A federal agency investigates the crash. Its report is one you mostly cannot use. The manufacturer is shielded by an 18-year clock. And the proof sits in logbooks. Jose Robles Jr is an Air Force combat veteran who handles aviation accident claims for families across South Texas.
A San Antonio aviation accident lawyer pursues civil claims after a plane or helicopter crash against the pilot, operator, maintenance provider, or manufacturer. The NTSB report itself is not admissible under federal law, and an 18-year cutoff can bar claims against aircraft manufacturers. Free consultation, no fee unless we win.
Because federal law shapes it from the start. The investigating agency's report is largely off limits. Manufacturers have a repose period no other industry enjoys. And the proof lives in maintenance records rather than in a police report.
How federal law shapes an aircraft crash claim.
The NTSB report is largely inadmissible
Under federal law, no part of a Board accident report may be admitted into evidence or used in a civil action for damages. The underlying factual material the investigation gathered can often still be obtained and used independently, but the Board's probable cause finding cannot simply be handed to a jury.
An 18-year clock protects manufacturers
A federal law passed in 1994 created an 18-year cutoff for general aviation aircraft and components, generally running from delivery to the first purchaser, or from the replacement of a part. Exceptions exist, including where a manufacturer knowingly concealed material information from the FAA.
Liability is rarely one party
A single crash can involve the pilot, the owner or operator, a maintenance facility, a parts manufacturer, a fuel supplier, an air traffic services provider, and sometimes a charter broker. Each brings its own insurance and its own records.
The evidence is technical and federal
Maintenance logbooks, airworthiness directives, service bulletins, pilot certificates and logbooks, weather briefings, and ATC recordings are the proof. They are read by specialists, not summarized from a police report.
The first rule surprises nearly everyone. Families follow the NTSB investigation closely. They reasonably assume that when the Board names a probable cause, the civil case is over. It is not. That federal rule keeps the report out, so the claim has to be proven again from the start.
This is why aviation accident lawyers work differently from other injury lawyers. Airplane and helicopter crashes are rebuilt from primary documents, not summarized from someone else's findings.
The wreckage, the maintenance history, and the operator's records. Much of it sits under federal control at first. Access follows a process rather than a request.
While the NTSB holds the wreckage, no private party examines it freely. Some parties can join the investigation. A lawyer involved early can put a family in a position to watch key steps, such as an engine teardown. Once an engine is taken apart, that step cannot be repeated.
Away from the wreckage, the paper record decides most cases. Maintenance logbooks show whether a required inspection happened. Airworthiness directives show whether a known defect had a required fix. They also show whether anyone performed it. The pilot's logbook and certificates show ratings and recent hours. Weather briefings and ATC tapes show what the pilot knew, and when.
These records sit with different parties who keep them for different lengths of time. That is why preservation demands go out early rather than after the investigation ends.
Types of aviation accidents differ by cause. The common ones are pilot error, engine or part failure, poor maintenance, fuel problems, and bad weather calls. Each cause points at a different defendant. So naming the cause early shapes the whole claim, and it is the first thing an aviation accident attorney looks for.
More, and more varied, than most Texas metros: commercial service, heavy general aviation and flight training, medical helicopters, agricultural aviation, and major military operations.
San Antonio International and Stinson Municipal anchor the civil side. Flight training traffic fills the smaller fields around them. Medical helicopters fly into the South Texas Medical Center all day, which is where our office sits. Crop dusters work the farmland in the counties nearby.
Then there is the military. Joint Base San Antonio makes this one of the busiest military flying areas in the country. A claim touching a military aircraft, a federal employee, or a government contractor does not follow the ordinary state court path. It has its own procedure and its own deadlines.
Passengers, crew, and people injured on the ground can all have claims. The analysis differs for each. A ground victim, for example, sits outside some protections that apply to occupants.
An accident injury in a crash like this is rarely minor. The losses that follow are usually permanent. Airlines, charter operators, and private owners carry very different insurance. As a result, who operated the aircraft matters as much as what failed.
You talk to the attorney handling your case, not a rotating queue of case managers, and you talk to someone who spent 15 years around military aviation operations.
Jose Robles Jr is a decorated Air Force combat veteran with a 95% success rate, $5M+ recovered, 1,000+ cases handled, and a 4.9 star Google rating.
Before becoming a personal injury lawyer, Jose "Joe" Robles Jr served nearly 15 years as an Air Force Military Police officer, including four combat tours in the Middle East, and earned his law degree from Texas A&M University School of Law. Afterward he spent four years at Bailey & Galyen, rising to Managing Attorney of the Pre-Litigation Personal Injury Department, before founding this firm.
Aviation claims are expert-driven and document-heavy. They reward an experienced lawyer willing to say early whether a case is viable, rather than one who signs everything that walks in. If an 18-year cutoff or a jurisdictional bar makes a claim unwinnable, you should hear that in the first conversation.
We also handle San Antonio wrongful death claims and truck accident claims. For the firm's full range of services in the area, see our San Antonio personal injury page.
Yes. Survivors and the families of people killed in an aircraft crash can bring civil claims against the parties whose negligence contributed, which may include the pilot, the aircraft owner or operator, a maintenance provider, or a component manufacturer. The claim is separate from the National Transportation Safety Board investigation, which determines probable cause for safety purposes and does not award anyone compensation. In Texas the deadline is generally two years, and for a death it runs from the date of death.
The work is largely documentary and technical. It means obtaining and reading maintenance logbooks, airworthiness directives and service bulletins, the pilot's certificates and logged hours, weather briefings, fuel records, and air traffic control communications, then working with accident reconstruction and aeronautical engineering experts to establish what failed and who was responsible. It also means navigating the rule that keeps the NTSB's own report out of evidence while still using the factual material the investigation produced.
Not directly. Under federal law, no part of a Board report relating to an accident may be admitted into evidence or used in a civil action for damages. The practical effect is that a family cannot simply point a jury at the probable cause finding. Factual material developed during the investigation can frequently be obtained and presented independently, which is one reason aviation claims require counsel comfortable with the distinction.
Yes, and it is unusually harsh. A federal law passed in 1994 created an 18-year cutoff for general aviation aircraft and their components. It generally runs from the date of delivery to the first purchaser, or from the date a component was replaced, and it can bar a defect claim even when the defect is real and the crash recent. Exceptions include claims where the manufacturer knowingly misrepresented or concealed material information from the FAA, claims by people who were not aboard, and warranty claims.
The region has more air traffic than most Texas metros, and more types of it. There are two civil airports, heavy flight training, medical helicopters, crop dusters, and a large military presence. Claims involving military aircraft or federal employees follow different rules with strict deadlines. Those need review quickly.
Aviation claims are handled on contingency, meaning a percentage of the recovery rather than an hourly fee, with nothing owed if the case does not succeed. Texas attorney conduct rules require the agreement to be in writing and to state how the fee is calculated. These cases carry higher expenses than an ordinary injury claim because of the expert work involved, so ask any firm how case expenses are handled separately from the fee.
This page is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Consult a licensed Texas attorney about your specific situation.
6323 Sovereign Drive, Suite 220
San Antonio, TX 78229
(726) 241-2523
In the South Texas Medical Center off Loop 410. Home and hospital visits available across Bexar County.
No fee unless we win. Call us now or schedule your free consultation online.