FREDERICK, MD — (AP) A jury has awarded the families of two helicopter pilots killed in a 2014 midair collision with a small plane in Maryland a total of $17 million.
The Frederick News-Post reports (http://bit.ly/2o2Zod5 ) Midwest Air Traffic Control Services will pay the family of 29-year-old Christopher Parsons $5 million and the family of 47-year-old William Jenkins $12 million, per Tuesday’s decision. The company, which was sued for negligence, had claimed the pilots’ lack of awareness caused the crash.
Parsons was a helicopter instructor who was training Jenkins, a licensed pilot from Colorado on Oct. 23, 2014 in Frederick, Maryland. A third passenger died in the crash, but his family wasn’t part of the lawsuit.
Economists calculated the awards based on the financial losses the deaths represented to each family.
Midwest’s attorneys could not be reached for comment.
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