Page 4 - ARUBA TODAY

A4 U.S. NEWS
Tuesday 13 March 2018
AP source: Bag may have hit fuel switch before chopper crash

By JENNIFER PELTZ according to FAA data.
MICHAEL BALSAMO Three incidents ended
Associated Press in safe landings after, for
NEW YORK (AP) — A pilot example, one chopper
who survived a helicop- clipped another while tak-
ter crash that killed his five ing off from a helipad. But
passengers told authori- an August 2009 collision
ties he believed a passen- over the Hudson River be-
ger’s bag might have hit tween a Liberty chopper
an emergency fuel shut- and a small private plane
off switch in the moments killed nine people, includ-
before the chopper went ing a group of Italian tour-
down, a federal official ists.
told The Associated Press The company paid $23,576
on Monday. in fines in 2010 and 2011
The official was briefed on for violating maintenance,
the investigation but was record-keeping and flight
not authorized to speak operations rules, the FAA
publicly about it and spoke said. Three subsequent
on the condition of ano- maintenance violations in
nymity. 2011 and 2012 didn’t result
The National Transporta- in any fines.
tion Safety Board said it Witnesses to Sunday’s
would look at the switch, A helicopter is hoisted by crane from the East River onto a barge, Monday, March 12, 2018, in New crash said the helicopter
the chopper’s flotation de- York. The pilot was able to escape the Sunday night crash after the aircraft flipped upside down was flying noisily, then sud-
vices and even the photos in the water killing several passengers, officials said. denly dropped and quickly
on passengers’ cameras to (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan) submerged. A bystander’s
figure out what caused the video showed the helicop-
crash Sunday in the East ketball team assistant and electronics “to capture a U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer ter land hard and then
River. another person on what digital portrait of the last said federal regulators capsize in water about 50
NTSB member Bella Dinh- authorities said was a char- moments of this flight,” she should suspend flights by feet (15 meters) deep.
Zarr said the agency hasn’t ter flight to take photos. said. the helicopter’s owner until Emergency divers had to
spoken to the pilot but The helicopter’s six emer- No one answered an the facts of the crash are get the passengers out of
hopes to do so. gency floats inflated, but email Monday to Vance, known. tight safety harnesses while
“Mayday, mayday, may- Dinh-Zarr said investiga- a 33-year-old licensed The owner, Liberty Helicop- they were upside down,
day,” pilot Richard Vance tors would look at whether commercial pilot for seven ters, referred all inquiries fire department Commis-
said in an emergency ra- there were any problems years who’s also licensed to federal authorities. The sioner Daniel Nigro said.
dio call as the Eurocopter with those devices or the as a flight instructor. A pos- Federal Aviation Adminis- Vance freed himself.
AS350 tour helicopter foun- harnesses available to sible phone number for him tration said it was investi- The passengers who died
dered. “East River — en- passengers on a chopper in Danbury, Connecticut, gating whether the flight included Dallas fire Officer
gine failure.” that was legally allowed wasn’t working. had met regulations. Brian McDaniel, 26, and his
The chopper flipped over to fly with its doors open. A floating crane slowly Liberty, a tour and charter high school friend Trevor
and quickly sank, killing a The NTSB and other agen- raised the submerged heli- helicopter company, has Cadigan, 26, a journal-
Texas firefighter, an Argen- cies involved in the probe copter to the surface Mon- been involved in at least ist who hailed from Dallas
tine woman, a young vid- also hope to recover the day and towed it off to be five accidents or other in- but had recently moved to
eo journalist, a former bas- passengers’ cameras and examined, as Democratic cidents in the last 10 years, New York.q

Package bombs in Texas capital likely tied to earlier blas

By WILL WEISSERT She was taken to a hospital
PAUL J. WEBER with potentially life-threat-
Associated Press ening wounds.
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Authorities suspect that
Two package bomb blasts both of Monday’s explo-
a few miles apart killed a sions were linked to a
teenager and wounded March 2 attack that killed
two women in Austin on a 39-year-old black man.
Monday, less than two All three blasts happened
weeks after a similar attack as the packages were
left a man dead in another opened, and officials
part of the Texas capital. urged the public to call
Investigators saidthe police if they receive any
bombings are probably Authorities investigate an explosion at a home in Austin, Texas, Monday, March 12, 2018. Investi- unexpected packages.
connected, and they are gators believe the fatal explosion on Monday is linked to another deadly bombing elsewhere in “This is the third in what
looking into whether race the city this month, and they’re considering whether race was a factor because all of the victims we believe to be related
was a factor because all of were black. incidents over the past 10
the victims were minorities. (Ricardo B. Brazziell/Austin American-Statesman via AP) days,” Manley said while
The blasts unfolded just as The first of Monday’s at- of them black. thorities were called to the briefing reporters near the
the city was swelling with tacks killed a 17-year- As Police Chief Brian Man- scene of another explosion site of Monday’s second
visitors to the South By old boy and wounded a ley held a news conference that injured a 75-year-old explosion.q
Southwest music festival. 40-year-old woman, both to discuss that attack, au- Hispanic woman.