“The families are grateful that this phase of their lawsuits has come to a close, and they will now continue the difficult process of trying to rebuild their lives,” Robb said.

Attorneys for the families filed dismissals with the Court in Carteret County on Thursday, reflecting that the agreed settlement amount of $15 million had been paid by the companies that employed the pilot and owned the plane.  The settling defendants in the lawsuits are EDP Management Group LLC, Green Assets Inc., both of Wilmington, and the Estate of Ernest “Teen” Durwood Rawls, the pilot.

The National Transportation Safety Board’s preliminary accident report revealed that the airplane had reached an altitude of 4,700 feet and was climbing quickly before radar contact was lost.  The lawsuit alleged that pilot Rawls disregarded the instructions of Air Traffic Control, flew into restricted airspace in bad weather conditions with no visibility and became spatially disoriented.

The Pilatus PC-12 plane took off on Feb. 13, 2022 from Hyde County Airport on the mainland near the Pamlico Sound.  The plane was headed across the sound to Beaufort, along the southern edge of the Outer Banks in Carteret County.  The four teenagers on board were all students at East Carteret High School.