New York City Airplane Accident Lawyer

We represent passengers, crew members and families hurt in commercial airline crashes, helicopter and charter accidents, private plane crashes, and incidents at JFK, LaGuardia and Newark. After an aviation accident, you may face a long recovery, emotional trauma, medical bills and time away from work. Our job is to handle the investigation, the insurers and the deadlines so you can focus on getting better.

Aviation accident claims often involve federal aviation rules, international treaties and more than one responsible company or agency. The law that applies can depend on where the crash happened and where your ticket started and ended.

Parties that may share responsibility for an aviation accident include:

• Airlines and charter operators
• Pilots and flight crew
• Aircraft and parts manufacturers
• Maintenance and repair companies
• Aircraft owners
• Air traffic controllers
• Airport operators, such as the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey

Aviation disasters can hurt dozens or hundreds of people at once. Your case may proceed on its own or be coordinated with other victims' claims, often in federal court. Our aviation accident lawyers will explain the pros and cons of each path during your free consultation.

That's why it pays to bring in an aviation accident lawyer from Raphaelson & Levine as soon as possible.

Call us at 212-268-3222 for a free consultation and to learn about filing a personal injury lawsuit against those responsible for your airplane accident.

Quick Answers About Aviation Accident Claims in NYC

Aviation Accidents We Handle Across New York

We've represented people with serious injuries for 34 years, and we've seen the same types of aviation accidents come up again and again. They include:

Air Ambulance Accidents

Air ambulance crashes are a double tragedy, because these helicopters and planes carry people who already need urgent medical care. A patient on the way to help should never suffer new injuries in an ambulance crash.

Helicopter air ambulances fly under special FAA rules for weather, terrain and pilot qualifications (14 CFR Part 135, Subpart L). Depending on the cause, the operator, the pilot, a maintenance company or the medical program that arranged the flight may be responsible.

Charter Plane Accidents

A charter operator flies its aircraft for hire, and independent pilots can offer charter service too. Charter flights generally operate under the FAA's Part 135 rules, which are less demanding than the Part 121 rules for scheduled airlines. That gap can raise the risk of serious injuries in a charter plane accident.

Charter and air taxi operators must carry federal aircraft accident liability insurance (14 CFR Part 205), and many charter flights are sold through a broker who doesn't fly the plane. We find out which company actually controlled the flight, because that company and its insurer are often responsible.

Commercial Airline Accident

These types of airplane crashes are the most typical and receive the most media attention. While some causes of aviation accidents like birds making contact with the plane’s engine or unexpected severe weather aren't preventable, the true cause of most crashes is human error. Common issues include inexperience of the pilot, engine failure, fuel leakage, and other entirely preventable mistakes.

You have the right to pursue fair compensation via a personal injury lawsuit if the pilot or any other crew member knew about a danger and did nothing to fix it. This also applies if an airline employee with similar experience and training would have anticipated and acted on a danger even if the current crew claims not to have known about a potential problem.

Scheduled airlines operate under FAA rules (14 CFR Part 121), and the airline, its maintenance contractors and the aircraft manufacturer may each carry separate insurance. We compare the crew's training and duty-time records and the plane's maintenance history against those rules to show who's responsible.

Helicopter Crash Accidents

Inadequate pilot training and fatigue are two leading types of human error that can lead to a helicopter crash. It’s also common in this type of aviation accident for the pilot to put too much pressure on rotor heads, gear boxes, engines, and other pieces of equipment within the helicopter’s control center.

The design of the typical helicopter can make it difficult to escape in a crash and those who do survive often suffer serious injuries. Our aviation accident attorneys are fully prepared to investigate the helicopter crash to determine whether a pilot error is the only cause or if other parties besides the pilot also share in the blame. In April 2025, a tour helicopter crashed into the Hudson River and killed all six people aboard.

Tour helicopters over Manhattan fly under FAA air tour safety standards (14 CFR Part 136) and special flight rules for the Hudson and East River corridors (14 CFR Part 93). We request flight track data, maintenance logs and the operator's safety records to show whether those rules were followed.

Private Plane Accidents

A commercial airline crash makes the news far more often, but private and other general aviation flights have a much higher accident rate than scheduled airlines. Private pilots often have far less experience than airline pilots. They also tend to fly to more remote places, out of range of emergency help if the engine fails, the weather turns or another common flight problem strikes.

For most small planes and helicopters, a federal law called the General Aviation Revitalization Act generally bars claims against the manufacturer if the crash happens more than 18 years after the aircraft was first delivered. A newer replacement part starts its own 18-year clock, and there are exceptions, such as when the manufacturer hid safety information from the FAA. We trace each part's history and also look at the pilot, the owner and the maintenance shop.

International Airline Accidents

Whether the Montreal Convention covers your flight depends on your ticket, not where the plane went down. It generally applies when your trip starts and ends in two countries that joined the treaty, or when it starts and ends in the same treaty country with a planned stop in another country. We'll sort out which rules apply to your trip from day one.

Our aviation accident lawyers know the rights the Montreal Convention gives international travelers. For death or bodily injury, the airline is generally liable for proven damages up to a treaty limit without you having to prove fault, and above that limit unless the airline proves it wasn't negligent. The limit is reviewed and revised over time, so we check the figure that applies to your flight.

We Handle All New York Airport and Aviation Accident Claims

Our New York aviation accident lawyers handle claims from the airports and heliports that serve New York City, Long Island and Westchester, including:

• John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) in Queens, run by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey
• LaGuardia Airport (LGA) in Queens, also run by the Port Authority
• Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) in New Jersey, also run by the Port Authority
• Westchester County Airport (HPN) near White Plains, owned by Westchester County
• Long Island MacArthur Airport (ISP) in Ronkonkoma, owned by the Town of Islip
• Manhattan's heliports, used by tour and commuter helicopters over the Hudson and East rivers

Who runs the airport can change your deadlines. Claims against the Port Authority follow New York Unconsolidated Laws § 7107: generally, you must serve a notice of claim at least 60 days before suing, and the lawsuit must start within one year.

