One month after the crash of Asiana Flight 214 killed three people and injured dozens, lawsuits have been filed on behalf of 12 passengers alleging that Boeing failed to install proper safety warning systems and that the pilots of Flight 214 were inadequately trained by Boeing, according to the San Jose Mercury News.
The Boeing 777 crashed as it attempted to land at San Francisco International Airport on July 6. The plane was traveling at a much slower speed than it should have been and the pilot attempted to abandon the landing at the last second but ended up hitting the breakwater at the end of the runway, according to the San Jose Mercury News.
The lawsuits are seeking monetary compensation although they plan to leave the amount up to a jury. Frank Pitre, the attorney filing the four lawsuits, told ABC News that the goal is to make sure that a similar crash never happens in the future.
"We've got poor training, resource management, you've got inattention by the pilots and you've got inadequate and ineffective warning systems," Pitre said.
One issue that is brought up in the suits is that the plane did not have an aural command warning to alert the pilot that he was traveling too slowly. A Turkish Airlines Boeing 737 crash landed in Amsterdam in 2009 because the plane wasn't going fast enough. Boeing added an aural command that would say "Low Airspeed" to over 400 737s after the incident, according to the San Jose Mercury News.
"Why didn't Boeing upgrade the 777?" Pitre said. "It's a software upgrade. It's not like you have to put in whole new hardware. Why are we relearning the same dangerous examples and seeing individual passengers injured?"
The suit also cites that the seatbelts available in first and business class had lap belts and shoulder belts while the seatbelts in coach were only lap belts. One of the passengers in the suit suffered spinal injuries that the suit alleges could have been prevented by a shoulder belt, according to the San Jose Mercury News.
"The difference in safety is directly related to the price of a ticket," Pitre said. "As a consumer, this is most offensive. My safety and the safety of my family is compromised by my ability to buy a first-class ticket."
