Family of 2 Butler plane crash victims retain lawyers who fought other skydiving cases
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Katie Nash and the family of Dane Cordes retained law firm to investigate the crash.
- The firm will examine maintenance history, operator safety practices and engine.
- The NTSB says its investigation could take 12 to 18 months.
A wife and a family of two of the victims in the Butler, Missouri, plane crash have hired a prominent Kansas City law firm to investigate the cause of the crash.
Katie Nash, the wife of Nick Nash, and the family of Dane Cordes have retained Robb and Robb as their attorneys to investigate Sunday’s crash that claimed the lives of 11 skydivers and one pilot, a press release from the law firm said.
The same law firm previously represented families in two other skydiving crashes that occurred in Missouri that resulted in multimillion-dollar settlements.
“This should be the last case,” said Brittany Robb, attorney with the firm, in a phone interview. “Enough is enough.”
Robb said that previous fatal skydiving crashes in Missouri highlight broader safety concerns within the industry and pointed to recommendations issued by federal investigators after earlier accidents.
The law firm said in a news release that its independent investigation will examine the aircraft’s maintenance history, the skydiving operator’s safety practices and procedures, as well as the safety and performance of the aircraft’s engine.
The National Transportation Safety Board is also investigating to determine what happened when the plane crashed shortly after takeoff on Sunday from Butler Memorial Airport. That investigation could take anywhere from 12 to 18 months to complete.
Robb said she couldn’t share a timeline for their investigation, saying that these types of cases take time.
“I think this case and these families that we represent, they really want answers, and most importantly, they really want change, because we know we’ve been seeing this for decades now in Missouri alone,” Robb said.
Prior crashes in Missouri
The Butler crash was at least the fourth deadly skydiving incident in Missouri since 1998, and one of the deadliest in decades.
On March 21, 1998, a Cessna 206 caught fire and crashed on its approach to the East Kansas City Airport near Grain Valley, killing the pilot and five skydivers.
The NTSB said the flight was at 3,700 feet when the pilot radioed the controller and said he was canceling the jump operation. Several witnesses said they saw smoke and flames coming from the plane as it approached. The plane banked right, they said, then the right wingtip hit the ground and the plane cartwheeled and came to rest on fire.
The NTSB determined that the probable cause of the accident was an inadequate preflight inspection by the pilot and the partial loss of oil, which resulted in rod failure.
In 2001, a Jackson County judge approved a $27.5 million settlement with the plane’s engine manufacturer for the families of the skydivers and the pilot. Robb and Robb represented the plaintiffs in the case.
Six people died in a July 2006 skydiving crash near Sullivan, Missouri. An NTSB report said the plane’s right engine lost power shortly after takeoff from Sullivan Regional Airport and crashed into trees. The pilot and five of the skydivers were killed, and two skydivers were seriously injured.
“Witnesses at the airport reported that they saw the airplane take off and climb to about treetop height, then they heard a ‘poof’ or ‘bang’ noise and saw flames and smoke coming from the right engine,” the NTSB report said.
The report said witnesses claimed that the airplane lost altitude before regaining it, then flew at treetop height and turned to the right before disappearing from their view. Another witness said that the plane was flying very low but straight and level before it dove nose first to the ground.
“The Safety Board determined that the probable cause of the accident was the pilot’s failure to maintain airspeed following a loss of power in the right engine due to the fracturing of compressor turbine blades for undetermined reasons,” the report said then.
Parties ultimately settled the suit for $52.5 million. Robb and Robb represented the plaintiffs in the case.
What we know so far about the crash
The crash was reported about 11:27 a.m., Bates County Sheriff Chad Anderson said in a news conference Sunday afternoon.
The airport is about an hour’s drive south of Kansas City. Bates County officials said the aircraft failed to reach full power before stalling and crashing near Interstate 49 Business.
The plane was on its third flight Sunday morning, according to FlightAware, a flight tracking platform. It had completed short flights from 9:20 a.m. to 9:42 a.m. and from 10:32 a.m. to 10:50 a.m.
Nash, 40, and Cordes, 26, were two of the 12 occupants of the plane in Butler.
Most of the occupants were experienced skydivers, according to those who knew them.
The Bates County Coroner’s office released the full list of victims’ names on Tuesday after all of the families were notified.
