Alaska Plane Crash Claims: Liability and the 2-Year Deadline

If you were hurt in an Alaska plane or helicopter crash, you generally have two years from the crash to file suit under AS 09.10.070, and a family has two years from the death to bring a wrongful death action under AS 09.55.580. Who answers for the crash — the operator, the pilot, a maintenance shop or a manufacturer — depends on what caused it, and federal law adds deadlines of its own that can be shorter or stricter.

This article is general information, not legal advice, and creates no attorney-client relationship. The key Alaska provisions are AS 09.10.070, AS 09.55.580, AS 09.17.080 and AS 09.17.010. For related reading see our guides to Alaska wrongful death claims under AS 09.55.580, personal injury in Alaska and snowmachine and off-road injury claims, and our personal injury practice.

Table of Contents

• ➤ Paid Flight or Private Flight: Part 135 vs Part 91
• ➤ Who Can Be Liable After a Crash
• ➤ The Deadlines, Side by Side
• ➤ The 18-Year Federal Limit on Suing Manufacturers
• ➤ International Itineraries: The Montreal Convention
• ➤ The NTSB Investigation, and Why Its Report Stays Out of Court
• ➤ Comparative Fault and Allocation
• ➤ Damages and Alaska’s Noneconomic Caps
• ➤ Civil Rule 82: Partial Fee-Shifting
• ➤ What to Do in the First Weeks
• ➤ Frequently Asked Questions
• ➤ Talk to a BFQ Law Alaska Attorney

Paid Flight or Private Flight: Part 135 vs Part 91

The first question is what kind of flight it was, because federal rules set very different safety requirements for each kind.

	Part 135 (commuter and on-demand)	Part 91 (general operating rules)
Who it covers	Commuter or on-demand operations of each person who holds or is required to hold an Air Carrier or Operating Certificate under Part 119	Operation of aircraft within the United States, including waters within 3 nautical miles of the coast; it applies to every flight, and a private flight is governed by Part 91 alone
Typical Alaska example	An air taxi to a village, a charter to a lodge, a scheduled commuter run	A private pilot flying friends, a personally owned floatplane
Maintenance	Part 135 expressly reaches each person employed or used by the certificate holder, including for maintenance and alteration of the aircraft	Part 91 sets requirements for operators to support the continued airworthiness of each aircraft
Why it matters	A paying passenger is entitled to the higher standards of a certificated operator	The rules are less demanding, and the case often turns on ordinary pilot negligence

The governing texts are 14 CFR 135.1 and 14 CFR 91.1. Tour flights sit in between. Section 135.1(a)(5) covers nonstop commercial air tours for compensation that begin and end at the same airport within a 25-statute-mile radius, but only for drug and alcohol testing and certain air-tour rules; operators of these short tours may fly under a 14 CFR 91.147 authorization rather than a Part 119 certificate. Which rules applied to your flight is worth settling early from the operator’s certificate and the booking records.

Who Can Be Liable After a Crash

• The operator or air carrier. The company that sold the ticket and employed the pilot is usually the main defendant. An employer is generally responsible for an employee pilot’s negligence, and the operator has its own duties around training, dispatch and maintenance.
• The pilot. Launching into marginal weather, continuing into worsening visibility or overloading the aircraft are common fault theories. On a private flight, the pilot and the pilot’s insurer may be the only realistic defendant.
• The maintenance provider. A repair station or mechanic who signed off defective work can be liable separately from the operator.
• The manufacturer. The maker of the airframe, engine, propeller or a component can face product liability claims for a design or manufacturing defect — subject to the federal 18-year limit discussed below.
• An owner or lessor. Federal law shields an owner, a secured party or a lessor under a lease of 30 days or more unless the aircraft was in its actual possession or operational control: see 49 U.S.C. 44112.
• The United States. Where air traffic control or another federal function is alleged to have contributed, the claim runs through the Federal Tort Claims Act, which requires a written administrative claim to the agency within two years after the claim accrues, and a lawsuit within six months after the agency mails a final denial (28 U.S.C. 2401(b)). Both deadlines are easy to miss.

