Pilot in NYC Copter Crash Blames Harness

Says passenger's restraint harness got tangled with emergency fuel cutoff switch
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Mar 26, 2018 5:30 PM CDT
Pilot in NYC Copter Crash Blames Harness
In this March 12, 2018 file photo, a helicopter, which crashed the previous day, is hoisted by crane from the East River onto a barge, in New York.   (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File)

The pilot of a helicopter that crashed into New York City's East River told federal investigators that he believed the aircraft's fuel was cut off when a passenger's restraint tether tangled with an emergency fuel cutoff switch, the National Transportation Safety Board said in a preliminary report on the crash released Monday. The pilot told the NTSB that he went to flip off the switch because the craft was going down, but discovered that it was already off and that part of the harness was underneath it, the AP reports. Five passengers who couldn't free themselves from their harnesses drowned when the helicopter rolled over into the water. The pilot, who was not wearing a harness, escaped with only minor injuries. The NTSB has not issued any findings on the cause of the crash, and the report did not offer an opinion as to whether the pilot's observations were correct.

In his interview, the pilot said the helicopter, on an open-door flight, had been traveling over Central Park when the front-seat passenger turned sideways and extended his feet outside the aircraft to take a photo. It was at that point that the pilot began experiencing problems. The front passenger's restraint harness had already come off once before that during the flight, said the pilot, who recalled passengers on earlier flights also accidentally releasing their seatbelts. The NTSB has previously raised safety concerns about the safety of the fuel controls on the helicopter model involved in the crash, the Eurocopter AS350, and had recommended that the Federal Aviation Administration require modifications of the control system to protect the lever from being deployed accidentally. The fuel flow control lever is a different lever than the emergency fuel shut-off switch, but they are next to each other on the console.

(More helicopter crash stories.)

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