Family of pilot killed in 2022 Dallas air show files lawsuit against show organizer

DALLAS – The family of a pilot who died in an air show crash in Dallas last year filed a lawsuit against the show’s organizers. 

Len Root was one of six people who died in last November’s crash at the Wings Over Dallas Air Show. His family is claiming negligence on behalf of the people who put on the show and owned the plane Root flew.

Root got his pilot’s license at the age of 16 and went on to fly for American Airlines for decades before retiring. 

Root died at the age of 66 at the Wings Over Dallas Air Show in November 2022. 

Six men in total were killed when two WW II-era planes collided mid-air. 

A P-63 King Cobra crashed into the back of B-17 Flying Fortress before bursting into flames. Thousands of people watched in horror. Root was a co-pilot on the B-17. 

Root’s family is still waiting for answers.

Thursday, their attorney, Kevin Koudelka, filed a lawsuit in Dallas County on behalf of Root’s wife and daughters hoping to gain those answers. 

“Mrs. Root watched it happen, and she is not doing very well,” he said. “We need the lawsuit to get into what happened and who is responsible for that. Second part of that is who is responsible? What happened? Who is wrong? And why did this happen? And hold them accountable.”

Multiple defendants are named in the lawsuit, including the owners of the planes and the Commemorative Air Force.

The CAF is the non-profit who put on the air show. 

The suit says the plane owners, the CAF and others were negligent in multiple ways leading up to and during the show. 

“One of the questions we have is the air boss, who I call is the quarterback calling the plays for the event. We believe he was employed by CAF,” Koudelka said.

The lawsuit claims this air boss “failed to draft, organize, and implement a safe and adequate flight plan for the airshow.”

“Our investigation thus far and the preliminary report from the NTSB summed up is the planes shouldn’t have been near each other,” Koudelka said.

It could still take several months before the official final NTSB report is released. 

The preliminary report didn’t reveal the cause but states there wasn’t any altitude advice plan in place prior to the show.

Back in January, the FAA released audio recordings of the radio traffic between the air boss and the pilots. Seconds before the collision, you can hear the air boss giving the command to go ahead. 

“It’s a lawsuit to find out who screwed up and hold them responsible because we know Mr. Root, the pilot, didn’t screw up,” Koudelka said.

The CAF says it will wait to respond until after the final NTSB report is released. 

Koudelka believes other lawsuits will be coming. His firm is the first to file.