GREENBELT, Md., March 1 (UPI) -- The mother of a teenager who died in a Maryland police helicopter has filed a lawsuit against the Federal Aviation Administration.
The complaint filed in the U.S. district court in Greenbelt, Md., by Stephanie D. Younger for the death of crash victim Ashley Younger, 17, most likely will be the last of several lodged against the federal government, The Baltimore Sun reported Monday.
Younger alleges the pilot was given inaccurate weather information by FAA air traffic controllers, causing the death of her daughter as she was being transported to a hospital for treatment of injuries she sustained in a car crash near Waldorf on Sept. 27, 2008.
The helicopter crashed during rainy weather, killing the pilot, a paramedic, an emergency medical technician and the teenager.
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The National Transportation Safety Board said that the main causes of the crash were the decision of the pilot, Stephen H. Bunker, to descend rapidly and his misjudgment of weather conditions prior to takeoff.
The U.S. Justice Department likewise had pointed to the pilot's actions as the cause of the crash in a suit brought by the paramedic's widow.
The board, however, also criticized the actions of the controllers at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and Andrews Air Force Base in Camp Springs.
Younger's suit alleges the controllers were inattentive and uncommunicative after the pilot told them he faced worsening weather conditions that prevented his continuing the lift to the hospital.
The suit also claims controllers provided Bunker with outdated weather information indicating a higher visibility level during Bunker's attempted emergency landing at Andrews.
