Fatal Lindenhurst plane crash in 2023 during flight lesson from Republic Airport was ‘entirely preventable,’ suit charges
A Pennsylvania woman critically injured in a 2023 plane crash in Lindenhurst that killed her mother and the flight instructor who’d taken them on an “introductory flight lesson” out of Republic Airport has filed a lawsuit in Queens Supreme Court.
The suit claims the crash was “entirely preventable” and the result of “reckless disregard for basic aviation safety,” according to court documents obtained by Newsday.
The suit, filed Feb. 27 by attorneys Jordan Strokovsky of Philadelphia and Mark D. Shirian of Manhattan, allege that defendants Waizman Aviation Inc., 2BA Pilot NYC Corp., Republic Aviation Corp., Danny Waizman and Robert Gainor all ignored warning signs — including prior incidents reporting smoke in the cockpit — in the weeks leading up to the fatal crash.
According to an Oct. 30, 2024, investigation report by the National Transportation Safety Board, was “An in-flight fire due to a compromised oil pressure line fitting” that led to “electrical arcing” and “ignition with the leaking fluid,” resulting in the crash during an attempted emergency landing.
Plaintiff Reeva Gupta of St. Davids, Pennsylvania, was critically burned in the postcrash fire that engulfed the single-engine Piper PA-28-161 Warrior II. She spent months in a medically induced coma.
Her mother, Roma Gupta, 63, of Whitehouse, N.J., was killed in the crash.
The pilot, Fayzul Chowdhury, 23, of the Bronx, was critically injured in the accident and died months later from injuries suffered in the crash, according to the NTSB.
The suit, citing the 2024 NTSB accident report, asserts that not only was the Piper not equipped with fire extinguishers, but that on two prior occasions in the weeks leading up to the crash there were reported incidents of “smoke in the cockpit” with two flight instructors “employed by the operator” each reporting those conditions, only to have those warnings dismissed.
The suit alleges the deaths and injuries to Reeva Gupta, 33, who was a neurosurgery physicians assistant at Mount Sinai West, were “entirely preventable.”
“The evidence in this case is damning,” the suit asserts, adding that the plaintiffs “knowingly operated an unsafe aircraft, despite repeated warnings of smoke in the cockpit just weeks before the crash.
“Instead of grounding the plane and addressing the known mechanical defects,” the suit charges, “the defendants willfully ignored glaring red flags and continued to profit from an operation that had no meaningful safety protocols, emergency response plans, or oversight.”
It was not immediately clear Tuesday if Waizman or Gainor are represented by counsel. Attempts to reach Gainor were unsuccessful. A man who answered a phone number listed for Waizman Tuesday identified himself to a reporter as Danny Waizman and, when asked for comment on the lawsuit, said: “I cannot give you anything” and then hung up the phone without further comment.
Calls to Waizman Aviation and 2BA Pilot NYC Corp. Tuesday were met with a voicemail instructing callers to text a number in order to book a flight with the companies.
Republic aviation is named as the owner of the plane. Waizman and 2BA Pilot NYC Corp. are owners of the aviation company that Waizman manages and which rented out the plane for the lesson. Gainor is named in the suit as the mechanic who serviced the plane .
Neither Gupta nor her attorneys immediately returned calls Tuesday seeking comment on the suit.
Gupta and her mother undertook the flight out of Republic after purchasing a Groupon online to fulfill a lifelong dream of taking to the skies. Gupta suffered second- and third-degree burns covering more than half her body and spent six weeks in an induced coma and months recovering in a burn unit, according to postcrash accounts in Newsday.
According to the NTSB, the 40-minute flight was on a 3-mile final approach to the East Farmingdale airport when the broadcast a “Mayday” call to the tower controller, requesting an immediate landing due to smoke in the cockpit.
The Piper crashed into trees and ultimately into the ground in a wooded area near the Long Island Rail Road tracks in North Lindenhurst, according to authorities. The plane was then consumed in fire, the NTSB said.
