If any of you were wondering ‘why’ the passengers of this helicopter crash were not able to un-strap themselves and exit like the pilot did…read below for a possible explanation.
Investigators recovered a flight data recorder and a GoPro camera Tuesday as they tried to determine the cause of a deadly helicopter crash in New York City’s East River and figure out whether passengers’ harnesses hindered their escape from the sinking aircraft.
The helicopter’s five passengers drowned when it capsized after touching down in the river, city medical examiners said. The pilot escaped.
The lawsuit spotlights the harnesses used in the open-door flight, and notes that the aircraft’s inflatable floats didn’t keep it from flipping over and sinking. The way passengers were harnessed, with a release mechanism in the back, there “was just no prospect of safely escaping,” said Gary C. Robb, a lawyer for the parents of 26-year-old Trevor Cadigan.
“Hanging upside-down in frigid water — stunned by the helicopter crash, tightly harnessed, release inaccessible, with no advanced training — is a death trap,” said Robb, based in Kansas City, Missouri. – The Washington Post
Featured image by video screen capture