Florida Injury Lawyer Blawg
A renowned pilot from Miami who was the 10th woman to fly solo around the world in 2024 died in a crash in Indiana on July 30 while trying to repeat the journey, CBS News reported Wednesday.
Anh-Thu Nguyen, 44, died in Greenwood, Indiana, while attempting to circumnavigate the world in her Lancair IB-P named “Amelia.” In 2024, she secured the title as the 10th woman to circumnavigate the world, making 25 stops all over the globe. Before her death, she had logged over 4,000 flight hours, served as a commercial pilot, and flew for companies such as Amazon, Boeing, Bombardier and Gulfstream.
The crash happened just before 11 a.m. when her plane began making several “strange aerial maneuvers,” according to media reporting. Later, the plane nose-dived into a grassy area about a mile southeast of the Indy South Greenwood Airport. The plane went down just a few feet behind a gas station. She was the only person on the plane at the time of the crash.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is investigating the crash.
Nguyen was a “trailblazer in the world of aviation” and was passionate about raising awareness for diverse women in the field, according to her obituary.
In 2018, she founded Asian Women in Aerospace and Aviation, a nonprofit forged to support the rise of underrepresented women in aviation. Two years later, in Pembroke Pines, she opened the Dragon Flight Training Academy at the North Perry Airport.
“She lived [with] urgency,” family said in her obituary. “She lived persistence. ‘Impossible’ was never part of her vocabulary. Her favorite motto, from Amelia Earhart, was:
‘The most effective way to do it is to do it.’”
Leesfield & Partners
Leesfield & Partners had offices in Central Florida, Miami and Key West. The firm’s attorneys have secured multiple record verdicts and settlements for injured clients throughout the state, earning it national recognition. The firm has handled cases such as devastating car accidents, product liability claims and cases involving injuries stemming from a cruise line’s negligence, delivering expert legal guidance with the aim of achieving the maximum compensation available to clients.
In the past, the firm has handled aviation cases in which clients were injured due to mechanical failure, defective products from airplane manufacturers, pilot of other employee error, and FAA and air traffic controller errors. Leesfield & Partners has decades of experience handling aviation cases, a practice area of personal injury law that requires specialized knowledge of aviation law and meticulous investigative skills. The firm has previously represented passengers, pilots and innocent bystanders injured or killed due to the negligence of corporations and individuals alike.
Previous Aviation Incidents
The firm previously handled an aviation case in which a 30-year-old co-pilot was killed in a crash due to an issue with the plane’s controls that went unnoticed during pre-flight checks.
The firm secured a $10 million recovery for the co-pilot’s family.
In another aviation case, the firm obtained over $8.5 million for the family.
In a devastating aviation case that resulted in the death of our client’s loved one, Leesfield & partners secured $5.4 million.
Ira Leesfield, Leesfield & Partners’ Founder and Managing Partner, along with Mark A. Sylvester represented the family of a pilot after he and his mother were killed in a single-engine airplane crash. The lawsuit was filed against the plane manufacturer, a service facility and the FAA. In this case, FAA air traffic controllers failed to provide important weather information to the pilot, resulting in the crash amid a severe weather event.
The firm obtained a $2,850,000 settlement in that case.
In a crash involving a helicopter, Leesfield & Partners secured a $1.9 million recovery amount.
The firm also obtained over $1.8 million for a grieving family following a fatal crash.
In an aviation case involving a plane manufacturer, Leesfield & partners secured $630,000 for an injured client.
A Leesfield & Partners case that did not involve a crash but took place on an airplane resulted in life-long scaring to a child who was traveling as an unaccompanied minor. The airline’s employees were meant to be watching over the child but did not. This paved the way for a sick, adult passenger to sexually abuse the child during the flight unbeknownst to flight attendants.
A confidential settlement was obtained by the firm in that case.
Additional Cases
While flying — whether as a career or a recreational pursuit — can be thrilling, it also carries immense responsibility. But piloting an aircraft isn’t the only time lives are at risk in the air.
At Leesfield & Partners, we’ve represented clients who were seriously injured not just in small plane crashes, but also in parasailing accidents, where negligence by tour operators or failure to follow safety protocols led to devastating consequences.
Leesfield & Partners previously represented a family who tragically lost a loved one in a horrific parasailing accident due to the negligence and recklessness of a parasailing operator. The firm obtained a $17 million recovery amount in that case.
In a similar, fatal case that also involved the negligence or a parasailing operator in Florida, Leesfield & Partners secured $15 million for the grieving family.
In a cruise ship excursion case, our client was severely injured and lost her mother as the result of the negligence of a cruise line and an excursion they were selling to passengers. In that case, our client and her mother booked a parasailing adventure while aboard the vessel. When the two were in the air, however, an equipment malfunction sent them both hurdling toward the water below.
The mother was killed, and the daughter suffered a traumatic brain injury. The case settled for $7.25 million.
A recovery amount of over $4.6 million was obtained for another client backed by Leesfield & Partners in a violent parasailing incident that caused brain damage.
In another tragic parasailing incident, Leesfield & Partners secured over $2.8 million on behalf of the family of a client who lost their life and another who sustained serious brain injuries.
In a separate, fatal case against a parasailing corporation, Leesfield & Partners attorneys recovered $2.6 million for a grieving family.
The firm recovered over $1.5 million for one woman who was injured in a parasailing incident at a resort. As a result of the horrific ordeal, she suffered brain damage.
Leesfield & Partners represented the family of another parasailing victim who tragically lost their life while at a resort due to the negligence of the parasailing operators. A recovery amount of more than $1.2 million was obtained for the family in that case.
