California Aviation Accident Lawyer

Aviation accident litigation turns on facts that look opaque to lawyers without flight experience: weather decision-making, instrument approaches, mechanical maintenance histories, NTSB reports, FAA airworthiness directives, and pilot certification requirements. Attorney David L. Milligan is an instrument-rated pilot with thousands of flight hours and routinely flies for depositions, hearings, and trial. That background lets us evaluate causation theories with experts on equal footing — and recognize defenses that are technically wrong but sound persuasive.

• General aviation crashes (Part 91 operations) — single-engine, twin-engine, light jet
• Commercial passenger and cargo accidents (Parts 121 and 135)
• Helicopter accidents — including emergency medical services (HEMS), tour, and utility
• Pilot error and weather-related causation
• Mechanical failure and maintenance negligence
• Air traffic control and ground services
• Aircraft component manufacturer liability (engines, avionics, structural)
• Wrongful death actions arising from aviation accidents

Aviation cases are not personal injury cases with an airplane added. They are a distinct discipline — one that requires familiarity with weight-and-balance, density altitude, runway gradient, aircraft performance charts, IFR minimums, pilot-in-command authority, checklist discipline, and the particular human-factors environment of a cockpit. Attorney Milligan is an instrument-rated pilot who flies out of Central California, and that matters in three concrete ways.

• Reading the record firsthand. Preliminary NTSB factual reports, METAR/TAF weather histories, radar plots, and maintenance logbooks are internally consistent only to someone who can read them. We do not outsource that reading to a consultant and then repeat it back.
• Deposing the right pilots. When the case centers on the defendant pilot's decision-making, the deposition only goes well if the questioner actually understands what the pilot was looking at and what reasonable alternatives existed. Non-pilot lawyers routinely miss the moment where the pilot concedes the decision the defense cannot afford.
• Selecting the right experts. Aviation experts range from former NTSB investigators to human-factors PhDs to certified flight instructors with specific aircraft-type experience. Picking the right combination — and weeding out the "professional witness" types who do not survive cross — is a judgment call built on the lived experience of flying.

The National Transportation Safety Board investigates every civil aviation accident in the United States. Its work produces a Preliminary Report (days after the event), a Factual Report (months later), and a Probable Cause determination (often 12–24 months after). A few aspects of that process directly shape civil litigation:

• The probable-cause finding is inadmissible. Under 49 U.S.C. § 1154(b), the NTSB's ultimate opinion on cause cannot be entered into evidence in civil litigation. The underlying factual report usually can be, and the party statements and depositions taken during the investigation often can be — a nuance that catches inexperienced counsel off guard.
• Party participants are under restriction. Manufacturers, operators, and the FAA regularly serve as NTSB party participants. That status gives them early access to the wreckage and documents and imposes confidentiality obligations that shape later civil discovery.
• Spoliation risk is acute. Wreckage is typically released to the insurer shortly after the NTSB completes its on-scene work. A prompt preservation letter — and, in some cases, an emergency TRO — may be required to prevent the destruction of evidence.
• Component retention. Engine cylinders, avionics boxes, and other critical components often require independent metallurgical or forensic analysis. Negotiating retention terms with the NTSB, the manufacturer, and the insurer is part of the first-week work.

The legal framework changes significantly based on what kind of aircraft was involved:

• General aviation. Personal, business, and flight-training aircraft operated under 14 C.F.R. Part 91. The General Aviation Revitalization Act (GARA), 49 U.S.C. § 40101 note, provides an 18-year statute of repose that bars most product-defect claims against manufacturers where the aircraft or component is older than 18 years. GARA has important exclusions (knowing misrepresentation, emergency medical, manufacturer warranty); those exclusions often decide whether the case has merit.
• Commercial / Part 121 and 135. Scheduled air carriers and on-demand charter are governed by stricter operational rules. The Montreal Convention (international) and the Death on the High Seas Act (over open ocean) can apply. For international accidents, venue selection is intricate and strategic.
• Rotorcraft. Helicopter crashes raise unique issues: autorotation capability, main-rotor and tail-rotor dynamics, EMS operations (often at night, in poor weather, under time pressure), and characteristic failure modes (mast bumping in some rotor systems; tail-rotor authority loss).
• Agricultural and utility. Crop dusting, pipeline patrol, and power-line work operate at low altitudes with dense human-factors risk. Cases frequently turn on pilot fatigue, training adequacy, and employer work-rules enforcement.

Aviation cases involve a layered legal framework: Federal Aviation Regulations (FARs) set the technical standards; the Federal Aviation Act of 1958 and its successors govern federal jurisdiction; the General Aviation Revitalization Act (GARA, 49 U.S.C. § 40101 note) creates an 18-year statute of repose for aircraft component manufacturers; the Death on the High Seas Act (DOHSA) applies to certain over-water accidents; and California state law governs negligence, wrongful death (Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 377.60), and survivor actions where federal preemption does not apply. Each case requires careful analysis of which legal regime controls and where to file.

We work with NTSB-experienced investigators, certified flight instructors, mechanical engineers, accident reconstructionists, meteorologists, and human-factors experts. NTSB reports themselves are inadmissible in civil trials per 49 U.S.C. § 1154(b), but the underlying factual investigation often supports independent expert analysis. Time-sensitive evidence preservation — wreckage, maintenance logs, flight data — must begin immediately.