Girl, 5, caused fatal chopper crash

Written By Unknown on Minggu, 11 November 2012 | 23.08

A BILLIONAIRE who died along with four others in a 2010 helicopter crash allowed his 5-year-old daughter to sit on his lap in the co-pilot's seat where she kicked the controls and caused the accident, according to federal investigators.

The US National Transportation Safety Board reviewed the crash that killed Services Group of America founder and owner Thomas Stewart, 64, for nearly three years before releasing its final probable-cause report last week.

Stewart's young daughter, wife, brother-in-law and company pilot also were killed in the crash on Valentine's Day 2010.

The NTSB found that Stewart allowed his daughter, Sydney, to sit on his lap on a trip from his northern Arizona ranch to his home in Scottsdale, where SGA is headquartered.

It was "highly likely" that the child suddenly pushed down with her foot on the copter's controls.

Either Stewart or his pilot then quickly pulled up on the controls, causing the helicopter's main blades to bend and strike the aircraft's tail, the report said.

The helicopter plunged into a dry stream bed in Cave Creek, Arizona, killing everyone aboard instantly.

Madena Stewart, 40; her brother, Mailang Abudula, 38; and company pilot Rick Morton, 63, were also killed in the crash.

The report's conclusion was immediately challenged by the lawyer for the pilot's family, who has blamed a faulty rotor blade for the crash, and by Stewart's company.

"That's their interpretation, and it does not comport with what our experienced investigators believe happened," said Gary C. Robb, an attorney who specializes in aviation accidents.

Robb has sued Eurocopter and others involved in repairing one of the helicopter's blades after a previous mishap.

He said he believes the repair was faulty and the blade came apart in flight, causing the crash.

The NTSB found no evidence of that. It concluded that the repaired blade hit the tail rotor drive shaft and broke.

Read more at azcentral.com


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