, it was reported that the mid-air crash between a small plane and a tourist-toting helicopter over the Hudson River that killed nine could have and should have been prevented. The pilot of the plane read back the wrong radio frequency to an air traffic controller but wasn’t corrected by the controller, a federal safety official said. Meanwhile, other air traffic controllers tried to warn the plane’s pilot that he was approaching the helicopter but couldn’t reach him because they were on different radio frequencies.

Meanwhile, FAA chief Randy Babbitt recently called for the need to “step up professionalism.” He cited the February crash of a Pinnacle Airlines Corp. Colgan unit plane near Buffalo, N.Y., which killed 50 people, and a 2006 accident in Lexington involving Comair with 49 fatalities as examples of inexperienced pilots who didn't follow basic operating standards. “The biggest factor I think for all of aviation is the need to step up professionalism in the workplace,” Mr. Babbitt said in prepared remarks. “It’s definitely there in the vast majority of the aviation workforce, but it’s not uniform throughout the industry.”

What’s clear is that whether its inclement weather, physical damage to the plane, tired pilots, miscommunication with air traffic control or inexperienced pilots, flying is loaded with inherent dangers. One can only hope officials are doing everything to can to make sure every pilot steps up “professionalism” to make sure accidents happen as infrequently as possible.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Gabrielle D'Alemberte

Pilot Fatigue- FAA is taking notice but are they telling passengers the truth

Gabrielle D'Alemberte — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 09:38:01 GMT

Federal Aviation Administration head Randy Babbitt says "It's absolutely unsafe to think" that commuter cockpit crews can fly as many hours or stay on duty for as long as pilots who may fly one long-range and execute a single landing route during the same day. In other words, the rules of flying, some of which have been in place for decades, may be wrong. Passengers probably have no awareness that the pilot and crew of their plane may be on their sixth flight of the day.

Keep in mind that before the first of those six flights, the pilots and crew weren’t tucked in a comfortable bed. According the Washington Post, they were packed into a dark “crash” house with several other commuter airline crew trying to get some shut-eye.

Sleep deprivation and fatigue have long been known to be a dangerous factor in flying. In a National Transportation Safety Board safety study of US major carrier accidents involving flight crew from 1978 to 1990, one finding stated: “Half the captains for whom data were available had been awake for more than 12 hours prior to their accidents. Half the first officers had been awake for more than 11 hours. Crews comprising captains and first officers whose time since awake was above the median for their crew position made more errors overall, and significantly more procedural and tactical decision errors."

Studies show exhaustion can impair a pilot's judgment in much the same way alcohol does. Overtired pilots can focus on a conversation or a single chore and miss other things going on around them, including critical flight information.

There are solutions being worked out, but after the advisory committee on pilot fatigue delivered its recommendations to the Federal Aviation Administration late Tuesday, the FAA asked for them not to be made public. The airlines want to schedule some pilots with less-taxing flights — fewer takeoffs and landings — but for longer, not shorter, hours in the cockpit. The unions say they won't agree to more hours for those pilots in exchange for fewer hours for pilots who fly as many as a half dozen short flights a day or take off at odd times.

In the end, the responsibility will fall on many shoulders. Flight crews know their work schedules and it is ultimately their responsibility, like anybody with a job, to come to work ready to go. The FAA needs to put modern, relevant rules in place that jibe with what science and research has shown are the most tiring or non-tiring flights. The airlines have to make tough choices with an eye on their bottom lines of hiring more crews or risk over-taxing existing crews. But passengers, ultimately, may face the choice of paying higher fares to fund the extra crews that may end up saving their lives.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Gabrielle D'Alemberte

Sound Advice- check the weather report before boarding a plane

Gabrielle D'Alemberte — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 10:41:35 GMT

As much as we assign blame for airplane crashes on human and mechanical error, Mother Nature often is a large part of the equation.

While Congress rightfully is seeking to improve the way pilots are trained, one of the best ways to avoid an accident may be to check the forecast.

Case in point: An ATR-72 turboprop plane carrying 68 passengers and four crew members slid off the runway on Tuesday at Koh Samui airport in Thailand. The aircraft slammed into an old air traffic control tower, killing Captain Chartchai Punsuwan while his co-pilot remains in a critical condition in hospital. Five passengers suffered serious injuries and two others sustained minor injuries. According to early reports, the plane was attempting to land in a storm, and heavy rain and strong winds may have played a role in the accident.

It’s just one of a string of recent weather-related airplane emergencies. Two people were hurt when a Detroit-bound Delta Air Lines plane ran into severe turbulence and was forced to land in Kentucky.

And at least 28 passengers aboard Continental Flight 128 were injured as the plane flew from Rio de Janeiro to Houston. The flight made an emergency landing in Miami.

Between 1994 and 2003, there were 4,167 weather-related accidents, according to a report by the Federal Aviation Administration’s National Aviation Safety Data Analysis Center (NASDAC). Of those accidents, 1,717 show no record of a weather briefing.

