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The household of a Nigerian enterprise chief who died in a Southern California helicopter crash that killed six folks in February filed a lawsuit Wednesday, April 10, claiming the flight ought to have been grounded due to treacherous climate.
Relatives of Abimbola Ogunbanjo, the previous chair of the Nigerian inventory alternate, allege within the courtroom submitting that the constitution firm, Orbic Air, improperly flew the helicopter regardless of a “wintry combine” of snowy and wet situations within the Mojave Desert the place the crash occurred on Feb. 9.
Ogunbanjo, 61, was killed together with Herbert Wigwe, chief government of Nigeria’s Access Bank, and Wigwe’s spouse and 29-year-old son. Ogunbanjo was on his option to Las Vegas to attend the Super Bowl.
Both pilots — Benjamin Pettingill, 25, and Blake Hansen, 22 — additionally died. They had been licensed as business helicopter pilots in addition to flight instructors.
Andrew C. Robb, one of many attorneys who filed the lawsuit, mentioned Ogunbanjo’s household is looking for “solutions and accountability.”
“Helicopters don’t do very effectively in snow and ice,” Robb advised The Associated Press. “This flight was totally preventable, and we don’t know why they took off.”
Ogunbanjo’s spouse and two kids filed the swimsuit in San Bernardino County Superior Court in opposition to Orbic Air and its CEO, Brady Bowers, alleging wrongful demise and negligence.
The swimsuit additionally names the unidentified successors of Pettingill and Hansen, who Ogunbanjo’s household additionally faults.
Orbic Air didn’t reply to an e mail and telephone name looking for remark.
The National Transportation Safety Board remains to be investigating the reason for the crash. In February, the company launched a preliminary investigation report that outlined the helicopter’s flight path and offered particulars about wreckage that was strewn throughout 100 yards of desert scrub.
The engine and the metallic deposits that had been discovered would point out that it was operational on the time of the crash.
The report cited legislation enforcement, saying a number of witnesses who had been touring in autos alongside Interstate 15 had known as 911 to report observing a “fireball” to the south. The witnesses reported that it was raining with a mixture of snow.The helicopter left Palm Springs Airport round 8:45 p.m. and was touring to Boulder City, Nevada, about 26 miles southeast of Las Vegas, the place the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers had been set to play that Sunday in Super Bowl 58.
The lawsuit seeks a jury trial and cost for Ogunbanjo’s burial and funeral bills, in addition to different damages.
Robb’s agency, Robb and Robb, represented Kobe Bryant’s widow, Vanessa Bryant, in her lawsuit in opposition to the pilot and homeowners of the helicopter that crashed in Calabasas in 2020, killing the NBA star, his daughter Gianna, and 7 others. The lawsuit was settled in 2021 for an undisclosed quantity.
