Latest news with #Brauchle
Yahoo
12-04-2025
- Yahoo
Relative of Hudson River helicopter crash family flies in to US to identify bodies
The causes of death for the family of five and pilot killed in the tragic Hudson River helicopter crash have yet to be determined — as a relative of one of the dead has arrived in the US to possibly identify the bodies, authorities said Saturday. Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop said the brother of Mercè Camprubi Montal — who was killed in the accident Thursday alongside her husband and their three young children — had flown in from Spain Friday. 'There is still quite bit of a process to go through now,' Fulop told The Post Saturday while awaiting an afternoon press conference from the National Transportation Safety Board. 'The family member may have to ID the bodies and they still have to arrange transport back to Spain. The Spanish consulate is involved and Siemens has people working on this.' The bodies are being kept at the Hudson County Medical Examiner's office in the meantime. 'They still have to figure out the cause of death, was it from drowning or was it from the propeller? Right now we're all waiting to hear what the NTSB has to say,' said Fulop. Camprubi Montal, her husband, Agustin Escobar, and their three young kids — Augustin, 10, Mercedes, 8, and Victor, 4 — and their pilot, former Navy veteran Sean Johnson, 36, were about 25 minutes into their sightseeing tour in the Bell 206L chopper when it suddenly broke apart over the Hudson River and crashed into the frigid waters near Jersey City. An aviation expert said it's likely Johnson knew something was seriously wrong as the chopper broke apart midair. 'I think the pilot would have been aware something was wrong but the passengers may not have,' aviation lawyer Jim Brauchle told The Post. 'Obviously pilots who fly all the time are going to know something is wrong but passengers may not appreciate the danger they are in right away.' 'Once the thing starts spinning, then people know it's something catastrophic. Passengers eventually figure it out.' Brauchle said the doomed passengers and pilot might have died either from blunt force trauma or drowning. 'You hope the people inside got knocked out because if they were conscious, that would have been horrible. Once it inverted, they may have hit their heads on the inside of the helicopter,' he said. 'For their sakes, you hope that's what occurred. There's a good chance they were unconscious.' Brauchle added that once the helicopter rotor is separated from the aircraft and the tail is sheared off, there is nothing even the most expert pilot can do. 'Once you lose the rotor blades, it's unrecoverable. The reason it [the chopper] flips upside down is that the roof of the helicopter is the heaviest part. Once you lose the main rotors, it essentially becomes a rock — there's nothing to create a lift,' he said. Relatives of the Camprubí Montal and Escobar families say they are taking solace in the fact that their loved ones 'passed away together'' in the 'sweetest moment of their lives.'' 'There are no words to describe what we are experiencing, nor to thank you for the warmth received,' said a letter posted on X by Joan Camprubí Montal on Friday. 'These are very difficult times, but optimism and joy have always characterized our family,' said the statement, which was signed by 19 Escobar and Camprubí Montal family members. 'We want to preserve the memory of a happy and united family, in the sweetest moment of their lives.
Yahoo
11-04-2025
- Yahoo
High above the city, low on oversight: Are helicopter tours putting lives at risk?
A fatal helicopter crash in New York City's Hudson River claimed six lives on Thursday, including a Spanish family of five and the pilot. The Bell 206 helicopter, operated by New York Helicopter Tours, was on an aerial sightseeing tour when it reportedly broke apart mid-air and plunged into the river. Rescue divers responded immediately to the incident, pulling all six people – including the family's three children – from the waters, according to officials. Four were pronounced dead at the scene while the other two were taken to a local hospital, where they later died. The cause of the crash is still under investigation, although reports show that the aircraft hit the water "inverted." A team of investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) were sent to New York City on Thursday late evening, according to the federal agency. This recent tragedy raises safety concerns over the commercial helicopter industry. The U.S. operates the world's largest fleet of commercial helicopters and is home to the biggest market for helicopter tourism in destinations like New York City, Hawaii and the Grand Canyon. While helicopter tours may offer some of the rarest and most breathtaking views for passengers, experts are calling for stricter regulations to improve the safety of these flights. There have been several high-profile helicopter crashes over the past decade, including an air tour over New York City in 2009 that killed nine people and the 2020 Calabasas crash that killed Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna. The Federal Aviation Administration reports a fatal accident rate of approximately 0.63 per 100,000 flight hours for helicopters, which is lower than the general aviation average but higher than commercial airline rates. The predominant factor in these helicopter accidents is pilot error, according to the agency. However, mechanical failures, poor weather conditions and low-altitude flying can also play a role. Between 2013 and 2020 saw a 36% decrease in accidents in the U.S. according to the United States Helicopter Safety Team. The FAA and NTSB oversee helicopter tour operations, with the NTSB repeatedly calling for enhanced safety measures following investigations into over 130 helicopter accidents since 2004. This includes mandatory safety management systems for tour operators, such as flight risk evaluation programs or pilot training scenarios for bad weather. According to Jim Brauchle, an aviation attorney at Motley Rice, regulations on helicopters tour operators can be loose if they don't also operate charter flights beyond 25 miles from their base. Farther-afield flights trigger a higher level of regulatory scrutiny. He also said that FAA staffing can affect helicopter safety. "They're spread too thin and they can't provide the level of oversight that they probably should be," Brauchle said. For passengers still considering a helicopter tour, Brauchle said it's important to ask the operator questions about their safety