Though their mission was to save a life, the three members of a heart transplant team that took off in a helicopter from northern Florida last month lost their lives instead.

The daughter of one of the crash victims recently filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the estate of the pilot who died in the crash, and the charter helicopter company he owned.

The 27-year-old woman argues in her suit that the flight that killed her father should have never taken place because weather conditions and visibility at the time were dangerously poor.

The Dec. 26 crash killed a heart surgeon, 49, the woman's father, a 57-year-old organ procurement technician, and the 67-year-old pilot, who was also president of the company that owned and chartered the helicopter.

The flight was scheduled to take the three from Jacksonville to Gainesville, Florida, to pick up a harvested organ for a heart transplant candidate.

Because of the crash, the heart never made it to the person who needed it.

The organ procurement technician's daughter said the pilot and his company were negligent in making the decision to fly that overcast, foggy day.

The helicopter apparently struck a 50-foot pine tree in a remote, heavily wooded area near the Palatka Municipal Airport, about 90 miles north of Clermont.

The flight ceiling that day was as low as 300 feet because of fog, mist and clouds, according to the woman's attorney.

The pilot became "spatially disoriented" and crashed into the trees, the attorney said.

The lawsuit seeks compensation for mental pain and suffering by the plaintiff and her two siblings.

Source: Orlando Sentinel: "Lawsuit filed in Florida helicopter crash that killed heart transplant team," Jan. 24, 2012