The NYC chopper that crashed in the East River had pilot safety equipment easier to escape from than the harnesses of his five passengers, who drowned while strapped into restraints that had not been approved by the Federal Aviation Administration.
Pilot Richard Vance, 33, who was wearing a lap belt and shoulder belts, escaped the Liberty Helicopter Airbus AS350 with only minor injuries after it crashed into five to eight feet of water, the National Transportation Safety Board said Monday, per New York Daily News reported.
The five passengers, though, were wearing restrictive harnesses that were tethered behind them and were not approved, the Daily News said it had learned from investigators.
On Monday, the NTSB asked the FAA to ban all such harnesses in similar sightseeing helicopters unless they allow for passengers to easily escape.
The helicopter was 11 minutes into the 30-minute evening flight when it suddenly lost power and dropped from the sky, rolling over and sinking once it hit the river, even though it was equipped with floats, which may have malfunctioned, the Daily News said.
According to CNN, the pilot told investigators that one of the passenger's bags may have inadvertently hit the emergency fuel shutoff button, leading to the crash. Police identified the victims as Carla Vallejos Blanco, 29; Daniel Thompson, 34; Tristian Hill, 29; Trevor Cadigan, 26; and Brian McDaniel, 26.
The harnesses securing the passengers were attached to a lanyard to prevent them from falling out of the helicopter, the Daily News said. They were installed by FlyNYON, the company that sold the tour.
A FlyNYON staff member would have had to release a locking carabiner to free the passengers once they landed to they could exit the chopper, the newspaper said.
"It was a death trap," helicopter crash lawyer Gary C. Robb of Kansas City told the Daily News. "They were momentarily shocked by the landing, upside down in frigid water, harnessed in the back, looking for a knife, because they were harnessed in the back. You would have to be Houdini to get out."
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