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Aviation Companies Settle in Wrongful Death Lawsuit in Helicopter Crash
April 03, 2008

Three families have settled for a sum of $18.4 million with an aviation company that is one among several blamed for the deaths of three medical workers in the crash of a helicopter.

The medical helicopter crash occurred in 2002 in Norfolk. The LifeNet of the Heartland helicopter had just left a hospital, when the pilot seemed to have difficulty with the aircraft. Soon after, it crashed near Norfolk airport. Three workers were killed - 41-year-old Laurie Schrempp, 43-year-old Phil Nerring and 40-year-old Patrick Scollard. The National Transportation Safety Board ruled that the fault lay with a faulty tail rotor in the copter, among other factors. The tail rotor apparently went out of control, crashing the helicopter near Norfolk Airport.

The families of the three deceased filed a wrongful death lawsuit against six companies that made or maintained the component parts of the helicopter that were responsible for the crash - American Eurocopter, Eurocopter S.A, CIT Leasing Corp., Societe D' Applications Des Machines Motrices, Dunlop Limited and Duncan Aviation of Lincoln. Under the settlement the six companies will pay a settlement of $18.4 million to the families, but will not admit any wrongdoing.

More importantly, the helicopter's manufacturer Eurocopter SA, said that it would require more aggressive inspection and checking of parts on its helicopters. The company said it would change the tail rotor load maintenance requirements within the next 90 days. Currently, the mechanism which helps control the tail rotor is checked by maintenance technicians after every 500 flights. This time gap between inspections will be reduced to 100 flights. That's not all. The company will look into redesigning the part that went out of control in the crash - the tail unit of the Eurocopter AS350B2 and all other parts just like it.

The $18.4 million settlement is believed to be the largest ever in Nebraska. Eurocopter is expected to contribute the lion's share of the settlement, but breakdown details of all companies involved are unavailable. More than the amount of the settlement is the fact that the company will make efforts to redesign the faulty tail rotor, and undertake more frequent checks of the tail rotor to ensure that mishaps like this don't occur again.

The families are said to be pleased with the changes that Eurocopter has announced. These changes will mean that such accidents will become less frequent.

If you have lost a loved-one in an accident, contact an experienced California personal injury lawyer at The Reeves Law Group for a free consultation.

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