In Re Air Crash Disaster at New Orleans, Etc.

MEMORANDUM DECISION

McRAE, District Judge.

This case was brought under the Federal Tort Claims Act. Plaintiffs’ causes of action arose when a DC-3 aircraft crashed at the New Orleans, Louisiana, Airport (Moisant Field) in poor visibility conditions at approximately 6:55 A.M., C.S.T., on March 20, 1969. Of the twenty-seven persons on board, sixteen were killed, including the pilot and co-pilot and Marion Leo Hayes, a pilot-employee of the corporate owner of the plane, Avion, Inc. Originally, actions for damages were commenced against the United States by the estates of twelve of the deceased…