Family Awarded $16.9 Million After Runway Overrun
PenAir Flight 3296. (Photo: NTSB via Wikimedia Commons)
……..PenAir Flight 3296 crashed through a fence and into ballast harbor rocks while attempting to land in Dutch Harbor.
A Washington jury has awarded $16.9 million to the family of a man who was killed when a PenAir flight overran a runway in Alaska almost six years ago.
Law firm Miller Weisbrod Olesky, which represented the family of the late David Oltman, announced the verdict on Monday and said it far exceeded earlier settlement offers put forward by PenAir, now defunct, and its insurance carrier.
The case was the first fatal commercial airline crash to advance to a verdict by jury in more than two decades.
“We have given this family financial security, but more importantly, they have been told this loss was avoidable and the fault of the airline,” said Clay Miller, lead counsel and name partner at Miller Weisbrod Olesky, in a statement.
PenAir Flight 3296, operated on behalf of Alaska Airlines using a Saab 2000 turboprop aircraft, departed Anchorage on Oct. 17, 2019, bound for Dutch Harbor on Amaknak Island in southern Alaska.
While attempting to land in Dutch Harbor, the airplane overran the runway, crashed through a chain perimeter fence, and hit harbor ballast rocks. One of the propellers struck a road sign and the rocks, causing it to shatter and spray debris into the fuselage.
Oltman, then 38 and a resident of Washington, was killed and several other people were injured.
Maintenance Issue
In its final report on the accident, the National Transportation Safety Board said the aircraft’s anti-skid system was cross-wired by a brake maintenance contractor, leaving it “substantially compromised.”
The agency also laid part of the blame on the pilots’ decision to land in Dutch Harbor with a significant tailwind.
Attorneys for Oltman’s family said the flight should never have departed Anchorage because PenAir had “numerous clues” that the anti-skid system was not working properly.
The airline’s legal team denied responsibility for the accident and blamed Saab and the State of Alaska, which operates Dutch Harbor Airport.
The jury ultimately found Pen Air 70% at fault and the brake maintenance contractor 30% at fault. The judge in the case ruled that PenAir is legally responsible for the actions of the contractor.
The entire $16.9 million award will be the responsibility of PenAir and its insurance carrier.
PenAir had filed for bankruptcy before the crash and ceased operations in 2019. Its assets were sold to Ravn Air Group, which also went out of business.
