By MATT CHANDLER
Buffalo Law Journal

"Suicidal thoughts have come into my head, and I'm not ashamed to say it. I miss him so bad that I want to be with him."

With those chilling words, Robin Tolsma talks about the loss of her husband, Darren, who was returning from a business trip aboard Flight 3407 when it crashed in Clarence Center. While she says "it will never get any easier" to cope with her husband's death, the fact that so many questions remain unanswered makes it even harder. The mother of two said the holidays were the most difficult.

"Instead of mourning the fact that Darren wasn't here, we wanted to remember the 26 years I was with him," she said, "My kids did really well, but it was tough trying to decide, do we put three or four stockings up on the mantle? They said, ‘Just because Dad isn't here doesn't mean he doesn't love us,' so his went up immediately."

Darren Tolsma was an employee of Northrop Grumman Corp., and his coworker, Ernie West, was with him on the flight. Both men were eager to return home to spend Valentine's Day with their families. For West's wife, Jennifer, the loss of her husband and the father of her 3-year-old daughter, Summer, has left a void she says will never be filled.

"My life began when I met Ernie. He was a guy that everybody loved," West said.

Like her friend Robin, West said Christmas was especially tough without the man she simply refers to as "the best."

"I laid out his comfy clothes on the bed on Christmas Eve and I sort of squinted my eyes and tried to imagine he was there," she said, fighting back tears. "You do crazy things to try and trick your mind."

Both women are working to channel their anger and energy into fighting to make air travel more safe.

"We never wanted to be in this position, to know the information we know, to understand terms like ‘stick shaker' and ‘stall recovery,' " Tolsma said. "But if we don't do anything about this, we are just as guilty as Colgan."

Both women say that while lawsuits aren't going to bring back their children's fathers, they do hope that the suits will raise awareness of what they see as gross shortcomings in airline safety and effect reform within the industry.
"Changes have to be made," Tolsma said, "and if it takes a lawsuit to do this ... How else are you going to punish a business? It has to be catastrophic."

Tolsma and West have traveled to Washington, D.C., to lobby for those changes, and say they have faced public scrutiny and ridicule from those who question their motives.

"What people don't understand is that the reason we want to keep this in the forefront is so that Colgan and Pinnacle and Bombardier and Continental" - referring to the airline that operated the flight, its parent company, the plane's manufacturer and a partner airline - "can't hide, and people know every day that when they go to the airport, you don't know what kind of pilot you are getting," Tolsma said.

West has a message for those who think the families need to move on.

"Those people didn't have to hold their husband's foot in their hand to say goodbye," she said through tears.

West scoffed at the notion that the pending lawsuits are about money.

"There is no amount of money that will make this better. If you gave me a pile of money or my husband back, I want him back," she said.

She and Tolsma want the flying public to be made safer in the aftermath of Flight 3407.

"When she (Summer) grows up, I want her to know that when her daddy died, he and everybody on that plane brought about changes so that his death wasn't in vain," West said. "To know that he didn't die in vain is a silent victory."

The women knew their husbands were returning from a business trip when their plane went down. What they didn't know was the nature of the classified project the men were working on.

A week after the crash, West received a letter from executives of Northrop outlining the work that Ernie West and Darren Tolsma were doing. A cruel twist of irony: The men were working on a program that would increase aircraft-survivability systems for the military.

"Darren did so much that I didn't know about until he died," Tolsma said. "I am so proud of him, and I regret never being able to tell him that."

 

Flight 3407 follow-up: What to expect in 2010

Final report: The NTSB is expected to release its final report detailing its findings related to the Feb. 2 crash. Plaintiffs' lawyers believe the report, and anticipated findings of fault with Colgan Air, will speed up talks of a settlement.

Depositions: Plaintiffs' liaison Hugh Russ III expects depositions, including expert depositions, to run through much of 2010.

Discovery: Both traditional discovery and electronic discovery in the case have begun and will continue through 2010. These efforts will be key in the plaintiffs' efforts to prove that Colgan Air had a corporate culture that contributed to the crash.

Mediation: Hon. William Skretny has issued an order directing all cases to mediation, which must begin no later than June 17. Plaintiffs' attorneys have questioned whether sending cases into mediation before the completion of the discovery process is the right thing to do.

Settlements: While co-defendants Colgan Air, Pinnacle Airlines, Continental Airlines and Bombardier Aviation Services all carry insurance that will fund any wrongful-death awards, insurance won't cover punitive-damages awards, possibly exposing the companies to catastrophic losses. This may provide incentive for the companies to settle the claims out of court.

Trials: Any of the cases that do not reach a settlement would be returned to the original jurisdiction in which they were filed for a civil trial. Attorneys can, and likely would, file requests to have the cases remain in Buffalo for trial. Experts say it is highly unusual for these types of cases to go to trial, and most expect that all of them will settle.