Honeymoon horror in Grand Canyon blamed on the wind
A GRAND CANYON helicopter crash that killed a honeymooning Smethwick man, his wife and their three friends was probably caused by strong winds.
In a National Transportation Safety Board report on the tragedy, pilot Scott Booth, who survived but had both legs amputated, said the chopper was hit by a “violent gust” as he attempted to land.
The Airbus EC130 B4 began to spin, clipped a cliff which snapped off its tail, then plummeted.
Eyewitnesses reported seeing the out-of-control helicopter twice turn 360 degrees.
When it hit the ground, on remote tribal land, the machine was engulfed in a fireball.
Witnesses struggled to reach victims who had fallen 600 feet into the depth of a canyon on the Hualapai Nation reservation.
Both 31-year-old Jonathan Udall, from Smethwick, and wife Ellie Millward, 29, were rescued from the wreckage, but died days later.
Mr Udall survived for 12 days at South Nevada’s University Medical Centre before succumbing to severe burns.
The sunset crash, which was intended to be the highlight of a dream holiday, also claimed the lives of Stuart Hill, from West Sussex, who had travelled to Las Vegas for his 30th birthday, his 27-year-old girlfriend Becky Dobson and his brother Jason, 32.
Jason’s girlfriend, 41-year-old Jennifer
Dorricott, sustained life-changing injuries in the February 10, 2018, accident.
Immediately after the crash, there was optimism that both Jonathan and Ellie, whose condition was described as stable, would survive. But Ellie, from Southampton, never regained consciousness.
Mr Udall’s parents are now locked in a legal battle with the helicopter company, Papillon Grand Canyon Helicopters, and the craft’s manufacturers, Airbus Helicopters. They say a crash resistant fuel system should’ve been incorporated on the ‘copter.
An inquiry by the safety board found no evidence of a mechanical fault. But the remote location and communication problems meant it was six hours before the injured were taken to hospital.
The blaze after the crash was the “most significant factor” affecting passengers’ survival.
The report stated the aircraft was “not equipped, nor was it required to be equipped, with a crash resistant fuel system”.
Mr Udall was a regional manager for Yorkshire Building Society, a company he’d spent a decade with. His wife was an agency support manager for the firm. While the newlyweds fought for their lives in hospital, workmates launched an online crowdfunding appeal that raised over £22,000.
Friend Chris Tucker, who set up the page, described Mr Udall as “strong, brave, I will never forget him”.