UNFIT TO FLY
Insurance company won’t pay for damage after deadly accident
The 85-year-old who crashed his helicopter into a Williamsburg complex in July had his medical certificate to fly revoked by the FAA, according to his insurance company.
WILLIAMSBURG — Before the fiery crash that left two people dead and dozens displaced, the pilot who crashed his helicopter into Bristol Commons in July had his medical certificate to fly revoked by the Federal Aviation Administration.
In a letter to homeowners denying an insurance payout for the destruction at the Williamsburg complex, pilot Henry “Hank” Schwarz’s insurance company said Schwarz flew illegally.
“Based on our investigation .. that insurance coverage ... including all claims for injuries, damages and losses related thereto that are or may be asserted by your client and/or by any third parties, is hereby denied,” the letter obtained by The Virginia Gazette said.
Schwarz’s caretaker said he had health problems, including Parkinson’s Disease, which would have required the FAA to decide whether he was fit to fly.
On July 8, 2018, a Robinson R44 helicopter piloted by Schwarz plummeted into a 10-unit residential complex, killing Schwarz and 91-year-old resident Jean Lonchak Danylko.
The crash and the ensuing inferno destroyed the building. On Monday, Bristol Commons homeowners submitted an architectural building plan to Williamsburg city planners.
Bristol Commons Owners’ Association board member Paul Leslie said in an address to homeowners at a Tuesday night meeting that Nationwide Insurance will soon give the organization about $1.5 million for the rebuild.
However, he also said there’s no set date for the end of the demolition of the burned out remains of the building.
Unfit to fly
The insurance letter from Pathfinder Indemnity Company Limited indicates the FAA reviewed and revoked Schwarz’s medical certificate on May 30, 2017 — more than a year before the crash. That certificate would have validated his Class 2 pilot’s license with medical limitations; without it, Schwarz flew illegally.
The FAA demanded Schwarz turn over his medical certificate due to the agency’s findings within 14 days or face punishment, according to the letter. It’s unclear whether or not Schwarz turned in his certificate.
According to Schwarz’s caretaker, Theresa Monroe, that diagnosis was Parkinson’s Disease, which he was diagnosed with five years ago.
Both Schwarz and his wife needed a neurologist to tend to their degenerative neurological conditions: his Parkinson’s, her dementia, Monroe said.
Monroe married Schwarz’s widowed son-in-law after Schwarz’s daughter died from cancer several years earlier. Monroe helped Schwarz find a neurologist in Alexandria so he and his wife could receive treatment.
Monroe drove the Schwarzes to and from most medical appointments, she said. Once, while sitting in on a doctor’s visit with the pair, Monroe said the doctor told Schwarz “When it’s your turn for the appointment, we’ll talk about your Parkinson’s.”
Parkinson’s Disease is the second most common degenerative neurological disease in the United States. It occurs as parts of the brain, which control movement, selectively die off, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. As symptoms become more aggressive, tremors, body shakes, difficulty walking and cognitive decline can occur.
As late as April 12, 2018, Schwarz lobbied the FAA to restore his medical certification to fly, according to the insurance letter.
When the FAA reconsidered the revocation they told him, “We have again reviewed your complete file and regret that we have no alternative except to sustain our previous denial dated May 30, 2017 due to your aeromedically significant (REDACTED),” the letter said.
Schwarz ignored that ruling and flew anyway.
On July 8, he drove from his home in a Washington, D.C., suburb to the Stafford Regional Airport outside Fredericksburg. He flew out of the airport in his Robinson R44 helicopter.
After a meeting with the Virginia Helicopters Association at the Williamsburg-Jamestown Airport, Schwarz took off at 4:26 p.m. after topping off both gas tanks.
Less than 10 minutes later and headed for Stafford, Schwarz crashed his helicopter into a 10-unit residential complex in Williamsburg, killing himself and Danylko.
The National Transportation Safety Board has released no new information to the public about the crash since a July 20 preliminary report.
The FAA denied an October Freedom of Information Act request for Schwarz’s health records. In another request made in October and clarified in Novem- ber, the FAA provided airman records and Schwarz’s death certificate. A third request is pending, but it remains unclear whether or not it will be processed in a timely manner due to the partial federal government shutdown.
Schwarz’s death was an accident, according to his death certificate. He died of blunt force trauma across his entire body. The record does not mention any ailments he may have suffered before he died.
By land and air
In the years before the crash, Schwarz’s family was leery of flying with him.
Theresa Monroe said she and her husband Ned refused to allow their son Harry — Schwarz’s biological grandson — to fly with Schwarz in the last few years.
From flying to driving, Schwarz struggled to get around, according to residents in his Fairfax County neighborhood, county fire department records and Monroe.
On June 11 and July 10, 2017, Schwarz crashed his car into his garage. The first crash was severe, records indicate: Schwarz drove his late-model Chrysler 300 sedan through a brick partition that divided the two-car garage. When the fire department arrived after neighbors called 911, firefighters discovered Schwarz’s vehicle at rest on top of the partition in the middle of the two car garage. The Fairfax County Fire Department report indicates there was significant structural damage to the building. Neighbors photographed the incident.
Seventeen years before those crashes, Schwarz crashed a handbuilt experimental airplane into a cornfield outside of Fredericksburg’s Shannon Airport, according to archived NTSB reports. He suffered minor injuries and the plane was a loss.
Schwarz, a longtime resident of Fairfax County’s Southwood neighborhood outside Mt. Vernon, was a retired Vietnam War combat pilot with several thousand hours of flight time, according to friends, neighbors and NTSB reports. He first obtained airman certification on Christmas Eve 1957.
Friends, neighbors and fellow aircraft enthusiasts called Schwarz a mixture of meticulous, stubborn and dedicated to flying.
“What he did with his life, I could have another 80 years to my life and I’ll never be able to (do),” Schwarz’s friend, DJ Shelton of King George County, said. “In Vietnam, he orchestrated the rescue and destruction of POW camps.”
The stubborn side of Schwarz showed itself in Shelton’s last ride with him, just months before the July 8 crash, he said.
“I was watching Henry take a drink of his water, his hands were shaking pretty good. I made the fatal mistake of asking Henry if he was OK (immediately before takeoff ). He dipped the nose of that helicopter and took off ... he scared the bejeebus out of me.”
Shelton had no idea Schwarz was found unfit to fly by the FAA, he said. He and Schwarz had grown apart during the past five years.
From fights with neighbors over how the entrance sign to the neighborhood should be landscaped, to neighbors’ reactions when he painted the shutters on his home bubblegum pink, Schwarz did not like to have his opinions discounted, according to his neighbors.
As he got older, Schwarz became even more stubborn in some respects. And he fought to remain independent, Monroe said.
“We begged him to stop. I don’t know why he kept flying.”
Monroe paused. “He loved it.”