MIAMI – The widows of two of four Venezuelan men killed when a small airplane crashed in Kendall in February have filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the company that owned the Beech 1900C aircraft.
The lawsuits seek damages in excess of $15,000 from Aeropanamericano, C.A., for the deaths of Juan Carlos Ventencourt De Lima, 57, and Francisco DiMarco Vegas, 36.
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Authorities identified the other victims killed as Raul Chirivella, who was the pilot, and Roberto Cavaniel.
Authorities said the men were in town on business to pick up plane parts and were returning to Venezuela.
Aviation officials said the plane left Kendall-Tamiami Executive Airport and was trying to return after an engine apparently failed.
According to the complaint, "Reasonably skilled pilots of multi-engine aircraft are expected and required to be able to safely handle situations in which one of the two engines fails by flying the aircraft to the nearest available airfield or, in this instance, by returning to the airfield from which the aircraft had taken off."
The complaint also alleges that, "The subject aircraft was designed to be able to fly with only one engine functioning and was designed such that a reasonably skilled pilot can continue to fly the plane safely with only one engine functioning in order to land at the nearest available airfield or return to an airfield from which it has taken off."
The four men were on the twin engine Beechcraft 1900 headed for the Turks and Caicos, which is a common pit stop for planes heading to Venezuela.
Aviation officials said the plane hit a utility pole before crashing to the ground and catching fire.
It's unclear what caused the plane's engine to fail.
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