Google co-founder Sergey Brin is being sued for wrongful death stemming from a plane crash near Half Moon Bay last May.
The widow of the pilot says Brin and others are preventing her from recovering her husband’s body.
On May 20, 2023, a twin-engine seaplane crashed trying to get back to Half Moon Bay -- it turns out that it was Google cofounder Sergey Brin’s plane. The two people on board, both pilots, died.
“I met my husband 23 years ago and we've been together for everything,” said Maggie Olarte Maclean, widow of Lance Maclean.
Olarte Maclean is the one suing, saying she’s devastated by the death of her husband, Lance.
She said he was a Navy pilot with experience flying all over the world and was one of Brin’s pilots for years.
Maclean and another pilot were flying the plane to Hawaii and then on to Fiji for Brin and his guests to use there.
The complaint said the plane didn’t have the fuel capacity for the trip – so Brin and others had a mechanic put an “unauthorized and illegally installed auxiliary fuel system” in the fuselage.
The suit claims the added tank malfunctioned hours into the flight, so the plane couldn’t use any of the fuel.
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Maclean immediately turned the plane around to try to get back to California, but it ran out of fuel and crashed just a few miles short of Half Moon Bay.
“I followed every single second and moment when they were looking for my husband, and they left without saying one single word to me, and they abandoned things,” said Olarte Maclean.
She said she wants her husband’s remains, which were never recovered.
The suit alleges “Brin and his agents decided to leave him at the bottom of the ocean along with evidence that would establish the defendants were responsible for the crash that killed the two pilots.”
“I know my husband is in heaven, I know my husband is in a good place,” said Olarte Maclean. “But these kind of things cannot happen to my husband or any person because that’s not right, that’s not human decency for our loved ones.”
The lawsuit was filed in the South Bay. A spokesperson for Brin’s family office sent a statement saying, “We are deeply saddened by the loss of the crew piloting the De Havilland DCH6-400 Twin Otter airplane, and our sympathies remain with the families. We are not able to comment on pending legal action at this time.
