Jet-crash survivors taking Norfolk company to court

NORFOLK

A trial in a civil liability case against a Norfolk-based jet company in a 2006 crash has been delayed because an expert witness was not available, a lawyer said Tuesday.

No new date has been set for the trial, which had been set for Monday, said James C. Lewis, an attorney representing the survivors of a 2006 jet crash in Connecticut.

Preston W. Fussell, one of the three survivors, was scheduled to have his liability case against International Jet Charter Inc. heard next week in Norfolk Circuit Court’s Civil Division, according to court documents.

Kent Fortner and Douglas Fuller were scheduled to have their cases heard on different dates in March.

A new date will need to be set for all three trials, Lewis said.

The three local men were aboard a Learjet 35A on June 2, 2006, when it crashed about 2:30 p.m. into the Long Island Sound, just short of the runway at Groton-New London Airport. The men had been en route to a charity golf tournament when their chartered jet went down in heavy fog.

The pilots – Robert Janule, 59, of Hampton, and Michael Wayne Kiser, 55, of Suffolk – were killed. Federal aviation records show they were experienced pilots, according to who flew for International Jet Charter, based at Norfolk International Airport.

An accident report from the National Transportation Safety Board said the probable cause was the crew’s failure to properly monitor the jet’s altitude, resulting in the captain – Janule – inadvertently descending into water.

Fog contributed to the crash, the report said. The captain’s decision to descend too low without sufficient visual cues also contributed, it said.

The wreckage was upside down, with the wings separated from the fuselage, the report said.

At the time, the company operated five airplanes and had no previous accidents.

Fuller, in an interview with The Day newspaper of New London after the crash, said he suspected something was wrong.

“When we came through the fog, I noticed we were much lower than expected from my experience flying on jets,” Fuller told the newspaper.