Chicago Aviation Accident Lawyer

Aviation incidents, whether involving airplanes or helicopters, are often called “accidents,” but the resulting injuries and deaths are rarely unavoidable. Far more often, they are the result of negligence — by a pilot, an airline, a manufacturer, a maintenance provider, or some combination of them. If you have been injured or lost a loved one in an aviation accident, it is important to take legal action in a timely manner. Power Rogers is here to answer your questions and advocate effectively for your interests.

The complex nature of aviation litigation means these cases require the oversight of an experienced attorney. With a long history of successful results, our team at Power Rogers can represent your interests effectively. We have an exceptional level of experience in aviation accident cases.

Why Choose Power Rogers for Aviation Accident Cases?

Our airplane accident lawyers at Power Rogers have handled product liability cases against Boeing, Airbus/EADS, Beechcraft, Cessna, and others. In addition to smaller airplane and helicopter accident cases — including the Illinois Supreme Court case Russell v. SNFA, 2013 IL 113909, arising from a fatal Agusta helicopter crash — we have been involved in the majority of major commercial airplane disaster cases over the years, including:

• American Airlines Flight 191 – Chicago O’Hare, 1979
• United Airlines Flight 232 – Sioux City, Iowa, 1989
• USAir Flight 427 – Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 1994
• Lion Air Flight 538 – Solo, Indonesia, November 30, 2004
• Garuda Indonesia Flight 200 – Yogyakarta, Indonesia, March 7, 2007
• Turkish Airlines Flight 1951 – Amsterdam, Netherlands, 2009 (Boeing)
• Pamir Airways Flight 112 – near Kabul, Afghanistan, 2010
• Asiana Airlines Flight 214 – San Francisco, 2013 (Boeing)
• Spirit Airlines in-flight wrongful death, 2013
• American Airlines Flight 383 – Chicago O’Hare, 2016
• Aerovías de México, S.A. d/b/a Aeroméxico Flight 2431 – Durango, Mexico, July 2018
• Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302, Boeing 737 MAX 8 – March 2019

Our aviation accident attorneys are well-versed in aviation regulations; state, federal, and international law; and the agencies that collect and process aviation accident evidence. We can help you understand the aviation litigation process while protecting your rights and interests. Whether your case goes to trial or not, we are prepared to maximize your verdict or settlement.

Aviation Litigation in Chicago

Chicago sits at the center of American aviation — and of aviation litigation. O’Hare International Airport is among the busiest airports in the world, and Midway handles hundreds of flights a day. Two of the accidents on our representative list happened here: American Airlines Flight 191, which crashed after takeoff from O’Hare in 1979, and American Airlines Flight 383, which caught fire on an O’Hare runway in 2016 after an uncontained engine failure.

Chicago courts are also frequent venues for aviation cases with no local crash site. The Circuit Court of Cook County and the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois regularly hear aviation matters, and the litigation arising from the Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 crash against Boeing — which for many years was headquartered in Chicago — was consolidated in the Northern District of Illinois. Power Rogers is based in Chicago and has been trying catastrophic injury and wrongful death cases in these courts for decades.

Commercial Airline Accidents vs. Private Aircraft and Helicopter Crashes

Aviation accidents don’t follow a single legal path. The rules that apply to a commercial airline crash differ considerably from those governing a private plane or helicopter crash, and that distinction matters when figuring out who can be held responsible.

• Commercial airline accidents fall under a tightly regulated framework. Airlines operating scheduled passenger service must meet federal safety standards enforced by the Federal Aviation Administration. When something goes wrong, liability may involve the carrier, the aircraft manufacturer, maintenance contractors, or air traffic control. Because these are large institutional defendants, claims often involve multiple parties and substantial documentation.
• Private aircraft and helicopter crashes work differently. Ownership structures vary, pilots may be private individuals rather than employees of a company, and the absence of commercial carrier regulations shifts how negligence is analyzed. A claim might focus on pilot error, a mechanical defect, improper maintenance, or a combination of those factors. Charter flights occupy a middle ground: they are commercial operations, but often with less regulatory oversight than major airlines — and some charters are sold to the public illegally, without the certification federal law requires.

Who Is Responsible for Airplane Accidents?

In an accident investigation, determining what caused the accident and who was at fault are the two primary objectives. Fault for an aviation accident can lie with multiple parties — and often does.

