Home United States USA — mix Tourist's parents file lawsuit in Grand Canyon copter crash

Tourist's parents file lawsuit in Grand Canyon copter crash

288
0
SHARE

Public pressure against companies connected to the gun industry has hit an unlikely target: REI, the outdoors co-op better known for its public lands…
Public pressure against companies connected to the gun industry has hit an unlikely target: REI, the outdoors co-op better known for its public lands advocacy, liberal return policy and annual dividend for customers.
(AP Photo/Ted S. Warren). The REI flagship store is shown Friday, March 2,2018, in Seattle. The outdoor retailer says it’s halting future orders of some popular brands, including CamelBak water carriers, Giro helmets and Camp Chef stoves, whose paren…
A major Nor’easter is starting to slam the East Coast with heavy rain, intermittent snow and strong winds.
(Greg Derr/The Quincy Patriot Ledger via AP). Robin King grabs sandbags to use at his restaurant, Thursday, March 1,2018, in Scituate, Mass., ahead of Friday’s expected storm, predicted to bring high winds and the potential for coastal flooding.
Marion Barry, Washington’s flawed and controversial longtime mayor, will be honored with a statue this weekend, just a few blocks from the White House.
(Courtesy of Central Michigan University via AP). This undated photo provided by Central Michigan University shows James Eric Davis Jr., who police identified as the shooting suspect at a Central Michigan University residence hall on Friday, March 2,2…
A sheriff’s office captain told deputies to form a perimeter instead of confronting the gunman at a Florida high school where 17 people were killed in a mass shooting.
Mourners are gathering to pay their respects to the Rev. Billy Graham at a funeral that marks the culmination of more than a week of tributes to “America’s Pastor.”.
(AP Photo/Chuck Burton). Pallbearers carry the casket of the Rev. Billy Graham past family members as it returns to the Billy Graham Library in Charlotte, N. C., Thursday, March 1,2018. His funeral will be Friday.
(Jati Lindsay/Kennedy Center via AP). This Oct. 6,2017 photo provided by the Kennedy Center, shows Q-Tip performing at the Kennedy Center in Washington. Long considered a bastion of upper-class white elitism, the Kennedy Center is making an overt pla…
Next up at the Kennedy Center? A new focus on hip-hop
(AP Photo/David Zalubowski). Colorado state Rep. Steve Lebsock, D-Thornton, listens during a debate in the chamber whether to expel the lawmaker over sexual misconduct allegations from his peers Friday, March 2,2018, in the State Capitol in Denver. Af…
Police searched neighborhoods near Central Michigan University on Friday for a 19-year-old student suspected of killing his parents at a dormitory and then running from campus.
(Courtesy of Central Michigan University via AP). This undated photo provided by Central Michigan University shows James Eric Davis Jr., who police identified as the shooting suspect at a Central Michigan University residence hall on Friday, March 2,2…
The parents of a British tourist who died after the helicopter he was in crashed in the Grand Canyon have filed the first lawsuit following last month’s crash.
(Teddy Fujimoto via AP, File). FILE – In this Saturday, Feb. 10,2018, file photo, emergency personnel arrive at the scene of a deadly tour helicopter crash along the jagged rocks of the Grand Canyon, in Arizona. The parents of a British tourist who di…
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) – The parents of a British tourist who died after the Grand Canyon sightseeing helicopter he was in crashed have filed the first wrongful death lawsuit related to last month’s crash.
The complaint filed Friday in Clark County District Court in Nevada accused helicopter owner Papillon Airways and manufacturer Airbus of negligence in failing to equip the helicopter with a crash-resistant fuel system.
The systems have fuel tanks that expand, rather than rupture, on impact and self-sealing components to keep fuel from spreading. They are meant to prevent aircraft from catching fire and lessen the chance that people on board get burned.
Jonathan Udall, of Southampton, was burned on more than 95 percent of his body in the crash and died Feb. 22 in a Las Vegas trauma center – 10 days after the helicopter crashed at the bottom of the canyon on the Hualapai reservation outside the national park.
His parents, Philip and Marlene Udall, claimed in the lawsuit that their son could have survived if not for the post-crash fire and want to prevent others from suffering deadly burns, their attorney, Gary C. Robb, told The Associated Press. The lawsuit seeks more than $195,000, other unspecified damages, attorneys’ fees and a jury trial.
“There is no possible excuse for any helicopter not to have this simple but utterly effective technology, no excuse. None,” Robb said. “If any helicopter executive spent five minutes with any of these burn victims, I guarantee every helicopter in their fleet would have it.”
Representatives of Papillon and Airbus did not immediately return email and phone messages seeking comment late Friday.
The National Transportation Safety Board repeatedly has urged the Federal Aviation Administration to require that all helicopters have the systems. The FAA is considering it but right now they are required only for helicopter models that are newly certified after 1994, a requirement that aviation experts have called a major loophole. The Airbus EC130 B4 that crashed in the Grand Canyon was manufactured in 2010 but it is a version of helicopter that was designed before 1994.
Airbus spokesman Bob Cox said earlier this week that all single-engine helicopters the company has sold in the U. S. since 2016 include the systems.
Papillon announced Monday that it would retrofit 40 of its Airbus EC130 B4 and AS350 B3 helicopters with the new fuel systems starting in April – a move Robb said came too late.
Robb has represented others who were burned after helicopter hard landings and crashes, including a flight nurse who recently settled a lawsuit against Airbus and Air Methods Corp. for $100 million. In that case, the nurse spent 13 months in the hospital for burns over 90 percent of his body, kidney failure and internal bleeding after the medical helicopter he was in crashed shortly after takeoff in Frisco, Colorado, and erupted into flames.
The helicopter pilot was killed in the 2015 incident and another flight nurse was injured. The NTSB found that the pilot turned off a switch that cut hydraulic pressure to the tail rotor.

Continue reading...