Originally Posted by ross M
Asides of the NTSB investigation (which so far as I know does not assign blame) what's the chance of a criminal prosecution being filed? ( Almost certainly, civil suits will result. ) What's the dividing line between an accident and culpable negligence?
Criminal prosecution for pilots involved in accidents are pretty rare in the US. I can't think of any of Airline pilots having had criminal prosecution for an accident. The only one I can think of was a few years ago a pilot was flying low over a river and hit a power line and his passenger died in the accident. This incident was reported in pilot magazines and was notable precisely because it is rare. Not a legal expert but I think that in the US there has to be a willful violation of the law resulting in the accident in order for criminal charges to apply.
edit: The case I mentioned was the first time a pilot in the us had ever faced criminal prosecution for an accident, according to the AOPA. That was in 2008. No idea if any have followed since.