Pilot’s Former Wife Sues Air Traffic Controllers

The former wife of a man whose single-engine plane crashed in the Wind River Mountains in 2010 killing him and her two sons has filed a lawsuit against the company that provides air traffic control services at Jackson Hole Airport. Michelle Bucklin, who had divorced her husband Luke, yesterday filed a lawsuit in US District Court in Cheyenne claiming that Virginia-based Serco, Incorporated was negligent in the altitude they had assigned Bucklin for flying over the peaks. Transcripts of Bucklin’s radio transmissions indicate that plane could not hold its altitude after it cleared the mountain range summit. The investigation report after the accident indicates that Bucklin had been advised against the route as it was snowing heavily when the plane left Jackson and icing conditions were anticipated. The 41 year old pilot, his 14-year-old twin sons and their 12-year-old brother all died in the crash. The discovery of the missing aircraft followed an exhaustive effort by both ground and air searchers from multiple agencies in northwest Wyoming including a total of nine aircraft and 13 ground teams over the seven day long effort.