Jury selection began today at the Edgartown courthouse for an upcoming Dukes County superior court trial stemming from a June 2005 plane crash at Katama Airfield.

The plane’s pilot, Alec Naiman, and his passengers, Jeffrey and Jessica Willoughby, are suing Cessna Aircraft Company, claiming that the accident was the result of faulty rails on the pilot’s seat. Cessna will argue that the crash was due to pilot error.

All three of the plane’s occupants have been deaf since birth. The flight was part of an annual Deaf Pilots Association “fly-in,” where deaf pilots from around the country gather in one location and take daily trips to nearby airports.

The Hon. Cornelius J. Moriarty 2nd will preside over the trial, which is scheduled to start March 12 and is expected to last four weeks. The trial will be unusual in several respects: to accommodate Mr. Naiman, who is in a wheelchair, it will be held across the street from the courthouse, in the selectmen’s room at the Edgartown town hall. Because all three plaintiffs and some of the witnesses are deaf, interpreters will also be on hand.

According to eyewitness accounts, on June 23, 2005 Mr. Naiman flew a 1979 single engine Cessna from Plymouth Municipal Airport to Katama Airfield, with student pilot Mr. Willoughby and Mr. Willoughby’s teenage daughter Jessica as passengers. Mr. Naiman was preparing to land the Cessna when a biplane taxiing down runway apparently forced Mr. Naiman to abort the landing.

Mr. Naiman pulled up the plane abruptly and attempted a go-around. Instead, the plane stalled and fell at least 50 feet, according to eyewitnesses.

All three people in the airplane sustained broken legs and other injuries. According to the plaintiff’s damages statement Mr. Naiman suffered a traumatic brain injury and is wheelchair bound with minimal use of his lower extremities.

Monday morning, Judge Moriarity and the nine lawyers representing both sides gathered to begin selecting a panel of 14 jurors for the trial. About 50 jurors were brought in to the courtroom to begin the process of choosing a jury, and the court will continue to bring in 50 jurors a day until a jury is empaneled.

As many as 100 witnesses could be called, including people from 20 different states and Oak Bluffs and Edgartown police officers and firefighters.