Getting the truth for clients from air accident investigations

Air safety is a right, not a privilege. Getting to the truth of what happened sits at the heart of what we do for our clients.

Our work for our clients promotes air safety in four important ways:

• We independently investigate each accident, as well as working with government investigators, to determine the true causes of the accident
• We represent families during coroners’ investigations and inquests
• We campaign, nationally and internationally, for improvements to air safety
• We maximise compensation claims against those responsible for the accident

How we support our clients through the air accident investigation

We guide our clients through the complex processes after an aviation accident. We help families understand the official accident investigation and its result as well as any coroner’s investigation and inquest. Often, their legal rights may be affected by the accident report and the inquest.

We obtain maximum compensation from those responsible for the accident. The aviation insurers then force higher premiums on those responsible as well as enhanced safety checks. This in turn leads to improvements in air safety.

Our work surrounding air safety

We lobby aviation regulators and governments on aviation safety measures and campaign for improvement or change. Sadly, it often takes an aviation accident and fatalities to bring about meaningful change.

Case studies of improving air safety:

Shoreham Airshow, Sussex 22 August 2015

We represent the majority of families who lost their loved ones in the worst airshow disaster in the UK for many years. We conducted our own safety investigation and were the first to obtain an admission of liability for civil compensation. The families want the truth about how their loved ones lost their lives in the accident. The inquest process is their best chance at getting to that truth, as well as ensuring that further innocent lives are not lost.

Rogers v Hoyle [2014] 3 WLR 148

This vintage aircraft accident resulted in the death of Orlando Rogers (a former Royal Marine), who was a passenger taken for a pleasure flight by his friend. We successfully made important new aviation law for families (in the High Court and Court of Appeal) that official accident reports are admissible as evidence in aviation accident compensation cases. This important decision now helps all families who would not otherwise be able to obtain the relevant technical aviation information to support their claim.

One-Two-GO Flight OG-269, Phuket, Thailand, 16th September 2007

This low-cost airline crashed in Thailand, with many passenger deaths and injuries. We were very concerned that low-cost can mean low-safety. We represented the British and Irish families that lost their loved ones. We worked closely with the European Commission, who placed this airline on the EU blacklist and banned it from any EU flight operations. We also worked with the coroner, who made a formal Prevention of Future Deaths Report to ensure all British travellers be made aware of airlines on the EU blacklist before they book any air travel.

Helicopter crash at Gillingham Hall, Norfolk, March 2014

This executive helicopter took off in poor weather at night and crashed during take-off. We represented the families of the two passengers who lost their lives and conducted our own air safety investigation. After a long inquest with a jury, the coroner issued a Prevention of Future Deaths Report to require better air safety regulations for helicopter operations in poor weather from private premises.