Local airline sued for 2002 crash

The accident took place almost a year and a half ago, but on Thursday, seven passengers on a Tropic Air flight that crashed in the sea near San Pedro filed a lawsuit against the airline and the travel company that sold them the tickets. The suit, lodged in Houston, alleges that pilot Roy Bradley was not wearing his prescription glasses and abandoned the passengers after the emergency landing. The suit also alleges that the San Pedro airstrip was not equipped with proper lights for a night landing. According to press reports at the time, the crash was caused by a sudden severe thunderstorm and the pilot was credited with doing a good job to set the plane down in the sea without having it flip over. In a story reported in the Houston Chronicle, the plaintiff’s attorney admits that none of his clients were injured but claims that they suffered “post-traumatic stress syndrome.” Of the six other passengers on the flight, two previously settled out of court and four–residents of France–have not pursued any legal action.

A similar incident occurred on April thirteenth of this year when a twin-engine islander belonging to Maya Island Air crashed several miles short of the runway at P.G.I.A. with six passengers aboard. Like the Tropic incident, there were no injuries, but it is not known if lawsuits will be forthcoming. Cause of the Maya Island crash has not yet been officially determined, but evidence points to the likelihood that it just ran out of fuel.