The family of a student killed in an airplane crash in Ukraine that claimed three other lives claims the Brooklyn tour company which organized the sightseeing trip failed to vet the pilot.
Lazar Brull, 20, was studying in Israel in July 2021 when he joined a group organized by David Landau’s Lalechet Tours for what was supposed to be a short flight over Ukraine. But Brull didn’t know the pilot hired by Lalechet — Hebrew for ‘to go’ — was unlicensed, or that the plane they used that day, an Aerospool Advantic WT10, was built from a kit and had an “extensive” accident history, according to Brooklyn Supreme Court papers filed by his father, Yehuda “Jay” Brull, against Lalechet and Landau.
Before the fatal crash, the pilot tried an acrobatic trick and rotated the plane on its axis by more than 60 degrees, a move prohibited by the aircraft’s manufacturer, the family contends in the $5 million lawsuit.“There are some serious questions to be answered by the tour operator who put this package together,” said Brull family attorney Marc Moller.