Airplane Crash Attorney

Airplane Crash Attorney

Regional flights from Anchorage and Eagle River connect Alaskans with their homes, job sites, and recreational areas. With no roads or limited access when the breakup occurs or the lakes and rivers thaw in the summer, airplanes are often the choice for traveling. Taking small airplanes, puddle jumpers, and bush planes in Alaska is common when traveling to regional locations or islands.

While airplanes are a safe mode of transportation, airplane crashes in Alaska can occur, causing severe injury or death. Our Anchorage personal injury lawyers understand your challenges in recovering fair compensation. At Farnsworth & Vance believe working with our Anchorage airplane crash attorney should provide peace of mind that someone is fighting for your best interests.

How Do I Choose An Airplane Crash Attorney in Alaska?

Our team of Anchorage, AK airplane crash attorneys provides responsive service to plane crash survivors and families of plane crash victims in Anchorage and Eagle River, AK. Our honest approach to personal injury cases and willingness to provide legal support are evident in the following client testimonials.

Our team’s varied background in the insurance industry, civil litigation, and legal defense at the state and federal levels provides you with unparalleled legal representation. We develop strategies to achieve compensational goals that accurately reflect your damages. We recognize insurance companies’ power in compensating airplane crash victims, and we want to level the playing field in your favor.

Our appreciation and love for Alaska and the independence of the people who live here keep us fighting for injured Alaskans and their families. Our desire for you to achieve financial recovery and healing propels our firm’s unwavering pursuit of your legal rights in the days following an airplane crash in Alaska.

The Challenges of Investigating Small Airplane Crashes in Alaska

Fewer passengers, a smaller wreckage footprint, and fewer regulations due to an aircraft’s classification change the investigative process. Recording-keeping procedures to document airplane maintenance, personnel experience, and other data may become more relaxed, making it more challenging to pinpoint a party’s negligence effectively.

Any airplane crash warrants an investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) to determine its cause. However, small airplane crash investigations often differ from those of larger commercial aircraft. The resources for research, the scope of investigation, and investigative regulations for small plane crashes are often lacking.

Plane Crashes in Remote Areas and Villages in Alaska

You may live in Anchorage or Eagle River, utilizing the various regional airports in Alaska to fly into remote areas. Our firm offers legal representation whether you are visiting with family, working, or adventuring on the coast or the interior. The isolation and remoteness of airplane crash sites in Alaska are no deterrent for our team.

The regions accessed by small airplanes departing from regional airports place aircraft in extreme weather conditions. Change can occur rapidly with annual temperatures ranging from -82º F to over 100º F. Airplane crashes in Alaska can impact numerous cultures speaking more than 90 languages, including 20 indigenous languages.

How Often Do Regional Small Airplane Crashes Occur in Alaska?

Smaller airplane crashes are common in Alaska. Estimated fatalities involving small aircraft on regional flights in Alaska continue to remain high. Investigators attribute the rise in fatalities from 26% to 42% within a few years to Alaska’s reliance on smaller operators with poorer safety records than larger airlines.

Bush planes, air taxis, and smaller regional commercial aviation businesses in Anchorage, AK and Eagle River, AK owe Alaskans a duty of care to provide for their safety. Your reliance on aviation to travel in Alaska should not impact your physical health. However, when an airplane crash changes your life, we want to be the airplane crash lawyers you choose.

What Causes Small Airplane Crashes?

Adverse weather in Alaska impacts smaller airplanes more severely, requiring pilots to make crucial decisions to ensure a safe landing. Weather is not the only cause of crashes. Common reasons airplanes crash when flying into or departing Anchorage and Eagle River, AK include:

  • Pilot error or lack of experience
  • Striking stationary objects and controlled flight into terrain (CFIT)
  • Wildlife strikes
  • Fuel exhaustion or fuel starvation
  • Poor aircraft or parts design, or manufacturing defects
  • Air traffic controller and airport employee mistakes due to staffing shortages in rural areas
  • Choosing unsuitable landing surfaces
  • Ground deaths resulting from falling airplane debris

A thorough investigation into the cause of an incident provides the airplane crash lawyer representing your case with a direction to proceed with your claim. Because severe damage often occurs to the aircraft, determining the cause of a plane crash requires experience and focus. Working with a dedicated attorney throughout the claim or lawsuit process is crucial.

Who Are Potential Liable Parties in an Alaska Airplane Crash?

Determining negligence in an airplane crash is necessary to seek compensation for your damages. A person or entity causing you harm may be liable. In some cases, multiple parties may be liable for an airplane crash, including the following:

  • A pilot
  • An airplane’s owner
  • The plane or parts manufacturer
  • A governmental agency
  • Airport administration or staff

After establishing the cause of a crash, the airplane crash lawyer representing you will present your damages and claim to insurance companies that cover any liable parties to demand maximum compensation. Using professional resources and contacts in Anchorage, AK and Eagle River, AK, we can identify other incidents of unsafe aviation practices by a potentially liable party to establish any patterns of negligence.

What Are My Options for Seeking Compensation After an Airplane Crash?

The team at Farnsworth & Vance will explain your legal options and assist with the claim process and filing a lawsuit, when necessary. An airplane crash lawyer will begin by filing a claim with the insurance company on your behalf. Airplane crash survivors may file a personal injury claim for damages.

