Responsibility for Helicopter Losses

Regardless of the final cause of an accident, helicopter accidents do not occur unless something goes terribly wrong. In most cases this means that someone did something they should not have done or they failed to do something they should have done. A proper and thorough investigation, coupled with legal analysis, will find those who are at fault for the loss for a particular accident. Each accident analysis will depend on the facts of the particular accident. Generally speaking the following entities are always potential defendants:

• Maintainer
• Air Traffic Control-U.S. Government or contractor
• Control Tower Operator-U.S. Government, contractor, or private
• Flight Chart/Approach Procedure Publisher
• Operational or Maintenance Manual Publisher
• Airfield/Helicopter Pad Owner/Operator
• Obstruction (television, radio, cell phone tower, vegetation, building) owner or lessor
• Weather provider
• Operator-Company or individual pilot.
• Designer-Aircraft or component
• Manufacturer-Aircraft or component
• Seller-Aircraft or component
• Flight School/Flight Instructor
• Owner
• Lessor/lessee
• Overhauler