Families of three U.S. Army soldiers have filed a lawsuit against Sikorsky Aircraft, alleging the Stratford-based defense contractor failed to properly design, manufacture and maintain a Black Hawk helicopter that crashed into a Georgia airfield in 2014, killing one of its passengers.
The lawsuit, initially filed in California, was recently refiled in U.S. District Court in Connecticut.
"There were clearly a variety of problems that lead to this crash," said attorney Brendan Leydon, of Tooher Wocol & Leydon in Stamford, who is representing the families. "The families are fully prepared to pursue this case."
Sikorsky has built many thousand helicopters for the American military, and the Army has more than 2,000 Black Hawks. In addition to building the choppers, Sikorsky and its vendors provide maintenance for the aircrafts. Company officials would say little about the latest lawsuit.
"The allegations against Sikorsky in the complaint have no merit, and we intend to defend against this lawsuit vigorously," said Paul Jackson, the company's communications director.
On Jan. 15, 2014, Jon Ternstrom, Clayton Carpenter, and Cameron Witzler were nearing the end of a what the lawsuit called an "uneventful" training flight from St. Augustine, Florida, to the Hunter Army Airfield in Savannah, Georgia.
All three were members of the 160th Special Operation Aviation Regiment, known as the Night Stalkers. The crews conduct attack and reconnaissance missions at night at high speeds and at low altitudes. The unit was responsible for transporting the U.S. Navy Seals who conducted the raid and assassination of Osama Bin Laden.
Ternstrom, who was acting as pilot-in-command of the Black Hawk, received permission to land from the Hunter Air Traffic Control. However, Carpenter was at the controls. According to the lawsuit, as the helicopter started to make its descent, it "suddenly and without warning" experienced a failure of the tail rotor pitch assembly, which control the blades on the helicopter's tail. The rotor started to spin in the opposite direction of the main blades atop the aircraft.
"Carpenter announced to the crew that there was a problem, and despite appropriate flight control inputs as prescribed in all relevant training manuals and training exercises, was unable to stop or slow the spin," according to the 24-page federal lawsuit. Ternstrom took control of the aircraft and attempted to reduce the spinning. "Nonetheless, the Black Hawk continued out of control and impacted the ground," the lawsuit stated.
Missing Pin
The lawsuit alleges that the primary culprit was a Sikorsky vendor, a California company called Prototype Engineering and Manufacturing, which designs and maintains the rotor pitches for Sikorsky helicopters. In this case, according to the lawsuit, the company's employees failed to install a cotter pin during maintenance on the helicopter. The missing pin set off a chain reaction that led to a critical nut coming loose, which caused the pilot's controls to become disconnected from the rotor.
"It looks like somebody building this aircraft for the Army allowed it to go out without that cotter pin," Timothy Loranger, a California attorney, who initially represented the families, told the Defense News website. "It's tragic someone appears not to have been paying attention."
Once the helicopter crashed, the electronic locator transmitter (ELT), which sends a signal to air traffic controllers in the event of a crash, did not send the emergency signal to the traffic control tower, according to the lawsuit. "Failure of the ELT to transmit caused a significant delay in the arrival of medical aid and assistance and exacerbation of the injuries suffered by Carpenter, Ternstrom and Witzler," according to the suit. Carpenter was found inside the wreckage, and suffered from "massive internal injuries."
Carpenter eventually died from his injuries. Ternstrom was able to extricate himself from the wreckage and called for help on his cell phone. Both Witzler and Ternstrom suffered severe, long-lasting and permanent injuries as a result of the crash, according to the lawsuit. The lawsuit claims the seats in the helicopter failed to reduce the forces of the crash, exacerbating the men's injuries.
"The design, manufacture, maintenance, and assembly of the Black Hawk were and are defective and dangerous because the aircraft is not capable of safe flight throughout the entire operative envelope, for which it was supplied, does not meet generally accepted performance requirements, and does not meet required manufacturing and quality control standards," according to the complaint.
After the crash, the Army inspected it's other Black Hawk helicopters, and found only one other with a missing cotter pin, the Defense News reported.
The lawsuit claims Sikorsky is responsible for all aspects of its helicopters, even components created by other companies. "The Black Hawk's failure to perform safely was a substantial factor in causing the death of Carpenter and damages to each plaintiff," the claim states.
A lawsuit against Sikorsky was initially filed in California, but a federal judge dismissed it for jurisdictional reasons. It was refiled in Connecticut on Oct. 30.
The three families, including Carpenter's mother, and Ternstrom and Witzler's wives, have made claims for product liability, breach of warranty and negligence.
Given the number of helicopters Sikorsky sells, it's not surprising that there have been other lawsuits following crashes.
In early 2014, a suit was filed against the company claiming gross negligence after a Black Hawk that crashed in Texas in 2009, leaving its pilot severely injured and with permanent brain damage. That case was dismissed in August 2014 because it was filed after the two-year statute of limitations had passed.
In June 2009, the sole survivor of a crash that killed 15 others off the coast of Newfoundland sued Sikorsky for negligence after a civilian helicopter crashed. The case was withdrawn just a month later and the families of the dead and the survivor settled with Sikorsky for an undisclosed amount.
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