New lawsuit filed in vintage plane crash that killed 7 at Bradley

Jun. 18—Another lawsuit has been filed in connection with the October 2019 crash of a vintage World War II military plane at Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks that killed seven people.

The latest lawsuit was filed June 10 in Hartford Superior Court by the two children of the flight's volunteer co-pilot, Michael Foster, who died along with the pilot and five passengers.

The flight on Oct. 2, 2019, was part of an annual tour run by the Collings Foundation, which gave paying passengers a chance to take short trips on vintage military planes at airports around the country.

According to a report of the crash, the plane's pilot radioed an air traffic controller about five minutes into the flight to request permission to land. The controller asked the pilot if he needed assistance and the pilot responded with "negative."

The plane stopped climbing in altitude, and the pilot instructed the co-pilot to extend the landing gear. The pilot then shut down a malfunctioning engine.

On final approach, the airplane struck the runway approach lights, causing it to land short of the runway and hit vehicles and a deicing fluid tank. The plane then caught fire.

The lawsuit follows the release in April of a final report on the cause of the crash from the National Transportation Safety Board.

Among the probable causes for the accident the board cited was pilot error. The report states that the pilot failed to properly manage the airplane's configuration and speed after shutting down the malfunctioning engine.

Contributing factors included inadequate maintenance of the airplane, the Collings Foundation's ineffective safety management system, and inadequate oversight by the Federal Aviation Administration.

In the most recent lawsuit, filed by Erin Foster as the administrator of her father's estate and Liam Foster, the two cite the findings from the report.

The lawsuit also accuses the foundation and its trustees of not only failing to follow the foundation's safety rules and performing proper maintenance, but deliberately choosing not to.

"It could have delayed and impacted the flight schedule and precluded a second flight of paying passengers from occurring, a result that would have reduced revenue from the flight," the lawsuit states.

The lawsuit accuses Robert Collings Jr., director of operations for the foundation, of "placing revenue and reputation before safety."

Furthermore, the lawsuit accuses the foundation of transferring its assets to an affiliate company, including six aircraft, and 33 acres of real estate in Stow, Massachusetts. The lawsuit states that those transfers were completed because Collings had insufficient insurance to cover its liability from the crash.

There are several other pending lawsuits related to the crash. They have been filed by the family members of Gary Mazzone, 66, of East Windsor; Robert Riddell, 59, of East Granby; Robert Rubner, 64, of Tolland; and David Broderick Jr., 56, of West Springfield.

For breaking news and happenings in North Central Connecticut, follow Matthew Knox on Twitter: @MatthewPKnoxJI, and Facebook: Matthew P. Knox JI.

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