The Deadlines, Side by Side

Claim	Deadline	Starts running	Source
Personal injury (Alaska law)	2 years	When the cause of action accrues	AS 09.10.070(a)
Wrongful death	2 years	The date of death	AS 09.55.580(a)
Claim against the United States	2 years to present a written claim to the agency; then 6 months to sue after a mailed final denial	When the claim accrues	28 U.S.C. 2401(b)
International carriage	2 years, after which the right to damages is extinguished	Arrival at destination, the date the aircraft ought to have arrived, or the date carriage stopped	Montreal Convention, Art. 35(1)
Manufacturer of a general aviation aircraft	18-year statute of repose	Delivery to the first purchaser or lessee (or to a dealer); for a replacement part, completion of the replacement	GARA, 49 U.S.C. 40101 note

For an injured child or a person who is legally incompetent, AS 09.10.140 can pause the Alaska personal-injury clock, with conditions and exceptions; those rules are written for actions under AS 09.10 and do not extend the federal and treaty deadlines in the table. The safe working assumption is that two years is the real limit.

The 18-Year Federal Limit on Suing Manufacturers

The General Aviation Revitalization Act of 1994 (GARA), printed as a note to 49 U.S.C. 40101, bars a civil action for death or injury against the manufacturer of a general aviation aircraft, or of a new component or part, “in its capacity as a manufacturer” if the accident happened after the limitation period of 18 years.

The 18 years run from delivery to the first purchaser or lessee, or first delivery to a dealer. A replacement or added part gets a fresh 18 years from its installation, so a newer engine on an old airframe can still be within reach. GARA covers certificated aircraft that had a maximum seating capacity of fewer than 20 passengers when first certificated and that were not engaged in scheduled passenger-carrying operations at the time of the accident, so it generally does not protect the maker when a scheduled commuter flight crashes. It overrides any state law allowing a later suit.

It does not apply where the claimant pleads with specificity and proves the manufacturer knowingly misrepresented, concealed or withheld required material information from the FAA that is causally related to the harm; where the person was a passenger receiving treatment for a medical or other emergency; where the person was not aboard the aircraft; or to a written-warranty action.

International Itineraries: The Montreal Convention

When the trip is “international carriage” — broadly, travel between two countries that are parties to the treaty, or a round trip from a party country with an agreed stop in another country — the Montreal Convention governs a claim against the air carrier, and Article 29 confines any damages action to its conditions and limits. A visitor’s Alaska leg ticketed as part of a trip from abroad may be covered, so the itinerary matters.

• Liability. Under Article 17 the carrier is liable for death or bodily injury if the accident took place on board or in the course of embarking or disembarking.
• First tier. Article 21 makes the carrier answerable up to a first-tier amount per passenger even if it was not negligent (subject only to the passenger’s own contributory negligence under Article 20); above it, the carrier escapes only by proving it was not negligent or a third party was solely at fault. After ICAO’s fourth review of the limits, that figure is 151,880 Special Drawing Rights, effective December 28, 2024 (ICAO notice).
• Where to sue. For death or injury, Article 33(2) adds a “fifth jurisdiction”: the passenger’s principal and permanent residence, if the carrier serves that country (directly or through a code-share partner) and does business there from premises it or a partner leases or owns.
• Deadline. Article 35(1) extinguishes the right to damages if no action is brought within two years of arrival, the date the aircraft ought to have arrived, or the date carriage stopped. The Ninth Circuit, which covers Alaska, held in Narayanan v. British Airways, 747 F.3d 1125 (9th Cir. 2014), that the clock does not restart on a later death.

The NTSB Investigation, and Why Its Report Stays Out of Court

The National Transportation Safety Board investigates civil aircraft accidents and establishes the facts, circumstances and probable cause (49 U.S.C. 1131). The operator must notify the NTSB immediately (49 CFR 830.5) and must preserve the wreckage and the flight, maintenance and recorder records until the Board takes custody or releases them (49 CFR 830.10).

Apart from the FAA, no one has a right to be a party, and a party representative may not hold a legal position or represent claimants or insurers (49 CFR 831.11).

Most important for a lawsuit: under 49 U.S.C. 1154(b), “no part of a report of the Board, related to an accident or an investigation of an accident, may be admitted into evidence or used in a civil action for damages resulting from a matter mentioned in the report.” The NTSB’s regulations draw a line: the Board accident report, with the probable-cause determination, is barred, but there is “no statutory bar” to admitting the investigator’s factual accident report (49 CFR 835.2). NTSB employees may testify only to factual information and may not give expert or opinion testimony (49 CFR 835.3).

So a probable-cause finding that blames the pilot does not win the case, and one that blames the weather does not lose it. Liability is proved with independent evidence and experts.

Comparative Fault and Allocation

Alaska uses pure comparative fault. Under AS 09.17.060, a claimant’s own fault “diminishes proportionately” the damages awarded “but does not bar recovery.” “Fault” is defined broadly in AS 09.17.900 to include unreasonable assumption of risk and unreasonable failure to avoid an injury or mitigate damages.