In South Florida, we are accustomed to checking the hurricane map days in advance to see if we need to make preparations for a storm. And anybody with Internet access can get a 5-day weather report. So we know that airlines have the weather information.

The question to be asked is what are the standards for deciding when to try to land and take-off? And are those safety standards being routinely followed or are exceptions made? Given the strong safety records of airlines and the incredibly miniscule chance that an individual will be involved in an airplane accident, are the numbers being played to the detriment of the few? Let’s hope not but just to be certain, check the weather reports before your choose to fly.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Gabrielle D'Alemberte

Airline layoffs and cut backs- is there any relationship to the recent plane crashes?

Gabrielle D'Alemberte — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 12:25:00 GMT

The economy is in freefall, and once again the airlines are in trouble. Of course, in recent times, with a few exceptions, the airlines and the airline industry are often in trouble. Last year, the industry had problems due to high oil prices. In 2007, the industry feared it was in trouble because of labor relations difficulties. There have been troubles because of short changing long time airline employees and pension holders. None of this has made the airlines more popular among the public.

As with any number of large corporations, labor costs are one of the airline industries biggest expenses and when trouble comes, layoffs are sometimes necessary. With the industry in perpetual crisis, the airlines have indeed laid off many workers.

This process is coming at a time when many airlines are under fire for inadequate maintenance, poor pilot training, and failing to correct the problem of pilot fatigue. It then becomes reasonable to ask what effects these continued layoffs may have on the ability of the airlines to provide safe travel services for their customers.

Layoffs may take any number of forms. Employees may be let go for performance related reasons, they may be encouraged to take early retirement, or the company may simply lop off the least senior employees. Some of this process may be controlled by union contracts, some may not. In any event, at many airlines it appears that employees to be laid-off are selected either on purely fiscal terms, by encouraging those who make the most to take early retirement, or they are selected purely in seniority terms.

The process whereby any company makes hiring and firing decisions is just not very transparent. This makes it difficult to know if some in the industry are sacrificing pilot experience and skill in exchange for lower wage costs. However, if safety is the paramount concern, encouraging long terms pilots to retire and retaining younger pilots solely on the basis of seniority without regard for skill seems a poor method for providing safer skies. Are airlines choosing to retain and reward skilled pilots or to replace them with less skilled pilots who can be paid less? There is not evidence of this that I know of, but it's a question that needs to be examined to ensure this is not happening.

The airlines are common carriers. This means, in legal terms, that they have a duty to provide the highest level of safety possible. In the event of future aviation tragedies, such as the recent commuter flight in Buffalo, we may be sure that regulators and the bereaved families of the victims will be looking very closely at every aspect of an airline’s operation. Training and retention decisions should be no more immune to these examinations than any other aspect of doing business.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Gabrielle D'Alemberte

Cruise Ship Litigation: Defendants Allowed to Pick Forums, Lower SOLs and not Produce Employee Witnesses

Gabrielle D'Alemberte — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 16:41:17 GMT

It’s hard enough to go through the process of filing a law suit against a defendant that stays in one city, state, or country. Things get complicated if you try to proceed against a mobile one. A defendant corporation whose business is travel can be complicated to deal with, and if you have entered into a previous contract with such a corporation, you may be bound by further restrictions. Cruise ship corporations provide a fitting example.

Before you go on a cruise, the ship mandates a specific jurisdiction through your passenger ticket, which has been deemed a contract. This means they get to specify the one and only place (even which Court) where anyone can sue them. The jurisdiction is usually Southern District of Florida (in Miami) for major cruise lines. Passengers are also bound to the jurisdiction, or choice of forum determined by the defendant cruise line. Even though you can fight to move the forum to a location closer to your home using forum non convenient arguments, the cruise line has the advantage. Your ticket is essentially a contract you "negotiated", so if you are injured on your trip and choose to file a suit, you are subject to certain restrictions. For example, the statute of limitation in cases against cruise lines is only one year as opposed to the three usually granted by maritime law or four in Florida negligence cases. This restricted time period makes it difficult to get your affairs in order and decide how to proceed.

Because the defendant cruise line gets to choose the forum, it would seem fair that they should comply with the necessities of the litigation process, like providing their subpoenaed employees as witnesses. However, because of the international travel associated with the cruise ship business, employees are often outside the jurisdiction of the courts. In Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Kloster Cruise Limited, the court considered a ship’s business operation within the borders of another country to interfere with its ability to enforce the plaintiff’s subpoenas of employee witnesses. The cost and inconvenience of transporting employees, especially on the short notice that may be allowed before a court date, a defendant may not have to produce their employees at the request of the plaintiff. Even though they have had the opportunity to choose the venue, legal nuances make it difficult for the plaintiff’s necessary witnesses to be brought to court. In other words, a corporation can hide witnesses from you by re-assigning them to foreign details. In a case we have right now, we must travel to eight different ports of call to take depositions on a Saturday or Sunday of the defendant's own employees who they named as potential witnesses. The ports of call are Galveston, Texas, California, New York, UK, Australia, San Juan, Tampa and Ft. Lauderdale. This ends up costing the client a lot of money in the end. Even to arrange a video conference is substantially more expensive on weekends and across continents. Does seem like the Plaintiff should have to pay for this when they didn't choose the forum or Court where the suit is brought.

