Here's a further update on the lawsuits being filed in the States. I am not clear on why Olympic Airlines is named as a defendant, nor am I sure that the list of those named is complete.
Boeing faces US lawsuit over Helios crash
By Leo Leonidou
A TEAM of lawyers representing 11 victims of last August’s Helios Airways plane disaster have announced that the families have filed a lawsuit against Boeing in the United States.
In a press release issued yesterday, American law firm Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein declared: “In co-operation with the Cyprus law firm Phoebus, Christos Clerides, N. Pirilides & Associates, of Nicosia and Limassol, the families of victims of the crash of Helios Flight 522 filed a lawsuit on Tuesday against The Boeing Company in the United States District Court in Chicago, Illinois.”
One hundred and fifteen passengers and six crew died on August 14, 2005,
when the Boeing 737-200 apparently flew without cabin pressure and then
crashed north of Athens.
“The investigation of the crash has reportedly found that the pressurisation system on the plane was not properly configured by the pilots at the time the aircraft took off from Larnaca,” the lawyers’ statement said.
However, Robert L. Lieff, founding partner of the American law firm, 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 US manufacturers who may have contributed to the accident.
He told the Cyprus Mail that, “we are all confident and the timeframe, as we understand it, is that we’ll have further developments within the next two months. I am very pleased to take this step forward in achieving justice for my
clients and we intend to make sure that no responsible party escapes accountability for this horrible tragedy.”
Hans-Peter Graf, a former airline commander and investigator in charge at
the Swiss Aircraft Accidents Investigation Bureau who specialise in flight
operation and human factors, has been retained by Lieff Cabraser to work on
the case. Graf explained that, “the checklists that Boeing composed and
recommended for the 737 aircraft made it easy for crews to take off and fly
with the pressurisation 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 737-200
led to the pilots’ failure to understand the nature of the problems they
were facing. Foremost among these was that the pressurisation warning horn
on the Boeing 737-200 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 Lieff.
The complaint alleges that in 2003, Boeing communicated to 737 operators that “flight crews may not recognise the horn as an alert of excessive cabin
altitude.” Yet, Lieff said that, “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 pressurisation warning system.”
The action is the latest in a series of lawsuits in the pipeline following the tragedy. Two of the biggest aviation litigation firms, Podhurst and Orseck and New York-based Kreindler & Kreindler have teamed up together while Owen, Patterson & Owen, Girardi & Keese and Servicios Legales de Mesoamerica have filed civil action claims against Boeing, Helios, Libra Holidays and Olympic Airlines.
When asked why so many international law firms have become involved, Clerides said: “Unfortunately, the level of damages awarded by Cypriot courts doesn’t match up to the levels awarded by US courts. The relatives are seeking not only monetary compensation but also want to get to the root cause of the accident. They believe that Boeing, as the aircraft’s manufacturer, must take some of the responsibility.”
Copyright © Cyprus Mail 2005