The wife of one of the six Paulding County men killed in a Feb. 1 plane crash filed a lawsuit this week, seeking damages for the wrongful death of her husband Frank Ruggiero.

The suit claims that pilot John Wesley Rakestraw failed to control the airplane during the landing. Rakestraw, one of Paulding County's most successful businessmen, also was killed in the accident.

"We believe the pilot was negligent in maintaining operational control of the plane, causing it to crash," said Gary C. Robb, an aviation attorney in Kansas City, Mo., who is representing Louise Ruggiero.

"The most important thing is that we feel that this was a horrible tragedy," Robb said. "All of the families involved, not just the Ruggiero family, are devastated."

Louise Ruggiero declined to comment for this story. Robb said she was "simply not up to making any statements."

Her husband, Frank Ruggiero, 52, of Acworth, was a senior vice president at the Facility Group, a large Smyrna-based design and construction firm, when the Raytheon C90A aircraft crashed in Mt. Airy, N.C.

The other men killed in the crash were: Robert Butler, 49, of Chamblee; Harold T, "Hal" Echols, 57, of Hiram; Tony Gunter, 46, of Acworth; and Steve Simpson, 46, of Dallas. Echols was a Paulding County Commissioner at the time of his death; the others were prominent businessman.

The 22-page lawsuit, filed Thursday in Polk County Superior Court, names as defendants the Rakestraw estate; Raker Construction Co, a commercial general contractor owned by Rakestraw; and Blue Sky Airways, which owned and operated the plane.

Glen E. Stinson of Dallas, Ga., an attorney representing Blue Sky Airways, declined to comment for the story.

Robb said that he anticipated the other parties named in the lawsuit also would seek representation, and that they had 30 days to respond to the complaint. Efforts were unsuccessful to identify the legal counsel for Rakestraw and Raker Construction.

"We believe from the facts we have reviewed that this was a business flight to promote the interests of Raker Construction Co.," Robb said in a statement. "All of those aboard had an ongoing business relationship with Raker Construction or were in a position to employ Raker for public works projects."

According to the lawsuit, the fatal flight departed from Polk County Airport in Cedartown. At about 11:28 a.m., witnesses saw the airplane coming out of the clouds near the Mt. Airy/Surry County Airport.

The plane descended rapidly, side-stepped to the left of the runway and made a hard left turn at the end of the runway, climbing back into the fog. The plane then came out of the clouds and slammed nose down into a residential area.

An initial investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board the day after the crash found no pre-impact structural failures or control malfunctions. However, there was significant low cloud cover. The plane was flying in solid or very patchy clouds until it was about 360 feet above the ground.

Ruggiero, a native of Niagara Falls, N.Y., was an avid outdoorsman who loved hunting and boating. In addition to his wife Louise, he is survived by their three children: Angelo, 25, Tony, 23, and Adrianna, 15.