The wreckage of flight 1340

In 2003, David M. Peterson settled claims for passengers who were on board an American Airlines flight from Kansas City to Chicago O'Hare International Airport on February 8, 1998. Flight 1340 was attempting to land in Chicago under what is known as a Category II approach, where vertical visibility was 100 feet. When the plane broke through the clouds, the pilot finally realized he was headed straight into the dirt, well in front of the runway. He pulled the nose of the plane up, but crashed the plane over one-thousand feet short of the runway totaling the Boeing 727. Fortunately, no one was killed, but many people were injured and everyone suffered psychological damages, many developing a permanent fear of flying.

The lawsuit was originally filed by Peterson & Associates, P.C. in Chicago, Illinois as a Class Action, and later turned into mass tort litigation, with Peterson & Associates, P.C. representing forty-four (44) individual passengers in consolidated litigation. We alleged the crash occurred due to pilot error and dangerous landing protocols utilized by American Airlines, which trained pilots to leave control of the plane in the hands of the autopilot until only 100 feet above the ground, then immediately switching control of the plane off of auto pilot and hand the controls from the co-pilot to the pilot, all only 100 feet above the ground while traveling at hundreds of miles an hour. Following the filing of our suit, American Airlines changed its landing protocol, greatly reducing the risk of future similar crashes. American Airlines of course denied its landing protocol was dangerous, and vehemently fought our allegations of pilot error. After a lengthy and protracted battle with American Airlines, we successfully negotiated confidential settlements for all of our clients.