Value Jet Flight 592. In 1996 the jet airliner crashed in the Everglades ten minutes after takeoff from Miami. 110 passengers and crew aboard were killed. This was without a doubt Florida’s most horrific aviation disaster. Not the only one, unfortunately. In December 2005, a Chalk’s Ocean Airways seaplane crashed off Miami Beach. The plane’s right wing simply broke off in flight. All 20 aboard died in the crash. We know, nevertheless, that air travel is actually very safe. Safer, to be sure, than driving to the airport. As a matter of fact, air travelers are at greater risk of injury in the airport than in flight. Airport injuries are quite common.
THE AIRPORT AS A SMALL CITY
Large metro airports like Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, and Palm Beach, are busy places. People and things are in motion. Dozens of companies and agencies operate hundreds of pieces of equipment. Vendors prepare and serve food and beverages. Workers maintain sanitation, internal transport, baggage handling, and security systems. Thus, a metro airport is a giant machine of dizzying complexity. And, for that reason, accidents happen.
People slip, trip, and fall on jetways, internal walkways, and escalators. Curbside drop-off and pick-ups are by nature accident-prone. Food poisoning is an all-too-common issue with airport food service. All that eating and drinking on the move, too, results in spills. And thus in slips and falls. If you think about all that’s going on in an airport at any given moment, it’s amazing more accidents don’t happen.
One of the reasons modern air travel works as well as it does is specialization. That is, dozens or even hundreds of agencies, contractors, corporations, and individuals perform their defined tasks. Each is very good at that one job. The mission of some is coordinating the actions of all the others. Moreover, there’s strong support from technology, especially data systems. It’s almost miraculous.
AIRPORT INJURIES AND LIABILITY
The flip side of this amazing organization shows up when something goes wrong. When, for example, an airport accident injures a traveler. The question of liability can be especially complex. Many chains of supervision can all bear upon the cause of the accident. Local governments own most airports. In turn, they create agencies to manage the airports. And after an accident with injuries? Naturally, all the potential defendants go into buck-passing mode.
This tangled web is exactly what seasoned Boca Raton personal injury attorneys know how to unravel. The complexity of an airport’s organization often means plaintiff attorneys have to identify multiple defendants. South Florida, with our huge tourist trade, is a challenging environment for this area of legal practice. Thus, if you or a loved one is injured in a Florida airport, you need veteran attorneys who know how to get justice for airport injuries. Call 561-279-3911 to schedule your free initial consultation with Silver Injury Law, PA.