record, maintenance practices and plans for your flight. "You can also ask the operator who's going to be our pilot and I want to know how many flight hours they've had and how many in that type of helicopter," he said. "If a company won't give you that information, that's a red flag as well." The NTSB has recommended helicopter pilots go through more comprehensive training that exposes them to flying in bad weather. It also suggests helicopters install radio altimeters, night vision imaging systems, and terrain awareness warning systems. "The NTSB is concerned that, absent a concerted effort to enhance helicopter safety in public operations, accidents involving public helicopters will continue," the agency stated on its website. "These could lead to more injuries and loss of life in search and rescue operations and emergency medical service flights, as well as other operations by federal, state, and local entities." In response to past accidents, the FAA has implemented regulations to improve helicopter tour safety, such as prohibiting doors-off helicopter flights with supplemental passenger restraints unless they meet specific safety criteria. Passengers are advised to choose operators with strong safety records, ensure pre-flight safety briefings are conducted, and verify that aircraft are equipped with appropriate safety features. In 2023, the agency proposed safety processes specifically for air tours in Hawaii – a popular destination for aerial sightseeing of waterfalls and other inaccessible places – such as flying at least 1,500 feet above the ground unless there's inclement weather along with other pilot training recommendations. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Tourist helicopter crashes continue. Why safety fixes are lagging
USA Today
07-02-2025
- General
- USA Today
How does an airplane go missing? Crews searching for Alaska plane
Officials in Alaska are searching the land and sea Friday for a small airplane that went missing, while the nation awaits news of the 10 people on board and wonders what caused the plane to drop off the radar. The plane was over the Norton Sound, off the coast of its destination in Nome, Alaska, when it stopped sending its location signal on Thursday afternoon, according to the Alaska Department of Public Safety and the U.S. Coast Guard. Just before it vanished, the plane's data showed it experienced a rapid loss of altitude and speed, officials said Friday. Since then, search crews have been looking for a sign of the turboprop Cessna Caravan operated by Bering Air. Though aerial incidents involving fatalities are rare, smaller accidents happen frequently throughout the country, and sometimes aircraft stop sending signals about where they are, said aviation attorney and former Air Force navigator Jim Brauchle. In Alaska, many people get around on small planes, and the state has a disproportionately high number of accidents compared to the rest of the country, according to the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health. "When the communication is gone and they can't identify where the aircraft is or talk to somebody on the radio, then that's how they'll classify the aircraft as missing," Brauchle said. That's a less frequent problem today thanks to technology called Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast, or ADS-B, which is required on all aircraft and broadcasts location data to air traffic controllers. Still, "it happens," Brauchle said. Here's what to know about how a plane can go missing: How officials can lose a plane's location Airplanes fly with a transponder, which sends continuous data on its current altitude, airspeed, latitude and longitude to receivers on the ground. If the the transponder stops sending signals, it could be because of an electrical failure or a problem with the transmitter itself, Brauchle said. Loss of location data wouldn't necessarily indicate a disaster on its own, he said, but the fact that the plane never made it to its destination even after many hours is not a good sign. If there was a catastrophic mechanical failure on the plane, a control issue or if the pilot became spatially disoriented due to visibility and weather conditions, the plane likely crashed over land or sea, he said. Where did the Alaska plane disappear? Officials said the plane's last known position was over the water. It's likely that the plane went down near where the transponder stopped sharing location data, Brauchle said, but if there was a loss of power to the plane, it may have glided farther away as it descended. Authorities will probably look at the last altitude readout to estimate how far it could have drifted from the last position, he said. Snow and freezing fog were reported in the plane's flight path on Thursday, with visibility between 1 and 7 miles where it departed and half a mile to 8 miles where it was supposed to land, according to AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Tom Kines. 'Weather conditions likely varied greatly along the scheduled flight path over Norton Sound. Water temperatures have been near freezing in Norton Sound. Hypothermia and cold-water shock are a major concern for first responders and officials working on search and rescue operations near or on the water," Kines said in a statement. Missing plane:What we know about the Bering Air flight, search Several state and federal agencies are searching by air and land, scouring sea ice and coastline, according to the Nome Volunteer Fire Department in an update Friday. The public may not know exactly what happened for quite some time as aviation authorities conduct a full investigation, Brauchle said. It's not likely anyone on the plane survived, another tragedy in a string of aviation disasters since the year began, Brauchle said. On Jan. 29, an American Airlines passenger plane and an Army helicopter collided near Washington, D.C., killing 67 people in the deadliest air disaster in more than two decades. Just days later, a Medevac jet crashed into a busy neighborhood in Philadelphia, killing seven people and injuring over 20 others. Brauchle said the recent high-profile accidents are putting the nation on high alert to plane incidents, but it's coincidence that they happened back-to-back. "My initial thought is with the families," Brauchle said. He's represented family members who have lost loved ones in aviation accidents. "People aren't supposed to die in plane crashes." Contributing: Eve Chen, Thao Nguyen and Christopher Cann, USA TODAY; Reuters
Yahoo
31-01-2025
- Yahoo
Did air traffic controllers do anything wrong in DC plane-helicopter collision?
