The Chairman’s family launched a legal claim

The family of the former Leicester City chairman, who died along with four others in a helicopter crash, has launched a £2.15 billion legal claim against the aircraft manufacturer.

Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha was killed along with fellow passengers Kaveporn Punpare, Nusara Suknamai, pilot Eric Swaffer and his partner Izabela Roza Lechowicz in October 2018.

The compensation claim seeks cover for loss of earnings and other damages, and is worth more than £2 billion.

Law firm Stewarts, which is representing the family, said it was “the largest accidental death claim in English history”.

The crash happened on 27 October 2018, about an hour after a home game with West Ham United, when the plane took off from the club’s King Power Stadium and crashed shortly afterwards.

Portland, a PR firm acting for Mr Vichai’s family, said the High Court action was launched on Friday.

An An inquest into the deaths is set to begin on Monday, more than six years later, with eyewitnesses, emergency service personnel and corporate witnesses all set to give evidence before a jury.

A report by the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB), published in September 2023, found the crash “unavoidable” after a series of mechanical failures, and said that the pilot could have done “very little” to save everyone on board.

The AAIB’s chief inspector of air accidents, Crispin Orr, said Mr Swaffer did what he could to control the Leonardo AW169 helicopter, but the catastrophic failure of a tail rotor bearing resulted in the plane making a sharp right turn.

As the helicopter – which reached a height of about 430ft (131m) – went out of control, a shout of “hey, hey, hey” from the rear cabin, where Mr Vichai and his employees were sitting, the AAIB said.

In the plane’s voice recordings, Mr Swaffer was heard saying: “I don’t know what happened”, shortly before the helicopter crashed into a concrete step.

The investigation uncovered a worn bearing in the tail rotor that was seized after the helicopter took off.

The shaft controlling the tail rotor then dislodged and dislodged as a result, causing the pilot to lose control of the helicopter.

The AAIB report said the helicopter complied with “all applicable airworthiness requirements” and was maintained properly before the crash.

Rotor bearing wear was also found to build up over a period of time and was unpredictable, according to inspectors.

The bearing test is only required once it has been in use for 400 hours, but the helicopter had only been flown for 331 hours when the crash occurred.

One of the “contributory factors” is that the regulations do not require maintenance checks to review the condition of used bearings against their original design, the AAIB said.

Drone involvement and pilot error have been ruled out.

Peter Neenan, a partner at Stewarts, said: “Leonardo’s customers include national militaries, air ambulances and other first responders around the world.

“It is critical that all operators of these helicopters have faith and trust in the machines.”

Mr Vichai’s son Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha – who took over as chairman of Leicester City after his father’s death – said: “My family feels the loss of my father today as we did. That my own children, and their cousins ​​will never know their grandfather is mixing in our suffering.

“We have reflected on the conclusions of the AAIB report and thought carefully about how we want to proceed,” he added.

Leonardo has been contacted for comment.