Between the years 2001 – 2006, the US airline industry experienced the safest period in aviation history with only one major crash. However, since then crashes and fatalities have risen, making an aviation accident attorney mush more important. With an average of sixty-one thousand people in the air at any given moment over the United States, crashes and accidents are a given. Though they do not occur often (it has been a long understood fact that an airplane is the safest way to travel), when they do occur they can involve hundreds of individuals, several insurance companies, and dozens of regulatory agencies. Thus, a specialized attorney has come to the forefront to help the families of those injured or killed get restitution for their losses.

Aviation attorneys not only hold law degrees, but often have commercial piloting experience or advanced degrees in aeronautical engineering. They need this diverse experience to help sift through the vast amounts of data available when a commercial airliner crashes. Their ultimate goal is to figure out why the plane crashed. The causes for a plane crash can vary greatly. These causes can include pilot error, maintenance issues, the age of the plane, runway issues, weather conditions, improper weight distribution of people and cargo, or terrorist activities. Under some of these conditions there is no accessible liability. Crashes caused by weather conditions or terrorist activities are usually not considered to be under the control of anybody. However, all the other conditions require of some assessment of liability.

To assess this liability an aviation accident attorney must discover exactly why an airplane crashed. This can be a difficult process. Depending on the size of the aircraft and the manner of the accident one or several local, state, and national regulatory agencies may be involved. A successful lawyer must know how to work within these sometimes conflicting agencies. On top of governmental aspect, there are also powerful insurance agencies working on behalf of the airline company. These insurances companies, while not denying obvious fault, will try to construe the evidence of fault in the airline's best interest. Thus, because of this, private individuals hire lawyers to fight in their best interest.

Aviation accidents, of course, are not limited to large commercial crashes. The number of people flying in personal or private jets continues to increase. With so many planes in the air, crashes and accidents are likely if not commonplace. These small scale accidents, while not nearly as complicated as the larger commercial accidents, still require specialized attorneys to assign legal blame. When dealing with accidents involving small private planes, insurance companies like to blame in the inexperience of the pilots. However, an aviation attorney can be to light such details as safety of the aircraft design, maintenance history, and the pilot's aviation history. Thus, an increase in these specialized lawyers is increasing even in the private realm.

Incidences involving cargo planes also require legal guidance. These accidents offer different challenges than other incidences. These differences are mainly attributed to the amount of cargo on a plane. Accidents can be caused by pilot error, the age of the airplane, or the uneven distribution of weight associated with the cargo. It is the responsibility of the lawyer to decide which, if any, of these instances occurred. Therefore, for all the reasons listed above, an aviation accident attorney can become important should you need this type of specialized representation.