Largest fatal accident claim in English history launched against Leonardo following high-profile 2018 crash
January 13, 2025
Six and a half years after former Leicester City Football Club Chairman Khun Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha was killed alongside four others in a helicopter crash, his family have launched a £2.15 billion claim against Leonardo; alleging the manufacturer is to blame for the fatal accident.
Khun Vichai’s son, Khun Aiiyawatt Srivaddanapraba, explained that he holds Leonardo “wholly responsible for his [father’s] death;” elaborating that “the conclusions of the report into his death show that [his father’s] trust in Leonardo was fatally misplaced”.
The AW169 was taking off from Leicester’s King Power Stadium when “seizure of the tail rotor duplex bearing initiated a sequence of failures which culminated in the unrecoverable loss of control,” explained the September 2023 Air Accident Investigation (AAIB) report; a document forming the foundation of the claim.
At the heart of the case, alleged discrepancies between the manufacturer’s regulatory responsibilities and what the lawsuit claims to be “the result of multiple failures in Leonardo’s design process”. These centre around the tail rotor bearings, identified as “critical parts” by the manufacturer, which were not covered by any design or test requirements to specifically address rolling contract fatigue.
Although the certification testing met the airworthiness authorities’ acceptable means of compliance, “it was not sufficiently representative of operational demands to identify the failure mode,” continued the AAIB. Equally, regulatory requirements did not mandate the sharing of load test flight survey results with the bearing manufacturer; nor did they require routine inspections of critical part bearings.
Additionally, with regulatory guidance not required to cover “the various failure sequences and possible risk reduction and mitigation sequences within the wider tail rotor control system,” the AAIB added that “these were not fully considered in the certification process”.
Two partners from UK law firm Stewarts have been appointed to the case, with partner Peter Neenan explaining: “The [AAIB] report was as damning a report as I have ever read. The claim takes that safety-driven analysis to its eventual implication in allegations of defects and negligence throughout the design process”.
This “eventual implication”, alleges Stewarts, may have consequences for Leonard’s customers across the globe – including “national militaries, air ambulances and other first responders;” adding it is “critical that all operators of these helicopters have faith and confidence in the machines”.
Although the AAIB report made no recommended actions to Leonardo, the manufacturer has subsequently issued 16 safety bulletins, commenting upon publication of the report: “more than 150 AW169s continue to operate safely in over 30 countries, logging over 150,000 flight hours to date across the global fleet.” It added that whilst “the AAIB final report rightly concluded that Leonardo complied with all regulatory requirements in both the design and manufacture of the AW169,” it has nevertheless “adopted additional, precautionary inspection and part replacement measures which were neither requested nor required by the relevant authorities”.
Leonardo has been contacted for comment.
