DALLAS, TEXAS: Angela Norris Root, the wife of a 66-year-old pilot who died in the Dallas airshow crash last year, is suing the event organizers for negligence.
Len Root was among the six men who died at the Wings Over Dallas Air Show in November 2022 after two WW2-era planes collided in front of a huge Texas crowd.
Nearly a year later, Angela and her three daughters - Larisa Lichte, Kendra Hockaday, and Rebekah Lowery – filed a lawsuit in Dallas County, listing the Commemorative Air Force, the American Airpower Heritage Flying Museum Inc, and the American Airpower Heritage Museum, Inc as defendants.
"Mrs. Root watched it happen, and she is not doing very well," the family's lawyer Kevin Koudelka said, referring to the fatal crash.
"We need the lawsuit to get into what happened and who is responsible for that. The second part of that is who is responsible? What happened? Who is wrong? And why did this happen? And hold them accountable," he continued.
Who was Len Root?
Root was a retired American Airlines pilot who had earned his pilot's license at the age of 16.
Last November, he was inside a B-17 bomber with four other crew members when it collided with a P-63 fighter plane.
Everyone in both planes was killed as a result of the horrific collision. Along with Len, the others killed were Terry Baker, Curt Rowe, Kevin Michels, Dan Ragan, and Craig Hutain.
A shocking video of the tragic accident showed how the fighter plane rammed into the bomber at high speed before creating an enormous ball of fire and smoke and sending parts of both planes crashing to the ground, according to Daily Mail.
The event that turned into a tragedy was a part of the Commemorative Air Force's show for the Veterans Day weekend.
Len Root's family seeks answers
In the lawsuit, Root’s family claims that the plane owners, the CAF, and other defendants, were negligent in multiple ways leading up to and during the show.
"One of the questions we have is the air boss, who I call the quarterback calling the plays for the event. We believe he was employed by CAF," the family attorney said, according to Fox News.
The lawsuit further alleges that the organizers "failed to draft, organize, and implement a safe and adequate flight plan for the airshow."
"Our investigation thus far and the preliminary report from the NTSB summed up is the planes shouldn’t have been near each other," Koudelka said.
Both the FAA and NTSB are investigating the cause of the crash, but their final findings could take several more months to come in.
Although the preliminary report did not provide a cause for the crash, it indicated that there was no altitude advice plan for the pilots before the show.
"It's a lawsuit to find out who screwed up and hold them responsible because we know Mr Root, the pilot, didn't screw up," added Koudelka.
CAF's response
According to Fox, CAF responded to the lawsuit with a statement, saying, "We are aware of the lawsuit filed against the Commemorative Air Force on August 31 by the family of one of our members who was tragically killed in the accident at the Wings Over Dallas Airshow in November 2022."
"Our attorneys are looking into the petition and will respond through the appropriate channels," the statement continued.
The entity added that it will wait to formally respond until after the National Transportation Safety Board arrives.
