Lawyers for the relatives of 10 victims of September’s midair crash in Brazil filed suit this week in a U.S. court against ExcelAire, the owner of the Embraer Legacy jet that collided with a Boeing 737, and also named Honeywell, the manufacturer of the Legacy’s transponder. “The pilots of the ExcelAire jet were flying at an incorrect altitude at the time of the collision and the ExcelAire jet’s transponder … was not functioning at the time of the collision,” the lawsuit states. The suit alleges that the transponder stopped operating before the collision, which also disabled the Traffic Collision Avoidance System (TCAS), and that the Legacy jet was flying at the incorrect altitude. The suit also alleges that the pilots failed to take the steps they should have after they lost radio contact with controllers, and didn’t correctly use the transponder and TCAS. Design flaws in the Honeywell avionics and inadequate training of the pilots contributed to the accident, the suit alleges.
Suit Alleges Malfunction, Mistakes
Key Takeaways:
- Relatives of the victims of September's midair crash in Brazil filed a U.S. lawsuit against ExcelAire, owner of the Embraer Legacy jet, and Honeywell, the transponder manufacturer.
- The lawsuit alleges the ExcelAire jet was flying at an incorrect altitude and its transponder/TCAS was not functioning at the time of the collision.
- Additional claims include pilot failures after losing radio contact and misuse of systems, along with allegations of design flaws in Honeywell avionics and inadequate pilot training contributing to the accident.
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