Charter Company Sues GE, Bombardier Over Florida Highway Crash

Two pilots were killed and three other occupants were injured in a 2024 Hop-A-Jet accident.

Zach Vasile

Thursday, October 09, 2025 at 09:00 AM ET

Verified

Edited By:

Ryan Ewing

Bombardier Challenger 600 [Credit: Adrian Pingstone/Wikimedia Commons]

Key Takeaways:

Hop-A-Jet, owner of a business jet that fatally crash-landed in Florida, is suing GE Aerospace, Bombardier, and several maintenance companies.
The lawsuit primarily blames GE Aerospace, alleging an inherent, known, and intentionally concealed corrosion defect in the CF34 engine's variable guide vane system caused the engine failure.
The NTSB's preliminary report identified corrosion, and the complaint cites a history of related "hung starts" and an in-flight shutdown, arguing GE's warnings were inadequate for business jet operators.
Other defendants are accused of failing to identify these dangerous conditions during inspections and certifying the aircraft as safe for flight.

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The owner of a business jet that crash-landed on a highway in Florida, killing its two pilots and injuring three other occupants, is suing companies involved in the aircraft’s manufacture and maintenance.

Charter service Hop-A-Jet and two of its subsidiaries filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida in September. The document places most of the blame for the crash on GE Aerospace, which makes the CF34-3B engines used by Bombardier’s Challenger 600 series.