• Airlines and commercial operators: An airline may be liable for an accident caused by pilot error, mechanical problems, or negligence in training, staffing, dispatch, or adherence to safety protocols.
• Aircraft manufacturers: Manufacturers may be held liable when an accident results from a defect in the design or manufacture of the aircraft, or from inadequate or incorrect information about its operation, maintenance requirements, or emergency procedures. The Boeing 737 MAX litigation is the leading recent example: federal prosecutors charged Boeing with conspiracy to defraud the FAA in connection with the two MAX crashes, and Boeing admitted the underlying conduct in a 2021 deferred prosecution agreement. A 2024 agreement under which Boeing would have pleaded guilty to a felony was rejected by the federal court, and in 2025 the Justice Department moved to resolve the case without a conviction, over the objections of the crash victims’ families.
• Component and parts manufacturers: Engines, avionics, bearings, actuators, and other components are often built by companies other than the airframe manufacturer, and a defective part can support a separate product liability claim.
• Maintenance providers and ground crews: FAA human-factors research attributes roughly 80 percent of aircraft maintenance errors to human factors such as fatigue, time pressure, and poor communication. When those errors go undetected, they can cause accidents — and liability for the maintenance company.
• Aircraft owners and lessors: The owner or lessor of an aircraft may bear responsibility where it retained possession or operational control of the aircraft, or where its own negligence — such as entrusting the aircraft to an unqualified operator or failing to maintain it — contributed to the crash. A federal statute, 49 U.S.C. § 44112, limits certain claims against owners and lessors who were not in possession or control at the time of the accident, which makes early analysis of the lease terms and actual operational control essential.
• Charter operators and charter brokers: Charter companies, and the brokers who arrange charter flights, may be liable for negligent operation or for negligently selecting an unqualified or uncertificated operator — including so-called “gray charter” arrangements in which flights are sold to the public without the federal certification the law requires.
• Fixed-base operators and fuel suppliers: Fueling errors, fuel contamination, and negligent ground handling at general aviation airports cause crashes every year.
• Flight schools and instructors: Training accidents may involve negligent instruction, negligent supervision of student pilots, or unsafe aircraft.
• Air tour, sightseeing, and air ambulance operators: Helicopter tour and medical transport operations have distinctive risk profiles and regulatory histories, and they account for a disproportionate share of fatal helicopter accidents.
• Air traffic control: When controller error contributes to a crash, the claim is generally against the United States and must follow the Federal Tort Claims Act — which requires a written administrative claim to the government within two years, before any lawsuit can be filed.

International Aviation Accident Claims and the Montreal Convention

Modern aviation litigation often crosses international borders. An aviation accident may involve a foreign airline, an overseas manufacturer, international maintenance providers, or passengers from many countries — and many crashes involving U.S. citizens occur outside the United States. Power Rogers has handled aviation cases arising from crashes around the world.

Most claims arising from international airline travel are governed by the Montreal Convention, a treaty that replaces ordinary state-law rules with its own system. In plain terms, the Convention generally provides:

• Strict liability for proven damages up to a set threshold. For passenger death or bodily injury caused by an “accident” on board or during boarding or deplaning, the airline is liable for proven damages up to a limit set in “special drawing rights” — currently 151,880 SDRs, roughly $200,000 — without the family having to prove the airline was negligent.
• Liability above the threshold unless the airline proves the harm was not due to its own negligence or was solely caused by a third party.
• Strict limits on where suit may be filed. The Convention allows suit only in specific countries — including, in many cases, the passenger’s principal place of residence — and choosing the right forum can dramatically affect the recovery.
• Exclusivity. For covered claims, the Convention generally displaces state-law causes of action against the airline.
• A strict two-year deadline. The Convention requires suit within two years, and courts treat that period as a condition of bringing the claim at all — it generally cannot be extended, even for minors.

International cases also raise questions of jurisdiction, applicable law, and forum non conveniens — defendants frequently try to push cases filed in U.S. courts to foreign courts where recoveries are smaller. Our firm works with aviation experts and investigators across jurisdictions to coordinate investigations, preserve evidence, and pursue full compensation in cross-border litigation.

How Aviation Accident Investigations Work

When a plane crash or serious aviation incident occurs, two separate processes begin almost simultaneously: a federal investigation and, eventually, civil litigation. Understanding how these two tracks relate to each other matters a great deal if you are considering a legal claim.

The Federal Investigation

The National Transportation Safety Board leads the investigation into most civil aviation accidents in the United States. Its mission is to determine the probable cause of an accident and issue safety recommendations — not to assign legal liability. The FAA may also be involved, particularly when questions arise about air traffic control, aircraft certification, or regulatory compliance.

Federal investigators gather a substantial body of evidence: flight data recorders, cockpit voice recorders, air traffic control communications, maintenance logs, weather data, and witness statements. The process can take months or years, and the final NTSB report often becomes a significant reference point in civil litigation. One feature of the process matters especially to families: the NTSB’s “party system” typically gives the manufacturer, the airline, and other industry participants a seat at the investigative table. Injured passengers and grieving families have no comparable seat — which is one more reason an independent investigation by your own counsel and experts matters.