With Robert Brodsky
A Pennsylvania woman critically injured in a 2023 plane crash in Lindenhurst that killed her mother and the flight instructor who’d taken them on an “introductory flight lesson” out of Republic Airport has filed a lawsuit in Queens Supreme Court.
The suit claims the crash was “entirely preventable” and the result of “reckless disregard for basic aviation safety,” according to court documents obtained by Newsday.
The suit, filed Feb. 27 by attorneys Jordan Strokovsky of Philadelphia and Mark D. Shirian of Manhattan, allege that defendants Waizman Aviation Inc., 2BA Pilot NYC Corp., Republic Aviation Corp., Danny Waizman and Robert Gainor all ignored warning signs — including prior incidents reporting smoke in the cockpit — in the weeks leading up to the fatal crash.
According to an Oct. 30, 2024, investigation report by the National Transportation Safety Board, was “An in-flight fire due to a compromised oil pressure line fitting” that led to “electrical arcing” and “ignition with the leaking fluid,” resulting in the crash during an attempted emergency landing.
Plaintiff Reeva Gupta of St. Davids, Pennsylvania, was critically burned in the postcrash fire that engulfed the single-engine Piper PA-28-161 Warrior II. She spent months in a medically induced coma.
Her mother, Roma Gupta, 63, of Whitehouse, N.J., was killed in the crash.
The pilot, Fayzul Chowdhury, 23, of the Bronx, was critically injured in the accident and died months later from injuries suffered in the crash, according to the NTSB.
The suit, citing the 2024 NTSB accident report, asserts that not only was the Piper not equipped with fire extinguishers, but that on two prior occasions in the weeks leading up to the crash there were reported incidents of “smoke in the cockpit” with two flight instructors “employed by the operator” each reporting those conditions, only to have those warnings dismissed.
The suit alleges the deaths and injuries to Reeva Gupta, 33, who was a neurosurgery physicians assistant at Mount Sinai West, were “entirely preventable.”
“The evidence in this case is damning,” the suit asserts, adding that the plaintiffs “knowingly operated an unsafe aircraft, despite repeated warnings of smoke in the cockpit just weeks before the crash.
“Instead of grounding the plane and addressing the known mechanical defects,” the suit charges, “the defendants willfully ignored glaring red flags and continued to profit from an operation that had no meaningful safety protocols, emergency response plans, or oversight.”
It was not immediately clear Tuesday if Waizman or Gainor are represented by counsel. Attempts to reach Gainor were unsuccessful. A man who answered a phone number listed for Waizman Tuesday identified himself to a reporter as Danny Waizman and, when asked for comment on the lawsuit, said: “I cannot give you anything” and then hung up the phone without further comment.
Calls to Waizman Aviation and 2BA Pilot NYC Corp. Tuesday were met with a voicemail instructing callers to text a number in order to book a flight with the companies.
Republic aviation is named as the owner of the plane. Waizman and 2BA Pilot NYC Corp. are owners of the aviation company that Waizman manages and which rented out the plane for the lesson. Gainor is named in the suit as the mechanic who serviced the plane .
Neither Gupta nor her attorneys immediately returned calls Tuesday seeking comment on the suit.
Gupta and her mother undertook the flight out of Republic after purchasing a Groupon online to fulfill a lifelong dream of taking to the skies. Gupta suffered second- and third-degree burns covering more than half her body and spent six weeks in an induced coma and months recovering in a burn unit, according to postcrash accounts in Newsday.
According to the NTSB, the 40-minute flight was on a 3-mile final approach to the East Farmingdale airport when the broadcast a “Mayday” call to the tower controller, requesting an immediate landing due to smoke in the cockpit.
The Piper crashed into trees and ultimately into the ground in a wooded area near the Long Island Rail Road tracks in North Lindenhurst, according to authorities. The plane was then consumed in fire, the NTSB said.
With Robert Brodsky
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