Family injured in Marco plane crash files lawsuit

Plane Crash near Cape Romano

MARCO ISLAND — An Irish family that crash landed into the Gulf of Mexico in June while flying back to Marco Island from a day trip in Key West has filed a lawsuit in Collier County court claiming negligence on the part of the pilot and the airplane’s owner.

Paul White and his wife, Jane Gleeson, who reside in Dublin, claim that Bob Dohm, the pilot of the twin-engine Cessna they were flying in, failed to refuel the plane before leaving Key West, failed to brief their family on emergency procedures before takeoff, and was one life preserver short when the plane went down.

“All we know is the plane ran out of gas on a very short flight, and that is inexcusable and grossly negligent,” said the family’s Collier County-based attorney, Larry Farese. “You don’t take a family of five on a short plane ride with no gas in it.”

Farese said he could not estimate how much he and his clients were seeking in damages. He said the case probably wouldn’t go to trial for at least a year.

Mitchel E. Kallet, an attorney representing the plane’s owners Robert and Peggy Villard, and their company, Marco Aviation Inc., declined to comment on the case.

“I can’t give you any comment on it other than we’ll be defending it,” Kallet said.

Around 9 a.m. on June 26, White, Gleeson and their three children, Julie, Jessica and Jordan, departed from the Marco Island Executive Airport to Key West in a Cessna piloted by Dohm, according to the lawsuit.

The family arrived at Key West around 9:35 a.m., and made arrangements with Dohm to be picked up around 5 p.m. for a return flight to Marco Island, according to the lawsuit. In between, the lawsuit states that Dohm flew back to Marco Island to pick up another customer.

Dohm did not take on fuel in Key West, the lawsuit states. The price of a gallon of jet fuel in Key West was $6.74 that day, compared to $5.39 in Marco Island.

The White family members also said that they don’t believe Dohm performed a pre-flight inspection prior to takeoff, or checked the aircraft’s fuel. They said in the lawsuit that they were not given emergency instructions before takeoff.

According to a National Transportation Safety Board report released in July, Dohm said he briefed the White family on safety procedures on the trip to Key West.

“Every single flight you have to advise the passengers where the exit is, where the life preservers are, and so forth,” Farese said. “That clearly wasn’t done on the return trip.”

The lawsuit states that on the flight to Marco Island, Dohm repeatedly looked at the right propeller. Eventually the right propeller sputtered and stopped, causing the plane to rise and fall sharply.

Just after 6 p.m. the plane crashed into the Gulf of Mexico near Goodland, violently shaking the heads and bodies of the passengers. Everyone but Paul White was able to find a life preserver before entering the water. At times he had to cling to his daughters before two fishermen from LaBelle arrived to pluck them from the water.

“We believe there were only four life preservers for the five passengers,” Farese said. “Paul White couldn’t find his life preserver, and we don’t believe it was there.”

The NTSB, which investigated the crash, found there was no fuel in the plane’s right tank and only 14 ounces in the left tank. Dohm told investigators that his gauges were incorrect.

Farese said that Paul White sustained a bruise to his heart during the crash, and Jessica White broke her elbow and fractured her arm. The entire family suffered bumps, bruises, neck pains and headaches, he said.

“The entire family is going through counseling,” Farese said. “As you can imagine, it was quite a traumatic experience.”