Aviation Law & Investigation

FAA enforcement records — from formal certificate suspensions to informal Warning Notices and voluntary disclosure agreements — are some of the most factually detailed documents that exist about a certificate holder’s conduct before an accident. Understanding what those records mean, and what they do not mean, is foundational to how civil aviation cases are structured and tried.

The duty of care owed by commercial air carriers is shaped by federal regulation and operational certification systems. This article examines how that duty is defined, applied, and litigated in complex aviation cases.

Choice of law and forum selection determine both the governing legal rules and the procedural setting of aviation accident cases. These doctrines shape liability exposure, evidentiary access, and litigation strategy from the earliest stages of a claim.

Dry lease and sham lease disputes frequently determine operational control and liability in aviation cases. This analysis examines how courts and regulators evaluate lease structures in accident litigation.

Charter flight litigation frequently turns on the allocation of operational control among brokers, owners, and management companies. This analysis examines how courts and regulators evaluate those relationships in determining liability.

Pilot qualification, training, and duty-time rules form a central evidentiary and regulatory axis in aviation litigation. This analysis examines how federal standards shape liability, compliance arguments, and case structure.

Air Ambulance Operations and the Aviation Litigation Landscape Air ambulance liability in aviation accident cases often involves the interaction among operational control, medical-transport functions, and the layered federal rules governing aircraft operation and...

Aviation product liability cases can involve design defects, manufacturing defects, warning failures, and component issues that are not obvious in the immediate aftermath of a crash. This article explains how manufacturer liability may arise and how those claims intersect with crashworthiness, maintenance history, evidence preservation, and the broader accident investigation.

Some aviation cases do not turn only on why the aircraft came down. They also turn on what happened to the people inside once the accident sequence began. In a survivable or partly survivable crash, the legal analysis may extend beyond narrow accident causation and...

For many passengers, a charter flight can feel straightforward. A company is hired, an aircraft is arranged, a crew appears, and the trip is treated as a private alternative to scheduled airline travel. After a crash, however, the legal picture is often less simple...

Aircraft maintenance issues can play a significant role in aviation accident litigation. In some cases, the condition of the aircraft, the quality of inspection or repair work, the handling of recurring discrepancies, or the adequacy of maintenance documentation may...

Civil litigation arising from aviation accidents occupies a narrow but technically complex corner of American tort law. Unlike most personal injury litigation, aviation cases frequently involve federal regulatory frameworks, aircraft certification issues, accident...

When an aviation accident occurs, one of the first questions asked by families, investigators, and journalists alike is simple: who is responsible? In aviation accidents, the answer is rarely straightforward. Determining liability often requires a detailed...

Updated: Mar 26, 2026 The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is responsible for investigating civil aviation accidents in the United States. Its investigations are conducted to determine probable cause and to issue safety recommendations intended to prevent...