DENVER — Passengers and crew on a Continental Airlines flight that went off a runway in Denver in 2008 have reached settlements with the Federal Aviation Administration, according to one of the lawyers involved.
About 60 people sued, claiming air traffic controllers didn’t tell the pilot about wind gusts when giving him wind speeds before takeoff.
Bruce Lampert said Monday the pilot, whom he represented, was the last to settle. He said the settlements, first reported by KMGH-TV, totaled “several million dollars”, with amounts ranging from under $100,000 for most to “considerably more” for the injured.
The FAA referred questions to the U.S. Department of Justice, which didn’t return calls seeking comment.
The NTSB said the air traffic control system and inadequate crosswind training in the airline industry contributed to the crash.
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NTSB Identification: DCA09MA021
Scheduled 14 CFR Part 121: Air Carrier operation of CONTINENTAL AIRLINES INC
Accident occurred Saturday, December 20, 2008 in Denver, CO
Probable Cause Approval Date: 08/17/2010
Aircraft: BOEING 737-524, registration: N18611
Injuries: 6 Serious,41 Minor,68 Uninjured.
NTSB investigators traveled in support of this investigation and used data obtained from various sources to prepare this aircraft accident report.
The Safety Board's full report is available at http://www.ntsb.gov/publictn/A_Acc1.htm. The Aircraft Accident Report number is NTSB/AAR-10/04.
On December 20, 2008, about 1818 mountain standard time, Continental Airlines flight 1404, a Boeing 737-500, N18611, departed the left side of runway 34R during takeoff from Denver International Airport (DEN), Denver, Colorado. A postcrash fire ensued. The captain and 5 of the 110 passengers were seriously injured; the first officer, 2 cabin crewmembers, and 38 passengers received minor injuries; and 1 cabin crewmember and 67 passengers (3 of whom were lap-held children) were uninjured. The airplane was substantially damaged. The scheduled, domestic passenger flight, operated under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 121, was departing DEN and was destined for George Bush Intercontinental Airport, Houston, Texas. At the time of the accident, visual meteorological conditions prevailed, with strong and gusty winds out of the west. The flight operated on an instrument flight rules flight plan.
The National Transportation Safety Board determines the probable cause(s) of this accident to be:
The captain’s cessation of right rudder input, which was needed to maintain directional control of the airplane, about 4 seconds before the excursion, when the airplane encountered a strong and gusty crosswind that exceeded the captain’s training and experience. Contributing to the accident were the following factors: 1) an air traffic control system that did not require or facilitate the dissemination of key, available wind information to the air traffic controllers and pilots; and 2) inadequate crosswind training in the airline industry due to deficient simulator wind gust modeling.
The Safety Board's full report is available at http://www.ntsb.gov/publictn/A_Acc1.htm. The Aircraft Accident Report number is NTSB/AAR-10/04.
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