Alleges Engine Failure, Pilot Error May Have Led To Downing

A second lawsuit was filed this week on behalf of a victim in the January 30 crash of a Cessna 421 (file photo of type, below) at the Palwaukee Municipal Airport near Chicago. On Monday, a wrongful death lawsuit was filed in Cook County Circuit Court on behalf of the estate of 59-year old Mark Turek, one of four people lost in the accident.

Those named as defendants in the lawsuit includes the posh romance getaway resort chain Sybaris Clubs, as well as it's founder and the pilot of that doomed flight, Kenneth Knudson. The suit also names Teledyne Continental, maker of the engines that powered the 421.

"This particular engine has problems... a history of problems," Michael Demetrio, a laywer for the Turek estate, told the Chicago Tribune.

Demetrio added that experts have already determined that there was something terribly wrong with the left engine on Knudson's plane, and that may have led to the crash.

The lawsuit is the second to be filed on behalf of a victim in the crash. The family of victim Michael Waugh filed a wrongful-death lawsuit in February, blaming the crash on the failure of the Cessna's left engine. Also lost in the accident was Scott Garland.

As for suing Knudson himself, Demetrio says he may have been negligent for allowing the plane to crash.

FMI: www.ntsb.gov