Kreindler & Kreindler Partner Erin Applebaum recently authored, When Grief Becomes Advocacy: How Air Crash Family Groups Reshape Safety, Accountability, and the Law, published in the New York Law Journal. Applebaum examines how families shattered by aviation disasters have transformed personal loss into a lasting public good. Through compassion-grounded advocacy, these families have brought human meaning to technical investigations, ensuring that the people lost in air crashes are not reduced to statistics, and that the lessons of tragedy lead to meaningful safety reform rather than quiet institutional retreat.
This is why family groups succeed where systems do not: they force lawmakers and regulators to confront the human consequences of mechanical failures.
Applebaum traces this history beginning with the families of ValuJet Flight 592, whose loved ones were lost in a preventable cargo-fire disaster. As they came to understand the regulatory and oversight failures that contributed to the crash, these families demanded accountability and change—not only for themselves, but to protect future passengers. Their persistence helped bring long-delayed fire-suppression standards into effect, highlighting the human cost of regulatory gaps and unchecked outsourcing.
The article then explores the families of Colgan Air Flight 3407, who faced the painful realization that fatigue, inadequate training, and uneven oversight played a central role in the deaths of their loved ones. Refusing to let those losses fade from public memory, the families worked tirelessly with lawmakers and regulators, helping to bring about landmark reforms to pilot qualifications, training standards, and duty-time rules that continue to safeguard passengers today.
Applebaum next examines the global movement formed by the families of the Boeing 737 MAX crashes, who confronted profound corporate and regulatory failures after losing 346 lives. Through coordinated advocacy across borders, these families insisted on transparency, accountability, and respect for the rights of victims. Their efforts contributed to strengthened aircraft certification oversight and reshaped how victims’ voices are recognized in federal criminal proceedings involving mass-casualty events.
In reflection on the emerging advocacy of the American Eagle Flight 5342 families and the enduring legacy of family-led reform, Applebaum emphasizes that while no reform can undo loss, family advocacy ensures that lives lost are honored through safer skies for others. By keeping the human consequences of aviation failures at the center of public discourse, these families continue to drive accountability, compassion, and progress in aviation safety.
Author
Erin R. Applebaum
Erin has dedicated her career to seeking justice for people harmed during air travel. As a partner in Kreindler’s aviation practice, she represents the interests of victims severely injured or killed in general aviation accidents and commercial airline disasters. Erin is part of the Kreindler litigation team representing 34 victims of the January 2025 midair collision in Washington, DC, serving as a member of the court-appointed Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee. She also plays a leading role in the litigation arising from the February 2025 crash of Delta Flight 4819 in Toronto, for which she was selected as co-chair of the Plaintiffs’ Executive Committee. She is widely recognized as an authority on the Montreal Convention, the international treaty on commercial air travel.
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This is why family groups succeed where systems do not: they force lawmakers and regulators to confront the human consequences of mechanical failures.
