It’s Time for Atlantic City’s Thunder over the Boardwalk Air Show – Are the Planes Safe?

Or maybe a better question is, are you safe being on the beach while watching the United States Air Force Thunderbirds, US Coast Guard, Super Hornets, US Army Nights Parachute Team or Jim Beasley Jr. in his Mustang or Spitfire fly above your head? Of course you are.

First, they are professional and highly trained pilots. Second, their aircraft is maintained and inspected several times a day to make sure there are no mechanical defects or product defects. Lastly, if you ever attended the Atlantic City Thunder over the Boardwalk air show, you will notice that any and all of the potentially dangerous stunts are performed over the Atlantic Ocean, not over the beach or spectators. There is a reason for that. The highly trained pilots can sense when a fly-over or maneuver is going wrong and they can correct it or eject from the plane if it necessary. Both the pilot and the plane land safely in the ocean, not over land. Unfortunately, private pilots, of small aircrafts, who have to deal with an airplane product defect, may not be able to do the same.

In 2010, according to the Aviation Safety Network, there were 2,033 aviation accidents. Only 27 of those accidents involved a commercial aircraft. The National Transportation and Safety Board reported that from the years 2004 to 2008, there were 8,016 non-commercial airplane accidents that resulted in 2,640 fatalities.

In just the past few weeks, a California family of four was killed while flying their Cessna 210 single engine plane. A Rockford native, who was a practicing intellectual property lawyer was killed in a private airplane crash and a Cessna plane that was carrying a life-saving liver donor also crashed. One of my most vivid memories of a small plane crash is when John Kennedy Jr. (JFK Jr.) died after his Piper Saratoga crashed into the Atlantic Ocean.

Unfortunately, many of the small aircraft or pilots of smaller airplanes are not subject to the strict inspections that the military has and may be flying a plane that has faulty equipment or product defects. Here at the nationally known Beasley aviation law firm, we understand that not all aircrafts undergo the same inspections or safety checks. We obtained a $29 million verdict against Cessna due to a product defect as well as many other settlements or verdicts that dealt with airplane or helicopter crashes.

If you or a loved one has been injured due to an airplane or helicopter accident, Jim Beasley Jr., an experienced pilot and attorney is who you want to help you. To date, the Beasley Firm has had billions awarded on behalf of their injured clients. If you would like to learn more about Thunder over the Boardwalk and Mr. Beasley’s flying times, you can view the schedule here.