When people hear of plane accidents, they only imagine inflight injuries. But aircraft accidents can also cause deliberating injuries to victims on the ground.
While most of the research is conducted on the cause of the plane accident, the uniformity of injuries suffered is always overlooked.
If you or your loved one has been in an aircraft accident, you need to learn of the kind of injuries you may be exposed to.
Common Injuries After A Plane Accident
With the many aircraft accidents, a lot of research has been conducted to reveal the most common injuries suffered by plane accident victims. The prime of any plane accident would be to look for those not injured, injured, or those who lose their lives. For such, liability has to step in.
The aviation law is significantly complicated. It requires one to look for a top lawyer in Wasilla Alaska, to offer legal representation. Many types of injuries may emanate from plane accidents: Some of the specific ones include:
- Head injuries: Fatal blunt head injury is the leading cause of head injuries in plane accidents. This mostly happens during deceleration forces. While planes have a lap belt restrain system for passengers, it’s not adequate when it comes to head injuries.
- Thorax injuries: Such injuries are the second highest after head injuries. They cause trauma to the cardiovascular system. During deceleration, the chest is often compressed to objects, leading to rupture of the aorta, among other nasty fatal injuries. Such injuries may include damage to the lungs, bruises, cuts that may cause severe problems to the survivors.
- Burn injuries: Although burns damage the skin, affected victims may be prone to other conditions. One may also suffer from disfigurement and scarring that may require reconstructive surgery.
- Abdominal injuries: Seated passengers are more likely to suffer from abdominal injuries due to seat belts.
- Spinal injuries: According to the US National Library of Medicine, spines injuries in airplanes are common. Some of these result from ejection from planes during flights.
The majority of the above injuries result in death, especially where there is no adequate medical treatment. Survivors of the plane accident are more likely to suffer from emotional distress. Such injuries require the survivors or their family members to get psychological treatment
Injuries suffered by plane passengers are highly subjective to reasonable protection accorded, such as safety belts. Any survivor who receives the proper medical care after such injuries may continue with their productive lives. However, a significant number only recover after a long time at rehabilitation centers
The injury pattern is an essential factor to help maintain aviation safety. It allows the responsible parties to provide adequate restraints such as providence of well design plane parts, strength of seatbelt among other restrain systems to reduce the magnitude of injuries during accidents.
Filing A Claim For Plane Injuries
To file a claim, you must have an understanding of the mechanism of your injuries or any death involved.
To get the exact cause of injury, the plane accident must be carefully investigated. Without such knowledge, it becomes hard to determine liability.
Survivors of plane accidents have a right to file claims for damages such as medical bills, pain, suffering, lost wages, etc. As such, one may have a claim against multiple defendants such as:
- Airline Company: This could emanate from lack of proper training to the staff. In other cases, it would be a failure to conduct extensive service or maintenance of the plane.
- Manufacturer: If there were any defective parts due to poor design, this would bring up a product liability claim.
- A pilot who acted negligently. For instance, the pilot may have failed to check engine oil or ignored a mechanical failure.
- Air traffic controller. Liability could emanate from lack of proper guide such as during bad weather seasons.
To get compensated, your injuries must be based on negligence. Whether your injuries stemmed from the private or commercial plane, you have to prove liability to obtain such compensation. In such a case, you may choose to have a plane accident lawyer guide you on getting a medical expert to link your injuries to the plane crash.
Again, such a lawyer will look for the evidence needed, such as black-box recorders to investigate the cause of the crash.
In some cases, it becomes difficult to determine what caused the accident, especially when there is a breach of aviation rules. The airline company may play tricks to avoid colossal liability.
If you or your loved one has been involved in a plane accident and has suffered severe injuries, you need immediate medical treatment; such treatment should be from a recognized doctor. Where the injuries result in death, the survivors should file a wrongful death claim. While no compensation can bring back life, such compensation would help ease the financial burden of affected families.