Far too often, airplane crashes in Alaska end in tragedy. Our team offers compassionate legal advice to personal representatives or executors of the deceased’s estate to file a wrongful death claim. Filing a survival claim may also be possible if your loved one survived a crash before succumbing to their injuries, incurring damages from the time of the accident until their death.

Insurance settlement offers may inadequately cover your costs when adjusters offer low values or minimize your damages. Filing a personal injury or wrongful death lawsuit is the next step we take on your behalf. We strive to reduce the stress of litigation on your life, but remain committed to seeing legal action through.

What is the Difference Between Filing a Claim and a Lawsuit?

A plane crash lawyer can file a claim with the insurance company for you within the appropriate time frame. Notifying the insurance company alerts them of your damages and that you will seek compensation. The extent of your injuries and the complexity of the circumstances surrounding an airplane crash can extend the time it takes to settle a claim.

Civil actions, or lawsuits, are filed in court. Our team will walk you through the legal process, relentlessly pursuing the most beneficial results. Filing a lawsuit may occur when the insurance company fails to negotiate the terms of a settlement fairly. Filing a lawsuit does not mean your case will proceed to court. The at-fault party has until a jury’s deliberation starts to settle.

What Are My Legal Options if Adverse Weather Conditions Cause an Airplane Crash?

While the underlying cause of a plane crash may be considered an act of God, preventing a crash may still be possible. Pilots who receive adverse weather condition warnings but fail to turn around, land, or detour a flight may still be partially responsible for your damages. You may still have a claim even when unpredictable weather leads to an airplane crash.

What Compensation is Available for Damages in an Airplane Crash?

Survivors and families of plane crash victims in Anchorage and Eagle River, AK may seek damages specific to their claim. One of the most devastating outcomes in an airplane crash is discovering that a pilot or small plane’s owner has no liability insurance, potentially limiting financial recovery. An airplane crash attorney will research every option to compensate for these damages:

  • Medical bills and health-related expenses
  • Lost wages and diminished earning potential
  • Pain and suffering
  • Lost enjoyment of life
  • Mental health costs and counseling fees
  • Loss of companionship
  • Loss of financial support
  • Death-related expenses

The emotional impact caused by an airplane crash to survivors or families losing a loved one can deprive you of fully living. Insurance companies often undervalue these non-economic damages or fail to account for them. The airplane crash attorneys at Farnsworth & Vance provide thorough evaluations to include the emotional and financial impact of wrongful death on families.

Should I Speak With the Insurance Representative to Settle an Airplane Crash Claim Quickly?

Adjusters and attorneys representing the insurance companies have the same goal of saving the insurance company money. Your account of the accident and the severity of your injuries during a phone conversation or recorded statement can be used to diminish a claim. Even families filing wrongful death claims may be subject to the tactics insurance companies use to reduce a claim.

Airplane crash lawyers in Anchorage mediate between you and other parties in an airplane crash claim or lawsuit. Our firm understands what information the insurance company needs and what is unnecessary to share to process your claim. Like car crashes, here is why you should avoid speaking with insurance after an airplane crash in Alaska.

How Long Do I Have to File a Plane Crash Lawsuit?

In most cases, survivors have two years from the date of a plane crash to file a personal injury claim. Your age and whether you suffered a mental incapacity at the time of the crash can extend the time you have to file a legal action. You may have significantly less time when a governmental agency is liable for your damages.

A personal representative or executor has two years from the date of a plane crash victim’s death to file a wrongful death lawsuit. The death may occur at the time of the crash or at a later date. Contacting our airplane crash lawyers as soon as possible is the best way to meet any legal deadlines.

Failing to file within the statute of limitations bars you from seeking financial compensation from a liable party. Waiting to contact us can compromise evidence preservation, impacting your financial outcome. Our concierge-level services are available to benefit you immediately, whether you live in Anchorage, AK or Eagle River, AK.

What Are Common Injuries in Anchorage, AK Airplane Crashes?

Previous documentation suggests that small airplane crashes produce more fatal outcomes than other types of aviation accidents in Alaska. Surviving an airplane crash can result in catastrophic injuries, requiring ongoing care. Let us assess your need for future medical intervention to account for the increased costs of medical treatment, surgery, and therapies to treat these common crash injuries:

  • Extensive bone fractures and breaks
  • Internal organ damage
  • Severe cuts
  • Spinal cord injuries leading to partial or complete paralysis
  • Significant burns and scarring
  • Traumatic brain injuries (TBI)
  • Limb or appendage dismemberment
  • Amputation as a corrective surgery
  • Trauma and stress-related disorders

Getting care for severe injuries may require traveling from Eagle River or even Anchorage, AK to the lower 48. There are no requirements that an adjuster estimate these costs for you. No matter the cost of care for catastrophic injuries, we will fight for your total damages in an airplane crash.

Contact Our Experienced Anchorage Airplane Crash Attorney

At Farnsworth & Vance, we take our years of experience and put them to use for clients who suffer unimaginable catastrophes due to aviation accidents. An airplane crash can change your life instantly. A plane crash attorney with our firm will fight to put the pieces back together.

Schedule a free consultation to discuss your injuries or the loss of a loved one in an airplane crash if you live in Anchorage or Eagle River, AK. Our work throughout Alaska strives to successfully resolve personal injury claims, improving the lives of our clients and giving back to our community.