Under AS 09.17.080, the jury assigns a percentage of the total fault to each claimant, defendant, third-party defendant and released person, and judgment is entered against each defendant “on the basis of several liability” in proportion to its share. In a simple example, if a jury found $500,000 in damages and assigned 70 percent to the operator, 20 percent to a maintenance shop and 10 percent to the passenger, the operator would owe $350,000 and the shop $100,000; the passenger’s 10 percent would simply not be recovered.

Fault can also be allocated to someone who was not sued, unless that person was identified as potentially responsible and the parties had a sufficient opportunity to join that person (within the court’s jurisdiction, not barred by law and reasonably locatable) but chose not to. Identifying every responsible party early is the answer to an “empty chair” defense.

Damages and Alaska’s Noneconomic Caps

Economic losses — medical bills, rehabilitation, lost earnings and earning capacity — are not capped, though they are subject to the fault rules above. Noneconomic damages are limited by AS 09.17.010, which applies to actions for personal injury or wrongful death:

Situation	Cap on noneconomic damages (all claims from one injury or death, including loss of consortium)
General rule	$400,000 or the injured person’s life expectancy in years multiplied by $8,000, whichever is greater
Severe permanent physical impairment or severe disfigurement (personal injury)	$1,000,000 or the person’s life expectancy in years multiplied by $25,000, whichever is greater

Multiple injuries from one incident count as a single injury. Punitive damages require clear and convincing evidence that the defendant’s conduct was outrageous or showed reckless indifference to others; they are generally capped at the greater of three times compensatory damages or $500,000 (different limits apply in some cases), and half of any award goes to the state (AS 09.17.020).

In a death case, AS 09.55.580 lists factors including lost financial support, services, consortium, prospective training and education, and medical and funeral expenses. The recovery belongs to the spouse, children or other dependents; where there are none, it is limited to pecuniary loss. Causes of action also survive to the personal representative under AS 09.55.570. Our wrongful death guide covers who brings the claim.

Civil Rule 82: Partial Fee-Shifting

Under Alaska Civil Rule 82, the prevailing party in a civil case is generally awarded a portion of its attorney’s fees. Where the winner recovers a money judgment, the award follows a schedule:

Judgment (plus prejudgment interest)	Contested with trial	Contested without trial	Non-contested
First $25,000	20%	18%	10%
Next $75,000	10%	8%	3%
Next $400,000	10%	6%	2%
Over $500,000	10%	2%	1%

A prevailing party that recovers no money judgment — typically a defendant who wins — is awarded 30 percent of its reasonable actual fees if the case went to trial and 20 percent if it was resolved without trial. The court can vary the award for listed reasons, and fees are apportioned by fault where AS 09.17.080 applies. Rule 82(f) is explicit that these awards do not fix the fees between a lawyer and client.

What to Do in the First Weeks

• Get medical care and keep every record. If treatment itself goes wrong, see our AS 09.55.549 malpractice guide.
• Keep the booking: tickets, confirmation emails, the tour voucher and any waiver you signed. They show who the carrier was and whether the trip was international.
• Write down what you remember about weather, loading and the briefing, and the names of other passengers.
• Be careful with recorded statements to an operator’s insurer before you understand your position.
• Calendar two years from the crash (and from any death) as the outside limit, and treat any claim against a federal agency or an international carrier as needing earlier action.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long do I have to sue after an Alaska plane crash? Generally two years from the crash (AS 09.10.070) or from the death (AS 09.55.580). International trips and claims against the United States have their own rules.

Can I sue the manufacturer of an old aircraft? Often not, if the aircraft and the failed part are more than 18 years past delivery or installation, unless a GARA exception applies.

Will the NTSB report prove who was at fault? No. The Board’s probable-cause report cannot be admitted or used in a damages case under 49 U.S.C. 1154(b). Factual reports are not barred by that statute, but fault must be proved with independent evidence.

Did the waiver I signed for the flightseeing tour end my claim? Not necessarily. Alaska’s fault statute counts unreasonable assumption of risk as comparative fault but carves out an “enforceable express consent” (AS 09.17.900), so whether the release itself is enforceable, given its wording and the conduct alleged, is the question.

Talk to a BFQ Law Alaska Attorney

Most Alaska aviation claims turn on what kind of flight it was, who contributed to the crash, which deadline runs first, and what the independent evidence shows. Answering those questions early protects options the deadlines can close.

Read about our attorneys and legal team, our personal injury practice and our wrongful death practice. Reach us through our contact page. Nothing here promises an outcome, and every claim depends on its own facts.