Google co-founder Sergey Brin sued by widow of pilot killed in crash after billionaire’s seaplane ran out of fuel
Google co-founder Sergey Brin was slapped with a wrongful-death lawsuit by the widow of a pilot who was flying the billionaire’s seaplane from California to his private island in Fiji when it ran out of fuel and crashed into the Pacific Ocean.
Brin’s $8 million twin-engine aircraft was equipped with an “unauthorized and illegally installed auxiliary fuel system” that malfunctioned several hours into the May 20, 2023 flight, according to the complaint filed in state court in Santa Clara County, Calif., earlier this month.
Pilot Lance Maclean and his co-pilot Dean Rushfeldt attempted to return to California when they were killed after the plane plunged into the Pacific about 13 miles short of the coast near Half Moon Bay, roughly 30 miles southwest of San Francisco.
The lawsuit, lodged by Maclean’s widow Maria Magdalena Olarte, named Google as a co-defendant because it partially owned the plane, as well as the maintenance company that installed the fuel system and hired the pilots.
It also accused Brin — the 10th richest person in the world with an estimated net worth of $122 billion, according to Bloomberg Billionaires Index — of attempting to destroy evidence at the crash scene by obstructing recovery efforts.
“Brin is among the richest people in the world. If he wanted to recover the aircraft and the remains of those lost, it would be done,” Olarte’s lawyers said in an amended complaint filed on Feb. 13, suggesting that Brin did not act “because he, presumably, already knew the troubling facts that the FAA later uncovered in its investigation.”
The Post has sought comment from Google.
“With fuel quickly running out, the pilots declared an emergency,” forcing pilot Lance Maclean and his co-pilot Dean Rushfeldt to make an emergency return to California, according to the complaint filed in state court in Santa Clara County earlier this month, that was earlier reported on by Bloomberg.
Maclean and Rushfeldt had been on their way to Fiji “so Brin could treat his private guests to some island hopping,” per the suit, which also said that the 65-year-old Maclean had been Brin’s pilot “for years.”
However, the seaplane, a Viking Air Ltd. DHC-6 Twin Otter Series 400, didn’t have the sufficient fuel capacity to fly the roughly 2,350-mile first leg from Santa Rosa, Calif., to Hawaii — so Brin and others hired a mechanic to install an auxiliary system in the fuselage to increase capacity, the suit alleged.
But the mechanic illegally installed it “from memory” and fuel wasn’t transferred from the auxiliary system to the main tanks during the flight, eventually causing the crash, the suit said.
A rescue team found the aircraft floating upside-down in the Greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuary, the court documents noted, which is home to sea otters, elephant seals, gray whales, and other endangered species.
Both Maclean and Rushfeldt were found strapped into their seats in the submerged cockpit, though neither could be rescued the day of the crash, “so the aircraft and the pilots subsequently sunk to the bottom of the sea, resting at a depth of less than 3,000 feet,” the lawsuit said.
Brin’s family office, Bayshore Global Management, had vowed publicly two days after the crash that it would be “providing families with assistance and will continue to do so as long as needed.”
However, just days after that, representatives for Brin said that “no one could legally attempt to recover the aircraft because the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration refused to grant permission for any underwater activities in the area,” according to the lawsuit.
The NOAA has denied that it stood in the way of the recovery effort, the complaint said.
The plaintiff alleged that she was under the impression that the NOAA was “dragging its feet” for 24 days, at which point “the lie about NOAA’s blocking the recovery efforts was exposed,” according to the lawsuit.
“From the outset of the crash, despite publicly assuring Plaintiff that her husband’s remains would be recovered, Brin and his agents decided to leave him at the bottom of the ocean along with evidence that would establish that Defendants were responsible for the crash that killed the two pilots,” according to the complaint.
Representatives for Brin at Bayshore told The Post: “We are deeply saddened by the loss of the crew piloting the De Havilland DHC6-400 Twin Otter. While our thoughts remain with the families, we are not able to comment on pending legal action.”
Olarte is seeking at least $150,000 in financial damages — at least $50,000 each for “severe emotional distress,” “economic damages” and “general damages,” per the suit.
Lawyers for Olarte did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.
In an Instagram post honoring her late husband 90 days after the fatal crash, Olarte wrote that Brin “has never spoken or offered me his support to find my Lance.”
