Heinz’s Widow Sues Companies Over Air Crash

The widow of Sen. John Heinz (R-Pa.) is suing the owners of an airplane and helicopter that collided over a suburban Philadelphia school last April, killing her husband and six other people.

The lawsuit alleges that the companies failed to properly train their flight crews.

Teresa Heinz, who lives in the Pittsburgh suburb of Fox Chapel, filed suit Thursday in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court on behalf of herself, her three sons and her husband’s estate.

The lawsuit names Lycoming Air Services Inc. of Lycoming County in central Pennsylvania, owner of the twin-engine Piper Aerostar in which Heinz was a passenger. Another defendant is Sun Company Inc. and its subsidiary, Sun Refining & Marketing Co., both of Philadelphia, which owned the Bell Model 412 helicopter that collided with the plane.

It asks for damages equal to the amount Heinz would have earned in his lifetime, the pain and suffering he experienced before he died and medical, funeral and estate administration expenses.

The accident occurred as the crew of the helicopter was trying to determine whether the plane’s nose wheel was down and locked for landing. The National Transportation Safety Board concluded Sept. 17 that the crash resulted from errors in judgment by the pilots of both aircraft.

The board said the captain of the plane that the Republican senator chartered did not know his aircraft well enough. The pilots of the Sun helicopter, although experienced in their jobs, did not know much about flying close to another aircraft, the safety board said.