What This Means for Your Civil Case

A government investigation and a civil lawsuit are not the same thing. The NTSB does not determine fault for legal purposes, and by federal statute (49 U.S.C. § 1154(b)) the Board’s probable-cause report itself cannot be admitted into evidence in a civil case — although the underlying factual materials gathered in the investigation generally can be used. An attorney handling an aviation claim needs to understand how to work alongside the federal investigative timeline, preserve independent evidence, and identify liable parties before critical records disappear. That preparation often begins well before any government report is published.

How Long Do You Have to File a Lawsuit?

Several different deadlines can apply to an aviation case, and using the wrong one can end a claim before it starts. The most important are:

• Illinois personal injury — two years from the date of injury (735 ILCS 5/13-202).
• Illinois wrongful death — two years from the date of death, under the Illinois Wrongful Death Act (740 ILCS 180/2).
• International flights — two years, strictly enforced. The Montreal Convention’s two-year period is treated as a condition of bringing suit and generally cannot be extended — even for minors.
• Claims against the United States (including air traffic control) — the Federal Tort Claims Act requires a written administrative claim within two years, before suit may be filed.
• Claims against Illinois local governmental entities — one year under the Local Governmental and Governmental Employees Tort Immunity Act (745 ILCS 10/8-101), which can matter when an airport authority or other public body is a defendant.
• Claims against general aviation manufacturers — an 18-year cutoff. The federal General Aviation Revitalization Act generally bars product liability claims against the manufacturers of small aircraft and their components more than 18 years after delivery, subject to limited exceptions.

Some deadlines can be extended in limited circumstances — for example, Illinois law can pause certain deadlines for minors — but others, like the Montreal Convention’s, cannot. These rules interact in complicated ways, and it is important to contact the aviation accident attorneys at Power Rogers promptly to make sure your claim is filed on time and in the right court.

How Do You Claim Compensation After an Aviation Accident?

Recovering compensation after an airplane or helicopter crash often requires far more than submitting an insurance claim. Aviation cases frequently involve catastrophic injuries, federal investigations, competing technical opinions, and multiple responsible parties disputing liability.

The first step is understanding how the accident occurred. Our attorneys review evidence collected by the NTSB, the FAA, and independent investigators while conducting our own investigation into pilot error, mechanical failure, air traffic control issues, maintenance failures, or defects attributable to the manufacturer.

A successful aviation accident claim may seek compensation for:

• Medical expenses and future medical care
• Lost income and reduced earning capacity
• Disability and disfigurement, including severe burns and traumatic injuries
• Pain and suffering and emotional distress
• Other losses tied to the accident

Some aviation injuries require years of treatment and rehabilitation. Victims may face permanent disabilities, neurological injuries, orthopedic trauma, or psychological harm after surviving a crash. Our attorneys work closely with medical professionals and economic experts to understand the long-term financial impact of those injuries. Many victims also face pressure from insurers soon after the crash — insurance companies move quickly to limit their exposure in cases involving substantial damages. Our team prepares every aviation claim as though it will proceed to a jury trial. We offer a free consultation for injury victims and families seeking answers after aviation accidents, no matter where in the world they occurred.

Wrongful Death in Aviation Cases

A deadly plane crash changes a family forever. In many aviation cases, surviving family members are left trying to process overwhelming grief while also dealing with financial uncertainty, medical bills for emergency care before death, and unanswered questions about what caused the crash.

Illinois law gives families two related claims after a fatal crash:

• A wrongful death claim under the Illinois Wrongful Death Act, brought for the benefit of the surviving spouse and next of kin. Illinois law expressly allows recovery for the family’s grief, sorrow, and mental suffering, along with the loss of the loved one’s financial support, companionship, and society.
• A survival claim under the Illinois Survival Act, which belongs to the estate and covers the losses the person experienced before death — including conscious pain and suffering and medical expenses — when a victim initially survives the crash.

Our legal team investigates the full scope of the loss and works to identify every liable party — the airline, the manufacturer, maintenance contractors, charter operators, aircraft owners, or other entities involved in the flight. In some cases, multiple companies share responsibility for the same catastrophic event. We approach wrongful death cases with care, precision, and a willingness to take aviation litigation to trial when necessary. We have represented crash victims and families in major aviation cases around the world, including litigation arising from Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302.

Common Causes of Aviation Accidents

Aviation accidents result from a range of factors — pilot error, mechanical failures and defects, maintenance mistakes, air traffic control errors, and severe weather, often in combination. Not every case involves a crash: serious in-flight injuries also occur from severe turbulence, seat and equipment malfunctions, and failures to respond properly to onboard medical emergencies.

