On January 29th, at approximately 9:00 p.m. EST, an American Airlines jet collided with a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter. A total of 67 people on board the two aircraft were killed. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced an hour after the accident that it would work with the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) to investigate the worst U.S. plane crash in 24 years, and that the NTSB would lead the entire investigation.
If this were an international flight, the families of the victims would have a clearer path to compensation for their loss. If the operating airline is registered with the Montreal Convention, the airline would owe the families of the victims approximately US$142,660 each.
compensation process can take years for domestic aviation accidents in the US. The NTSB spends months investigating a crash. But, its focus is preventing another accident instead of assigning blame. The NTSB report only points out the possible causes of the accident and gives safety recommendations. An unpredictable legal process ultimately decides how much should be given to the victim’s families..
For example, in the 2009 Air France Flight 477 crash, the flight recorder “black box” was not recovered until two years after the crash, and the results of the investigation were not released until 2012. A lawsuit against Air France and Airbus, the manufacturer of the plane involved in the crash, was acquitted in 2023, but the Paris prosecutor’s office appealed. The case is still pending more than 15 and a half years since the crash.
Some air carriers like Malaysia Airlines hold insurance, which agrees to compensate all parties involved in an accident. Insurers quickly paid the families of the victims of Flight MH370 $50,000, although some families are still waiting for the outcome of the lawsuit.
Modern commercial jets are assembled using parts from vendors around the world. The jets might be maintained by crews and flown by pilots of various nationalities. Finding responsibility for an airline crash can be complex in a globalized world.For example, after the Helios Flight 522 crash in 2005, the lawsuit against former Helios employees involved Greece,Cyprus, and Bulgaria.
Airline crashes caused by military misfires can be even harder to resolve.Iran Air Flight 655 crash was shot down by an anti-aircraft missile fired from the U.S. Navy cruiser during the 1988 Iran-Iraq War. he U.S. government compensated the 248 wage-earning Iranian victims with $300,000 and $150,000 for those who weren’t. There is no report on the compensation of the victims of the 42 other nationalities on board the plane. The U.S. has expressed regret, but it is difficult to formally apologize for the incident due to the lack of diplomatic relations with Iran.
Most military-related accidents involving a commercial airliner are never resolved. No party has taken responsibility for the recent attack on the Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17 in the conflict zone over eastern Ukraine, and no compensation has been paid.