Weeds blow in the wind on the beach in Kill Devil Hills of North Carolina’s Outer Banks
A lawsuit has been filed by the family members of four people who died in a February plane crash off North Carolina’s Outer Banks.
The coastline crash killed eight people, including four teenagers who were heading home from a hunting trip. Two adults who traveled with the teenagers also died, as did the pilot and his adult son, who was a pilot in training, according to the Associated Press.
Families of three of the deceased teens and one of the deceased adults are suing EDP Management Group LLC and Green Assets, both of which are based in Wilmington, N.C., as well as Dillon’s Aviation, which is based in Greenville, N.C. The lawsuit was filed on Tuesday, May 24, 2022 in Carteret County Court.
The plane, a single-engine Pilatus PC-12/47, took off on Sunday, Feb. 13, 2022 from Hyde County airport at 1:35 p.m. heading towards Beaufort, N.C., along the southern edge of the Outer Banks. The aircraft was last seen near its destination around 2:01 p.m. that day.
On Monday, Feb. 14, 2022, the U.S. Coast Guard confirmed on Twitter that the plane had crashed. That same day, Carteret County Sheriff Asa Buck held a press conference to note that one body had been found and there was “no indication that anyone survived.”
Crews worked for days to recover multiple fields of debris as they searched for human remains and a clue as to what caused the crash.
The wrongful death lawsuit alleges pilot Ernest “Teen” Durwood Rawls failed to fly the plane safely, failed to maintain control, flew into low-visibility conditions, failed to properly avoid restricted airspace “leading to an erratic and irregular…