Aviation attorney may mount legal case for passengers on SQ836 which fell 4,000m

AVIATION attorney Floyd Wisner announced on Friday that he will consider mounting a legal case for passengers aboard Singapore Airlines Flight 836, which plunged 4,000 metres after the plane lost power to both engines on May 23.

Mr Wisner, who is the principal of Chicago-based Wisner Law Firm, said in a note to the media that the case bears "remarkable similarities" to Qantas Flight 72 that fell 2,000 metres in 2008 on its way from Singapore to Perth, and that many passengers would have suffered severe emotional and possibly physical trauma.

He had represented over 160 passengers and crew on QF72, and successfully negotiated a settlement outcome in what was reported as being Australia's largest ever aviation compensation case at the time.

Passengers on the May 23 Singapore Airlines flight who suffered trauma may qualify for compensation in a legal case, Mr Wisner said.

"The Singapore Airlines plane is an Airbus A330-300, exactly the same plane as QF72, while the Air France crash in the Atlantic Ocean in 2009 involved an Airbus 330-200," said Mr Wisner. "There have been a number of other incidents involving the fly-by-wire systems that have resulted in this plane behaving erratically."

The law firm is currently representing passengers on Air Asia Flight 8501 that crashed into the Java Sea in December 2014.