For all of these reasons, it is important that you contact an attorney who understands the nuances of cruise ship litigation as soon as possible if you are injured. This way, you can ensure that your suit will be filed within the restricted time period and that everything possible will be done to work through the legal restrictions associated with such a case. Meanwhile, legislators must change the laws that allow cruise lines to have the dual advantage of choosing the venue for trial and escaping subpoenas.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Gabrielle D'Alemberte

Another Airbus Crash- Travelers becoming concerned about airline safety records and airline travel

Gabrielle D'Alemberte — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 16:01:18 GMT

Yemen flight IY 626 was en route from Yemen to Comoros when it encountered what was described as some “tough weather”. The Airbus A310, holding 153 people, was preparing to land when the plane flew into 71 mile an hour winds. The plane was only 11 miles from its destination when it crashed into the Indian Ocean, killing all those onboard.

An HIS Jane’s expert, Chris Yates, stated that “weather may indeed have been the primary cause of the crash of this Yemeni Air A310-300.” The Airbus jet that ultimately crashed into the Indian Ocean was being monitored by EU authorities, according to Dominique Bussereau, France’s transportation minister. Bussereau told French reporters that inspectors had noted several faults on the Yemenia Airways jet, and was being more closely monitored in preparation to be heard by the European Union Security Committee. Yates told CNN that “It’s more than likely to be a weather-related incident. Having said that you cannot rule out a maintenance issue”

This is the second crash involving an Airbus jet in only a month. Air France Airbus A330 crashed while on route to Paris from Rio de Janeiro on June 1^st. All of the passengers have been presumed dead and the cause of the crash is still under investigation. United States accident investigators have been researching recent airspeed and altitude indicator failures aboard the Airbus jet airplanes. Although two flights this past month have reported problems in their instrumentation, they have been able to land safely with no injuries. These issues have raised concern as to the composite materials used in the construction of the Airbus jets, with questions of its strength and ability to withstand stress.

A recent statement made by a certified aircraft maintenance professional in Florida said that “airbus products are the flimsiest and most poorly designed as far as airframe structure is concerned by an almost obsession to utilize composite materials.”

The aviation community, and the world as a whole, waits to see what the investigation will bring as to the fate of the Airbus jets. As those around the world pay their respects to those lost in such tragedies beyond their control, we look forward to a safer plane flight tomorrow.

Meanwhile, as a first in several decades, travelers are investigating airline safety records and considering that airline travel is not the only means to get around. To get a pulse of how the world is reacting, not just those involved "in the industry", take a glimpse on Twitter and Facebook. You will find the messages about Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett have been replaced with "I hope my flight isn't an Airbus" and "I think we will drive instead of fly". Between the flurry of high profile deaths, and the reporting of back to back major commercial airline crashes, questions of one's own mortality seem inevitable. Still, as a sign of hope and life, a five year old was found today among the wreckage. He is alive and doing fine. A miracle of enormous significance in these troubling times.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Gabrielle D'Alemberte

Are computers to blame in another deadly crash? Or was the train involved in the D.C. transit collision too old to be used?

Gabrielle D'Alemberte — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 13:48:44 GMT

The deadly train collision earlier this week, just outside of Washington DC, killed nine people and injured more than 70. Experts immediately began to search through the wreckage trying to find out what went wrong. The collision occurred at the border between Washington and Maryland during evening rush hour. It was the deadliest train crash in the 33-year history of the Metrorail service.

According to reports, the trains were headed towards downtown Washington at around 5 p.m. One train had stopped on the tracks waiting to arrive at Fort Totten station when a second train smashed into the back of it. More bodies were found this morning when a crane removed parts of the crushed train and discovered them. If you have seen pictures, you can see the back of the train raised off the ground.

Metrorail was designed with a signal system that uses on-board computers to control speed. The system also automatically applies the brakes to maintain safe distance between trains. This was posted in the Times Online – a quote from Debbie Hersman, of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), regarding the signal system. “We need to see if that system was actually what was being used at the time and if there were any faults. We’re going to be looking at the tracks, at the signal system and at the train operation to understand what happened.”

The NTSB had warned of safety issues and recommended the old fleet of trains used by the Metrorail be phased out. The older trains do not have up-to-date recording devices (similar to a Black Box) as the newer models do – so it could be awhile before experts know what happened or how fast the train was moving.

It’s heartbreaking to read these kinds of stories in the news. Mass transit accidents create uncertainty in the public and may build distrust to those operating the train, plane or bus and now, with computers used more than ever, the operating system could be an unseen enemy.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Gabrielle D'Alemberte