Getty Photos/Fb/InstagramThe household of the previous chairman of Leicester Metropolis, who died with 4 others in a helicopter crash, has launched a £2.15 billion authorized declare in opposition to the plane’s producer.
Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha was killed alongside fellow passengers Kaveporn Punpare, Nusara Suknamai, pilot Eric Swaffer and his companion Izabela Roza Lechowicz in October 2018.
The compensation declare seeks cowl for the lack of earnings and different damages, and is valued at greater than £2 billion.
Authorized agency Stewarts, which is representing the household, stated it was “the biggest deadly accident declare in English historical past”.
The crash occurred on 27 October 2018, about an hour after a house sport with West Ham United, when the plane took off from the membership’s King Energy Stadium and crashed shortly after.
Stewarts stated Excessive Court docket motion had been launched on Friday.
An inquest into the deaths is set to begin on Monday, greater than six years later, with eyewitnesses, emergency service employees and company witnesses all set to present proof in entrance of a jury.
A report by the Air Accidents Investigation Department (AAIB), printed in September 2023, found the crash was “inevitable” after a sequence of mechanical failures, and stated the pilot might have accomplished “little or no” to save lots of everybody on board.
Chief inspector of air accidents on the AAIB, Crispin Orr, stated Mr Swaffer did what he might to regulate the Leonardo AW169 helicopter, however the catastrophic failure in a bearing within the tail rotor resulted within the plane making a pointy proper flip.
Because the helicopter – which had reached an altitude of about 430ft (131m) – was turning uncontrolled, a shout of “hey, hey, hey” got here from the rear cabin, the place Mr Vichai and his staff had been seated, the AAIB stated.
In plane voice recordings, Mr Swaffer was heard to say: “I’ve no thought what is going on on”, shortly earlier than the helicopter crashed right into a concrete step.
AFP/Getty PhotosThe investigation found a worn bearing on the tail rotor had seized after the helicopter took off.
The shaft that managed the tail rotor then unscrewed and have become indifferent because of this, which in flip brought about the helicopter to spin out of the pilot’s management.
The AAIB report said the helicopter complied with “all relevant airworthiness necessities” and had been maintained accurately earlier than the crash.
The wear and tear on the rotor bearing was additionally discovered to have constructed up over a time period and couldn’t have been predicted, in response to the inspectors.
Examination of the bearing was solely required as soon as it had been used for 400 hours, however the helicopter had solely been flown for 331 hours when the crash occurred.
One of many “contributory elements” was that rules don’t require upkeep checks to overview the situation of used bearings in opposition to their authentic design, the AAIB stated.
Drone involvement and pilot error had been dominated out.
Peter WhitePeter Neenan, a companion at Stewarts, stated: “Leonardo’s prospects embody nationwide militaries, air ambulances and different first responders throughout the globe.
“It’s crucial that every one operators of those helicopters have religion and confidence within the machines.”
Mr Vichai’s son Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha – who took over as chairman of Leicester Metropolis following his father’s dying – stated: “My household feels the lack of my father as a lot right this moment as we ever have accomplished. That my very own kids, and their cousins won’t ever know their grandfather compounds our struggling.
“We’ve got mirrored on the conclusions of the AAIB report and thought fastidiously about how we wished to proceed,” he added.
A spokesperson for Leonardo UK stated: “Leonardo has the deepest sympathy for many who misplaced their lives within the accident, all of them clearly beloved by their households, buddies and communities.
“Their deaths had been an unquestionable tragedy. Leonardo is conscious of the declare which has been issued by Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha’s household within the English Excessive Court docket and is contemplating this with its authorized advisers and insurers. Leonardo intends to defend this declare.”