Ebersol crash co-pilot sues
Copilot files lawsuit in 2004 plane crash that killed NBC exec Dick Ebersol's son
Wednesday July 12, 2006
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) The copilot of the airplane that crashed in 2004, killing the youngest son of NBC Sports executive Dick Ebersol and two others, has filed a negligence lawsuit against the aircraft's maker, owner and charter company.
Eric Sloan Wicksell of Daytona Beach claims in the lawsuit that the plane was defective because operating and training manuals didn't disclose that it was highly susceptible to icing.
The National Transportation Safety Board concluded in May that the pilot's failure to carefully examine the wings for icing probably caused the crash.
The twin-engine Canadair crashed Nov. 28, 2004, as it was taking off from Montrose, Colo., killing 14-year-old Teddy Ebersol, pilot Luis Polanco-Espaillat and flight attendant Warren Richardson III.
Wicksell was injured, as were Dick Ebersol and another son, Charlie Ebersol.
The lawsuit, filed earlier this month in Broward County, seeks unspecified damages. Defendants include Montreal-based aircraft maker Bombardier Corp. and Hop-A-Jet Inc., a Fort Lauderdale-based charter service that owned the airplane.
Representatives of the companies did not return calls seeking comment Wednesday.