A US federal appeals court has denied a bid by Presidential Airways, a subsidiary of the US military's embattled private security contractor, Blackwater International, to throw out a civil suit brought by the wives of three Army officials killed in the December 2004 crash of a Presidential EADS Casa C-212-CC in a box canyon in Afghanistan.
Blackwater claimed to have immunity from civil lawsuits, in part because the company was doing work for the US government. The company has been the focus of intense US congressional oversight after allegations of unprovoked shootings by its security operatives in Iraq.
The ruling sends the case back to a federal court in Florida, where the families have requested a jury trial for unspecified monetary damages. Blackwater at this point can appeal to the US Supreme Court, attempt a settlement with the complainants, or fight the allegations in court.
Allegations centre in part on Presidential and its associated companies' non-compliance with numerous US Federal Aviation Administration Part 135 regulations, which were to be followed as part of the company's contract to provide the Air Mobility Command with air transport and other support services in Afghanistan. Presidential used seven EADS Casa C-212s and one Fairchild SA-227 Metroliner for the work.
The charges are largely supported by the findings of a joint Army and Air Force investigation board and an independent review of the crash by the US National Transportation Safety Board. Both found numerous violations, including the fact that the company had not put in place adequate procedures and equipment to identify and locate and overdue aircraft.
Search and rescue efforts were not started until 7h after the crash and rescuers did not reach the 4,430m (14,650ft) site until three days after. Evidence from the scene showed that one passenger survived the accident and moved about the crash site, later dying from the crash injuries "complicated by hypoxia and hypothermia", according to the NTSB.
Source: Flight International