The U.S. Department of Justice last month indicted five Platinum Jet Management executives and a pilot on 23 criminal counts related to what it says are illegal practices that led to the 2005 Challenger 600 runway overrun and crash at Teterboro Airport in New Jersey.

Maintenance technicians are even more susceptible to criminalization following aviation accidents because, as Brian Finnegan points out, “the signoff [for a maintenance assignment] lasts forever, so liability follows the mechanic for years afterward.”

What should flight crews headed into foreign countries’ airspace know in order to protect themselves from criminalization in the event of an accident or incident? Business aviation flight crews tend to be more exposed than their airline counterparts because they fly just about everywhere and tend not to have the luxury of large infrastructures like major airlines, pilot unions, the Air Transport Association and International Air Transport Association supporting them.