Pilot Error and Negligence

Pilot error remains the leading cause of aviation accidents. Three examples from NTSB investigations:

• Asiana Airlines Flight 214 (2013): During the approach to San Francisco International Airport, the flight crew mismanaged the airplane’s automated systems and allowed airspeed to decay until the aircraft struck the seawall short of the runway, killing three passengers (NTSB Report AAR-14/01). Power Rogers represented victims of this crash.
• Colgan Air Flight 3407 (2009): Near Buffalo, New York, the captain responded incorrectly to a stall warning, pulling back on the controls instead of pushing forward, causing a loss of control that killed all 49 aboard and one person on the ground. Fatigue and training deficiencies were contributing factors (NTSB investigation).
• American Airlines Flight 587 (2001): Shortly after takeoff from JFK, the first officer’s aggressive rudder inputs in response to wake turbulence caused the vertical stabilizer to separate, and the aircraft crashed in Queens, killing all 260 aboard and five on the ground (NTSB Report AAR-04/04).

Mechanical Failures and Aircraft Defects

Mechanical failures and manufacturing defects remain all too common. In January 2024, a door plug blew out of the fuselage of an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 9 in flight, prompting the FAA to ground the MAX 9 fleet; the NTSB’s final report faulted Boeing’s manufacturing processes and FAA oversight. Defect cases can involve the airframe manufacturer, component suppliers, and the certification process itself.

Air Traffic Control Errors

Air traffic control plays a significant role in keeping aircraft safe, on the ground and in the air. Failures can involve communication breakdowns, controller fatigue and workload, technology outages, and runway incursions in which aircraft are misdirected onto occupied runways or taxiways. The January 2025 midair collision between a regional airliner and an Army helicopter near Washington, D.C. — the deadliest U.S. air disaster in more than two decades — has renewed national attention on airspace management and controller staffing. Because air traffic controllers are federal employees, these claims proceed against the United States under the Federal Tort Claims Act.

Weather-Related Aviation Accidents

Severe weather — turbulence, in-flight icing, thunderstorms, wind shear, and fog — contributes to accidents every year, particularly in general aviation. Weather is rarely a complete defense: the legal question is usually whether the pilot, the operator, or air traffic control responded reasonably to conditions that were known or forecast.

Aviation Accident Statistics

According to the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, most aviation accidents involve non-commercial aircraft. In 2022, there were approximately 920 accidents involving non-commercial fixed-wing aircraft, resulting in 234 fatalities, compared with 48 commercial fixed-wing accidents and 14 fatalities; helicopters accounted for 32 non-commercial accidents (23 fatalities) and 13 commercial accidents (10 fatalities).

What Percentage of Aviation Accidents Are Caused by Human Error?

Research by NASA and the FAA has consistently found that the substantial majority of aviation accidents — by some estimates 70 to 80 percent — involve human factors, including pilot error, maintenance mistakes, and inadequate safety checks. Design defects that are concealed from regulators compound the danger, as the Boeing 737 MAX litigation demonstrated.

What Evidence Matters in an Aviation Investigation?

Aviation cases often involve extensive technical records, federal investigations, and competing explanations from airlines, manufacturers, insurers, and government agencies. Early preservation and analysis of evidence can shape the outcome of the entire case. Important evidence may include:

• Cockpit voice recordings and flight data recorder information
• Maintenance logs and airworthiness records
• Pilot training, certification, and duty-time records
• Radar tracking data and communications between pilots and air traffic control
• Weather reports and forecasts available to the crew
• Wreckage analysis and component testing
• FAA certification and compliance records

How Can an Aviation Accident Lawyer Help Me?

Aviation accidents range from major airline disasters to crashes involving helicopters, charter planes, corporate jets, sightseeing tour aircraft, and small private planes. These cases involve complicated laws and regulations governing the aviation industry and typically require an extensive independent investigation. The knowledge and experience of an aviation accident lawyer is essential to understanding the legal landscape, determining liability, and giving you the best chance of recovering full compensation.

Evidence can become difficult to preserve quickly after an aviation incident. Wreckage may be moved, records may change hands, and witness memories fade. For that reason, victims and families often benefit from involving counsel early in the investigative process. Power Rogers works closely with engineers, accident reconstruction specialists, and industry professionals to evaluate what happened and whether negligence contributed to the crash.

Questions? Contact an Experienced Aviation Accident Lawyer for Help

At Power Rogers, our Chicago aviation accident lawyers work hard at every step of the process. We know how these accidents are investigated, and we know how to prove liability. We take the time to formulate a strategy based on the facts and details of your case. Our team has helped recover more than $6 billion over the course of our 30-plus years in practice. We have a reputation for strong, reliable advocacy, and we are prepared to help you through negotiations or trial. Call now to learn more about your rights and legal options.

Contact Power Rogers today to discuss your airplane or helicopter accident.