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — Following a fatal crash between an American Eagle jet and a U.S. Army Blackhawk helicopter in D.C., experts noted that Reagan National — and the country — have a strong safety record. But they also acknowledged flying into Reagan is no easy task. 'It's such a congested area there for one reason, and the runways are short,' said George Cline, a retired air traffic controller. 'The runway he was landing on is only 5,200 feet long, and it's a very short runway… you got so many helicopters there, if you've ever flown and you look around, all you see is airplanes and helicopters going up and down the Potomac.' From the recordings he listened to, Cline said it seemed like FAA controllers did everything they were supposed to. They told both the military helicopter and regional jet they were close to one another, and for the helicopter to maintain its distance. Family identifies Charlotte mother killed in plane-helicopter collision in DC 'It was nighttime, you know, you can see the lights on the CRJ (jet), but you know the way it looks like he impacted him from behind, just by looking in the video, he may never have saw him,' he added. Aviation attorney Jim Brauchle said he was shocked to learn of the crash, but not necessarily surprised. 'In recent history, even though the U.S. has enjoyed a good safety record like you said over the last fifteen years, there have been some close calls and near misses.' Brauchle said with the NTSB handling the investigation into what went wrong on Wednesday night, the expectation is that agency will identify action that can be taken to prevent a similar tragedy in the future. 'They'll find what the probable cause of the accident was and then they also list safety recommendations on what they learned coming out of this and things that could be changed,' said Brauchle. With the seriousness of the crash, investigators could choose to release initial findings in a few months but the entire investigation could take a year and a half to complete. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
31-01-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Aviation attorney discusses likely lawsuit against government, American Airlines filed by victims' families
An aviation attorney predicts families of the midair collision victims will be filing lawsuits against both the U.S. government and American Airlines in the coming days. No survivors are expected after an Army Black Hawk helicopter on a training mission collided with an American Airlines regional jet carrying 64 people as the jet was preparing to land at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on Wednesday evening. Three soldiers were aboard the Black Hawk. "Typically, right after — obviously, the families are dealing with a lot of shock and grief right now — a lot of times it's really hard for people to wrap their minds around aircraft accidents because they're just not supposed to happen," James Brauchle told Fox News Digital on Thursday, adding that air travel is "extremely safe." "We haven't had a commercial accident in the U.S. involving a U.S. carrier since 2009." Dc Plane Crash Timeline: Midair Collision Involves 67 Passengers, Crew Members, Soldiers Buffalo-bound Colgan Air Flight 3407 killed all 49 people on board on Feb. 12, 2009, after the plane stalled and crashed into a home, killing a person inside. Read On The Fox News App Brauchle said the families' main question as they struggle with their grief is "why did this happen? How did this happen? How could it have happened? And they really are seeking answers." He added that once they get through their "initial shock, that's usually the next step is seeking the answers and wanting to know why this happened." Dc Plane Crash Air Traffic Control Audio Reveals Moment Controllers Saw Disaster: 'Tower Did You See That?' Brauchle said he doesn't think there's ever been a commercial aircraft crash in the U.S. that didn't result in litigation. "So, I'm going to assume that that's going to happen," Brauchle said. "And that's usually done, obviously, through the filing of a lawsuit." Based on his professional experience, he said, the airline and the government are both likely to be sued. Brauchle said the government's accountability could be twofold. "One for obviously operating the helicopter, because it was being flown by the Army, but also air traffic control that's regulating and monitoring that airspace is FAA, which is again a government agency," he said. Brauchle cautioned that it is early in the article source: Aviation attorney discusses likely lawsuit against government, American Airlines filed by victims' families
