Looks like there may be a lawsuit too. I don't see a date for this article but I believe it to be recent due to the mention of the crash being one year ago...
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Suit launched against MK Airlines
By MICHAEL TUTTON
HALIFAX (CP) - A multimillion-dollar lawsuit has been launched against a British-based cargo airline by the families of crew killed in a fiery crash in Halifax one year ago.
Seven crew members died in the MK Airlines crash on Oct. 14, after the heavily loaded jumbo jet failed to gain sufficient altitude, struck its tail on a berm at the end of a runway and crashed into nearby woodlands.
Transportation safety investigators have determined the throttle of the jet was set incorrectly, and the engines didn't generate enough power for the planeload of seafood and tractors to take off.
Lawyers for six of the seven families filed the suit Wednesday in the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia, alleging the crew was too tired and poorly trained to avoid the error.
The allegations in the suit have not been proven in court and no statement of defence has been filed by MK Airlines.
Steve Anderson, an airline spokesman, declined to comment on the lawsuit until the company reviewed it.
Mary Schiavo, an aviation lawyer based in Charleston, S.C., said she will seek punitive damages of "several million dollars Canadian" for each of six families involved.
The suit alleges that MK Airline put "profits over people" by requiring the crew to make a transatlantic trip within a 24-hour period of time.
It also claims the company failed to get the proper training for crew members on the software used to provide proper takeoff settings.
The issues of fatigue and training were both raised as factors in the crash by the lead investigator of the Transportation Safety Board in an interview earlier this week with The Canadian Press.
The airline has denied links between the factors raised by the investigators and the accident.
The safety board's final report on the accident is expected early next year.
Schiavo, a former senior investigator with the U.S. Department of Transportation, said the widows are struggling financially and need to be compensated for the loss of their husbands' incomes.
She said the lawsuit also aims to improve safety in the cargo aviation industry.
The lawsuit, filed by Toronto-based lawyer Paul Miller, includes the names of 35 plaintiffs, including the wives, sons, daughters, mothers and fathers of the pilots.
They're suing for damages in the deaths of Capt. David Lamb and flight engineers Pete Launder and Steve Hooper, both residents of Zimbabwe.
Family members of ground engineer Mario Zahn, a German who lived in South Africa; and loadmaster Chris Strydom and first officer Gary Keough, both of Zimbabwe, are also suing.
The wife of Capt. Michael Thornycroft, a Briton who lived in South Africa, is not joining the lawsuit.
The families also allege the company deliberately registered the plane in Ghana to avoid the stricter regulations of the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States on maximum on-duty times for airline crews.
The lawsuit also named several sub-contractors and the Halifax airport.
