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Google co-founder, Sergey Brin, got sued by the widow of a pilot killed while flying one of his planes from Santa Rosa to his private island in Fiji last year. The plane crashed into the Pacific Ocean and killed pilot Lance Maclean and his co-pilot Dean Rushfeldt.
The lawsuit is filed with the state court in Santa Clara County. It alleges that the auxiliary fuel tank attached to the billionaire’s $8 million twin-engine seaplane has malfunctioned several times. The fuel tank supposedly forced pilots to have an emergency return to California.
As earlier reported by Bloomberg, Sergey Brin is not the only defendant in the case. The lawyers of Maria Magdalena Olarte, Maclean’s widow, have also named Google, the maintenance company that attached auxiliary fuel tanks to the airplane, and the company the pilots were contracted to as other defendants. The pilot’s widow is demanding at least $150,000 in financial damages.
A malfunctioning fuel tanks reportedly caused Sergey Brin’s plane to crash
Lawyers stated that Sergey Brin, now working on AI tools in Google, is one of the wealthiest people in the world. And “If he wanted to recover the aircraft and the remains of those lost, it would be done.” But the billionaire didn’t do so “because he, presumably, already knew the troubling facts that the FAA later uncovered in its investigation.”
The lawsuit also accuses Brin of destroying evidence at the plane crash site by obstructing recovery efforts. Google and other defendants have not yet commented on the matter. Meanwhile, Brin’s family office said two days after the incident that it would provide “families with assistance and will continue to do so as long as needed.”
As per the suit, the Viking Air Ltd. DHC-6 Twin Otter Series 400 plane took Brin to his private island in Fiji. So he could have a party with his guests. On May 20, 2023, the aircraft allegedly carrying an “unauthorized and illegally installed auxiliary fuel system” crashed about 13 miles short of the coast near Half Moon Bay.
Pilots did declare an emergency and tried to return to California
The complaint noted that pilots declared an emergency and tried to return to California. However, the plane crashed and killed both pilots. The suit added the plane didn’t have enough fuel to fly the billionaire roughly 2,350 miles from Santa Rosa, California. So, Brin hired mechanics to add an auxiliary fuel tank to the plane. But the fuel wasn’t transformed from the auxiliary tank to the main tank because it was installed “from memory.” The malfunctioning fuel tanks finally resulted in a fuel shortage and crashed the plane.