A flight attendant for Delta subsidiary Endeavor, who was a passenger on the fateful February flight from Minneapolis to Toronto that capsized on the tarmac, is suing her employee for $75 million, alleging that the airline was reckless and negligent and essentially put everybody on the flight at risk from the beginning, according to People.
According to the lawsuit filed by Vanessa Miles in the Eastern District of Michigan, “This accident was caused, at least in part, by Defendants knowing assigning an inexperienced and inadequately trained pilot to operate the flight. Defendants cut corners on safety by rushing pilots through training programs and knowingly putting passengers at risk with inexperienced flight crew.”
Miles claims that she suffered several injuries, both severe and permanent physical and mental injuries, “including a fractured shoulder, traumatic brain injury, back injuries, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, among other things.” She is suing Delta for $75 million dollars.
According to her lawyer, Madeline Sinkovich, an attorney with Mike Morse Law Firm, “Ms. Miles suffered significant injuries when Delta Air Lines/Endeavor Air Flight 4819 crash-landed in Toronto after preventable safety, training, and evacuation failures, as alleged in our complaint. We are pursuing full accountability and compensation in court.”
Miles alleges that she was left unconscious as a result of the plane crash, and when she came to, she was inverted, hanging upside down soaked in jet fuel and surrounded by smoke before falling to the floor after she unbuckled her seat belt.
The February 17 plane crash occurred on an Endeavor flight from Minneapolis to Toronto. In a March report issued by Canada’s Transportation Safety Board, the plane descended too quickly; when the plane hit the tarmac, the landing gear collapsed, leading to the plane flipping over. All 80 people on board were evacuated and survived the crash; all injured parties were transported to local hospitals.
The Daily Mail reports that the captain, thus far unidentified, is an 18-year veteran of Endeavor Air, having flown for a total of over 3,570 hours across his career; he is also a training instructor. The co-pilot was a one-year employee of Endeavor who had flown 1,422 hours over her career.
Delta released a statement at the time of the crash saying, “For everyone at Endeavor Air and Delta, nothing is more important than the safety of our customers and our people. That’s why we remain fully engaged as participants in the investigation led by the Transportation Safety Board of Canada. Out of respect for the integrity of this work that will continue through their final report, Endeavor Air and Delta will refrain from comment.”
A Delta spokesperson declined to comment on Miles’ lawsuit, citing their policy not to comment on pending legislation but, according to the New York Post, supports Canada’s continued investigation efforts.
