Aviation Expert Witness

Airplane Expert Witnesses

Aviation accidents and the facts surrounding them are typically quite complicated because so many factors are involved. An airline crash often occurs when there is a failure of more than one factor. One has to examine the aircraft itself and determine its airworthiness. Might there have been manufacturing defects or mechanical problems due to maintenance issues? The actions of the aircraft’s crew, air traffic controllers, and others need to be taken into account. And then there are weather and other natural conditions to be considered.

In his article for AVweb.com, Phillip J. Kolczynski explains the roles of expert witnesses. First there is the retained testifying expert. This is the “hired gun” you hear about. Kolczynski says that this person “is hired to analyze the crash and provide opinions on the cause of the accident and whether or not airmen breached their standard of care. The hallmark of a testifying expert witness is that he or she is permitted by the court to render opinions based on analysis.”

The next role is that of a confidential consultant. This is a person who assists an attorney with analysis as he or she prepares a case for litigation. This falls under the Attorney Work Product Protection Doctrine, which essentially means that “most states and the Federal courts have traditionally protected the work product of the attorney as well as the investigators and consulting experts he has hired to assist him with that analysis,” according to Kolczynski.

And finally there is the technical fact witness. This is typically an aviation professional who appears in court to give testimony regarding factual information relevant to the issues in the case. This could be any type of aviation professional, from a pilot to an air traffic controller to a person working in aircraft engineering or manufacturing to an official from a regulatory or government agency.

Federal Courts, and therefore most other courts as well, allow any witness to be qualified as an expert if that witness possesses knowledge, skill, experience, training, or education that might aid the jury (if it’s a jury trial) or judge to understand the technical issues involved. Our clients have the benefit of a state-of-the-art technical and support network as well as an in-house staff of investigators, trial paralegals, nurses, and legal assistants. Continue reading in this section to see just how Nurenberg Paris utilizes outside experts to better serve you.

Aerodynamics

Obviously when discussing aircraft and aircraft crashes, aerodynamics plays a huge role. Aerodynamics experts are often professors, researchers, and consultants in the field. If your case might involve propellers, helicopter rotors, air load or structural calculations, a plane’s stability and control, jet propulsion, electric propulsion and electric discharges, or any other factor in the broad realm of aerodynamics, Nurenberg Paris will have the right expert for your case.

An aerodynamics expert might help determine the likelihood of crashing due to icing or how speed—too low or too high—may have contributed to an accident. Whatever the circumstances of your case, Nurenberg Paris will have its experts study the evidence and and report to you the best plan of action in regard to moving forward with litigation.

Engineering

When analyzing any situation involving an aircraft crash, engineering almost always comes into play. It is necessary to have expert engineers advising in your case, and perhaps testifying in your case, as to what role, if any, engineering played in an accident.

Nurenberg Paris utilizes aerospace, civil, mechanical, maintenance, materials, electrical and electronic, and even ocean/marine engineers, depending on the circumstances of your case, to pore over and analyze evidence and/or testify in your case. These experts are the utmost professionals who have years of experience.

The engineers we use could include senior scientists, distinguished professors, military personnel, Federal Aviation Administration officials, or those with years of experience in aircraft manufacturing, among others. They can look for causes of a crash in the plane’s instruments and electrical systems, its body, its design, its fuel system, its workmanship, etc. With so many possibilities and factors to be considered in the unfortunate event of a plane crash, you want an experienced team of attorneys with their experienced team of expert engineers to find the truth for you.

Weather

In any crash of an aircraft, weather or other climate conditions need to be examined. Nurenberg Paris aviation attorneys consult with people properly qualified in weather and climate litigation for support and expert witness services. These experts can come from various backgrounds. Some may be professors in subjects such as forensic meteorology and climatology. Some may have more experience in air quality modeling or weather event reconstruction. The key is that Nurenberg Paris ensures that it will utilize experts who will obtain, analyze, interpret, and understand weather and climatological data.

Weather is a frequent contributor in aviation crashes, especially of smaller aircraft. So you need an expert who can tell you exactly how climatological conditions played a role in the crash that involved you or a loved one. The experts brought in by Nurenberg Paris will examine the evidence and re-create the circumstances to see what effect rain, ice, lightning, wind shear, fog, clouds, or other meteorological conditions may have had in your case.