Claims against a county or town that owns an airport, such as Westchester County or the Town of Islip, generally need a notice of claim within 90 days and a lawsuit within one year and 90 days. Our New York aviation accident lawyers will confirm which deadlines apply to your case.

Passengers and airline staff can be seriously hurt or killed aboard the aircraft, while boarding or leaving the plane, or inside the terminal, and families who lose a loved one may have a wrongful death claim. In March 2026, Air Canada Express Flight 8646 collided with a Port Authority fire truck on a LaGuardia runway, killing both pilots and sending 41 people to hospitals. Victims of the LGA Flight 8646 runway collision have claims and deadlines that depend on who's responsible.

Injuries We See in New York Aviation Accidents

Regardless of the airport used or the type of plane traveled on, the following types of injuries are typical in aviation crashes:

Broken Bones

Multiple crushed and/or broken bones are one of the most common types of serious injuries suffered by airplane accident victims. The broken bones happen in response to the aircraft suddenly losing altitude and crashing to the ground with an extremely forceful impact. Many people who suffer broken bones in an airplane crash must also deal with other serious injuries at the same time.

Burns

It’s typical for an airplane to ignite when it crashes or goes off the runway since the fuel used to power airplanes is highly combustible. Passengers and crew aboard the aircraft, as well as those standing near the plane on the ground, can suffer severe burns all over their body. All degrees of burns are extremely painful and require extensive treatment, including the possibility of multiple cosmetic surgeries to attempt to cover the disfigurement.

Spinal Cord Injuries

The impact of an airplane crash can easily break or sever the spinal cord of anyone aboard or near the plane. This type of permanent spinal cord injury can cause paraplegia or quadriplegia, which means the accident victim may never be able to walk or use his or her arms again.

Traumatic Brain Injury

Striking the seat in front of the passenger, having luggage fall from overhead bins, and the impact of the crash itself can all cause a traumatic brain injury. The harder the blow to the head, the more likely it is that the accident victim won't lead a normal life after the airplane crash. That's because a traumatic brain injury can cause a host of issues such as memory and cognitive impairment; difficulty regulating mood; hypersensitivity to noise, light, and movement; personality changes; the inability to make positive life decisions; and many other impairments that may or may not be visible to others.

You could also be seriously hurt inside the airport, such as in an attack by an unstable person, or aboard a parked aircraft because of equipment failure. In one product liability case, Howard Raphaelson secured a confidential six-figure settlement for an elderly passenger whose seat collapsed as she sat down after boarding. The seat stayed that way for the entire international flight.

The airline staff didn't provide any medical assistance to the injured woman, and their negligence forced her to sit in a broken, improperly positioned seat on a long international flight. As a result, the passenger suffered such severe muscle injury that she can no longer enjoy many of her favorite activities and lost much of her independence. While the financial settlement couldn’t restore her quality of life before the airplane accident, it at least allowed her to live with her new circumstance the best she could.

Whether or not your injury is listed here, our aviation accident lawyers are on your side. We know aviation law inside and out, and we've spent decades recovering compensation for injured people and their families. Don't hesitate to reach out today to learn your options.

Is Air Travel Safe?

Commercial air travel is one of the safest ways to get around. Over the last 10 years, the death rate per mile for people in cars and other passenger vehicles was about 1,200 times higher than for scheduled airlines, according to the National Safety Council. When a plane does crash, though, it's far more likely to be fatal than a typical car accident.

Most aviation accidents involve small private and other general aviation planes, not commercial airliners. That's little comfort when you're dealing with serious injuries or the wrongful death of a loved one because of pilot error or another preventable cause.

How We Investigate Defective Parts and NTSB Findings

Crashes caused by defective parts or mechanical failure can involve both product liability and personal injury law. Manufacturers must design and build aircraft and parts safely, and airlines and maintenance companies must inspect planes and fix known problems right away. Failures range from a flawed design or improper engine assembly to skipped maintenance or flight crew negligence.

Mechanical failure may seem sudden and unexplained, but our aviation litigation team can usually trace it back to human error. We study NTSB findings, flight data, cockpit voice recorder transcripts and maintenance records to show who knew about a problem and ignored it.

The NTSB's final report on a crash's probable cause generally can't be used as evidence in a lawsuit (49 U.S.C. § 1154(b)), though investigators' factual reports may be. That's why we bring in independent experts, such as aviation engineers, mechanics and pilots, to rebuild what happened and prove who's responsible.

Aviation Accident Questions Our Clients Ask

Talk With Our New York Aviation Accident Lawyers Today

After a plane or helicopter crash, the questions pile up fast: who'll pay your medical bills, who's responsible and what comes next for your family. Our New York aviation accident lawyers will find out what went wrong, explain your legal options, estimate what your claim may be worth and map out your next steps. That airline seat settlement is one of many aviation accident settlements we've secured, including for families who lost loved ones on American Airlines Flight 587.

Should you choose to work with one of our experienced personal injury attorneys, you pay nothing unless we win. Our fee comes only from the compensation we recover for you in your personal injury or class action case.

Backed by 34 years of experience and over $1 billion recovered for our clients, we'll give you straight answers with no pressure and no obligation. You deserve answers, and your family deserves to be protected. Call 212-268-3222 or contact us online for your free aviation accident case evaluation today.