GALVESTON – A federal lawsuit filed nearly two years after a late 2016 helicopter crash in Galveston Bay that claimed the lives of two Texas Army National Guard chief warrant officers was recently disposed.
Galveston Division of the Southern District of Texas records show that the families of Chief Warrant Officer 3 Dustin Lee Mortenson and Chief Warrant Officer 2 Lucas Maurice Lowe and The Boeing Co. reached three confidential settlement agreements earlier this month.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Andrew M. Edison signed the final judgment on Sept. 21.
As previously reported in The Southeast Texas Record, the suit filed on Aug. 10 explained that Mortenson and Lowe piloted an Army AH 64D helicopter assigned to a TXARNG unit on Dec. 28, 2016 when “when the number two composite main rotor blade, the number two lead lag link, and its associated pitch housing separated from the rotor head.”
According to the original petition, “that separation of the number two composite main rotor blade caused an inflight break-up of the helicopter” and the deaths of Mortenson and Lowe.
Boeing was faulted for defectively manufacturing the helicopter’s strap pack. The Chicago-based multinational corporation did not offer a formal response to the litigation, records indicate.
Galveston Division of the Southern District of Texas Case No. 3:18-CV-0225