The Air Carrier’s Liability for Damage Caused to Third Parties on the Surface

In the universal history of international civil aviation, it has occurred several times that the aircraft in flight caused the death or injury of persons on the surface. The States have obligations with respect to the protection of the lives and safety of air passengers and their properties, which is a rightful expectation of society. The protection also encompasses third parties, being in an exceptional situation from the viewpoint of law. Obviously, the chance of the affectedness of third parties is a lot stronger if the aircraft hits people on the ground. The highest number of fatal victims on the surface was demanded by the terrorist attack of 11 September 2001, when officially 2977 persons died and thousands of persons got injured. Previously, on the surface of Lockerbie (Sherwood Crescent) 11 persons fell victim to the terrorist attack on the flight of the Pan Am Airline (21 December 1988). The cargo plane of Air Africa (Antonov-32) crashed into a market made of wood and iron shacks, killing more than 300 people on ground in Kinshasa, Zaire, on 8 February 1996. Then, the disaster of a Concorde airplane (25 July 2000) demanding four fatal victims on the surface ensued, and subsequently, 44 victims lost their lives due to the crash of the EL AL cargo shipment airplane, which fell onto residential buildings 13 km away from Schiphol airport (4 October 2002). The list is not complete; for example, 35 persons died under such circumstances in 2017; nevertheless, the enumerated incidents demonstrate adequately that third persons on the surface are really exposed to danger.