Who can be held liable for airplane accidents?
In the case of commercial flights on airlines, responsible parties would include the airline, manufacturer of the airplane, and air traffic controllers. In a case involving private (general aviation) crashes, responsible parties would include the pilot if the crash occurred due to pilot error, as well as the owner of the airplane, their insurer, and the plane’s manufacturer.
There is a long list of potential defendants in any serious airplane accident case. They include pilots, owners and lessors of the airplane, employer of the pilot, manufacturers and suppliers of the airplane and component parts of the airplane, chart publishers, repairers, air traffic controllers, and the Federal Aviation Administration.
