On January 23, 2010, there was fog at the time of takeoff and visibility was a half-mile. Gary Bradford and his passenger Drago Strahija were killed when Bradford’s plane crashed in a neighborhood eight minutes from the Aurora Municipal Airport.
The Doyles, the family in whose yard the plane crashed are suing the pilot’s widow. On April 5, the Doyle family will face Gary Bradford’s estate in court.
Rita Bradford and her deceased husband owned ENS Corp., a Florida IT firm. At the time of the crash, he had owned the plane for three months after 98 hours of instrument experience, and 52 hours of flight instruction in seven days.
The meat of the suit is that the Doyles say the pilot did not properly inspect, maintain or know how to land the Cessna.
When the Cessna crashed in the Doyle’s yard, the plane did not strike the house, but debris started a fire in the north side of the garage.
