Passengers and crew members who endured a Continental Airlines crash at Denver International Airport in 2008 have reached a million-dollar lawsuit settlement with the Federal Aviation Administration, an attorney for the plaintiffs said Friday.
In December 2008, Continental Flight 1404 slid off a wind-blown runway during a night takeoff and down a ravine, where it caught fire. All 110 passengers and five crew members managed to escape. Six people were seriously injured and dozens others were treated for minor injuries.
Many of the 65 people who sued the FAA over the crash have also settled a separate lawsuit against the airline, said Bruce Lampert, a Westminster attorney who represented 22 passengers and crew members in the lawsuits.
The jetliner crash was blamed on pilot error and a strong crosswind. A 2010 National Transportation Safety Board report said the pilot failed to make the proper rudder adjustments to keep the plane on the runway while dealing with the crosswinds.
Yet, passengers and some crew members who filed the FAA lawsuit also blamed air traffic controllers for failing to inform pilots of crosswinds gusting to 40 mph, Lampert said.
The NTSB report also cited air traffic controllers’ failure to provide “key, available” information about the wind as a contributing factor.