Manufacturing

The root of some aviation accidents goes all the way back to when the plane was manufactured. A design flaw or defect in one of the many parts that make up an aircraft could eventually prove to be a fatal mistake. When you consider just how many parts go into making up an airplane of any size, especially a major commercial jet, and you think of how many people are needed to put the aircraft together, you understand that it takes a true expert—or perhaps a team of experts—in all phases of aircraft manufacturing to investigate what role manufacturing may have played in your accident.

An aviation manufacturing expert may review avionics and electrical systems design for manufacturing problems, for instance, or look for any other defect that might have led to a loss in operational control by the pilot. And if the Nurenberg Paris experts find a manufacturing defect, through our legal work we help to implement changes in the aviation industry to prevent a similiar aviation accident from occurring. We view our work as a continuous battle to hold the corporations and others who are responsible for your loss accountable for their errors and omissions.

Human Factors

Humans play a large role in aircraft safety. Beginning all the way back with the design concept, it is necessary that humans create a sound plan to engineer an aircraft that will run smoothly, efficiently, and safely. From there the plane’s destiny slips through the hands of many people: workers at the manufacturing plant, maintenance workers, the pilot and crew, air traffic controllers, weather analysts, air traffic controllers, airport security personnel, the list goes on. Some experts, for instance, specialize in airports, aviation service companies, and airport facilities, including the many human interactions involved in those areas.

In any investigation of an aircraft crash, the role of human error has to be considered. At Nurenberg Paris, the aviation team knows that pilot or other human errors are commonly responsible in the cases of ill-fated flights. Sometimes those errors are due to weather, sometimes to mechanical issues, sometimes to misreading or misunderstanding information, and sometimes just to mistakes or lapses in judgment.

The experts retained by Nurenberg Paris will look at the many human interactions involved with the aircraft in your case to determine what role human error may have played in the accident.

Accident Reconstructionists

The facts of what happened in a plane crash are one thing, but illustrating those facts to a jury in plain and simple terms is another matter altogether. If your case goes to a mediation or trial, you will want an expert who can vividly reconstruct for a jury exactly what happened in the crash.

Many experts in this area have credentials from the Accreditation Commission for Traffic Accident Reconstruction (ACTAR), as they reconstruct a wide range of accidents. Many also belong to organizations such as the National Association of Professional Accident Reconstruction Specialists, Accident Reconstruction Communications Network, Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA), or other regional, state, and local groups. Some are full-time crash reconstructions while others offer such expertise in addition to their main occupations.

The bottom line is that when your case goes to trial, Nurenberg Paris will ensure that a highly skilled, trained, and qualified accident reconstructionist will show a jury in very clear terms exactly what happened in the accident involving you or a loved one.

Air Traffic Control

In some cases, the actions of those in the air traffic control tower play a role in what may have actually happened in an accident. Air traffic control experts can be vital in assisting our team of attorneys with analysis as they prepare a case for litigation, and these experts can be vital in describing to a jury what could—or should—have happened during events leading up to a crash.

Many of these experts are currently or formerly members of an air traffic evaluation and investigations staff, and most are current or former air traffic specialists. Many, too, are pilots or even flight instructors, as well. Nurenberg Paris may retain such an expert to analyze communication between a commercial airline and an air traffic control tower. Or such an expert may give insight into how two small aircraft could collide in the airspace near an airport. This person could also help determine whether or not procedures complied with FAA requirements.

Nurenberg Paris brings 80 years of experience to your situation, including a special focus on handling aviation cases. With our experience, plus that of capable, professional experts brought in by our firm, we will present the best, most comprehensive case possible to the court. Fill out a free online consultation form or call us toll-free at (800) 562-7438. Experience matters—talk to an aviation accident lawyer at Nurenberg Paris today.

Aviation Attorneys

The aviation attorneys at Nurenberg Paris will thoroughly investigate your claim when you’ve been injured in an aviation accident. We take the time to research important airline accident causes and plane crash statistics to ensure we are well-versed and fully prepared for your case. We’ve been helping crash victims since 1928, and you can count us to help you, too.