Parents of Skydiving Plane Crash Victim Seek Damages

By Daniel Hawn

Published on August 04, 2006

Vivian and Susan Delacroix filed the lawsuit in Franklin County Circuit Court on behalf of the death of their daughter Victoria, 22. The parents, from Kent, England, allege that a malfunction in the engine of the DeHavilland DHC-6 plane caused the fatal crash.

In addition to United Technologies, the parent company of the maker of the airplane’s engine, the lawsuit also names as defendants the Sullivan airport, which is said to have performed mechanical work on the plane; Adventure Aviation, the plane’s owner; Quantum Leap Skydiving Center, the skydiving company that conducted the trip; and Scot Cowan, the plane’s pilot, who also died in the accident.

According to the National Transportation Safety Board, an engine malfunction may have been responsible for the accident. The agency’s final analysis will not be available for a matter of months, however.

The Delacroix’s attorney, Gary C. Robb, of Kansas City, said that witnesses saw the plane’s right engine erupt into flames after the plane left the runway.

A spokesperson for Pratt & Whitney, the maker of the plane’s PT6A turboprop engines, said that the company does not comment plane crashes that are under investigation.

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