Aviation News

Families Of Victims Of Flight 522 File Lawsuit Against Boeing In United States Court

Chicago, Illinois - Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP, in cooperation with the Cyprus law firm Phoebus, Christos Clerides, N. Pirilides & Associates, of Nicosia and Limassol, announced that families of victims of the crash of Helios Flight 522 filed a lawsuit  against The Boeing Company in United States District Court in Chicago, Illinois. One hundred and fifteen passengers and six crew members died on August 14, 2005, when the Boeing 737-300 apparently flew without cabin pressure and then crashed north of Athens, Greece.

The investigation of the crash of the Helios Airways Flight 522 has reportedly found that the pressurization system on the plane was not properly configured by the pilots at the time the aircraft took off from Larnaca, Cyprus. However, Robert L. Lieff, founding partner of the American law firm Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP, explained that "while there appears to have been negligence on the part of the Helios pilots, Boeing was also negligent and shares responsibility for the passengers’ deaths."

Christos Clerides, whose firm will spearhead efforts to prosecute claims against Helios itself, is working in partnership with Lieff Cabraser in representing the families in pursuing Boeing and any other U.S. manufacturers who may have contributed to the accident. Mr. Clerides stated, "I am very pleased to take this step forward in achieving justice for my clients. We intend to make sure that no responsible party escapes accountability for this horrible tragedy."

Nigel Taylor, an attorney with Lieff Cabraser based in London and one of Europe’s most experienced aviation attorneys, stated, "This lawsuit holds out great hope for the victim families to get fair compensation, and we have an outstanding team in place to achieve that end."

Hans-Peter Graf, a former airline commander and investigator in charge at the Swiss Aircraft Accidents Investigation Bureau who specializes in flight operation and human factors, has been retained by Lieff Cabraser to work on this case. Mr. Graf commented, "The checklists that Boeing composed and recommended for the 737 aircraft made it easy for crews to take off and fly with the pressurization system set incorrectly. The alerts and warnings given to the crew were inexcusably vague and late. The design and implementation of a superior system would have cost a minimal amount. Thus, I am firmly convinced that Boeing and its partners played a substantial role in this crash, and they could have prevented it with a proper design of the crew alerting system."

The complaint alleges that a series of design defects in the Boeing 737-300 led to the pilots’ failure to understand the nature of the problems they were facing. Foremost among these was that the pressurization warning "horn" on the Boeing 737-300 emits the same sound used to alert pilots about improper takeoff and landing configurations. The pilots’ confusion was compounded by the fact that the very danger being warned of – low cabin air pressure – impairs cognitive functions. "If you are warning about a dangerous condition that impairs a pilot’s ability to think, it is common sense that you make that warning as clear as possible, and Boeing did not do that," commented Robert L. Lieff.

The complaint alleges that two years before the Helios accident, in 2003, Boeing communicated to 737 operators that "flight crews may not recognize the [aircraft pressurization failure] horn as an alert of excessive cabin altitude." Yet, commented Robert L. Lieff, "Boeing took no corrective action in response to this potential safety hazard other than ask 737 operators to revise their manuals. Boeing could have eliminated the confusion from multiple uses of the same horn by using a vocal warning or a unique horn, through an inexpensive modification to the 737 pressurization warning system."

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	Did You Know?
	FAA enforcement actions (certificate action or civil penalty cases) From the short reporting period of 10/1/03- 12/31/03. The FAA reported 82 cases of related certificate action or civil penalty case violations. Ranging fines of $750 to $50,000 on violations during this reporting time. Some fines for activity topics were: Training-Flight Crew, Flight Operations, Quality Control, Drug Testing, & other types of violations.