NTSB to talk to crash survivor

Keith Paul

Wednesday, Aug. 22, 2001 | 11:21 a.m.

Federal investigators are not discounting the account of the lone survivor of a fiery helicopter crash, who told paramedics the engine shut off shortly before hitting the ground near the Grand Canyon during the probe the accident.

"We need to talk to her and get it from her what exactly she heard and in what context she's talking about," said Jeff Rich, a National Transportation Safety Board investigator in charge of the probe of the fatal crash on Aug. 10.

"I'm not discounting what she said, nor am I giving it more weight," he said. "We're taking what she said at face value until we can talk to her. I want to hear what she had to say (in person)."

The lone survivor, Chana Daskal, a 25-year-old mother of two from New York, told paramedics, "It got quiet and fell from the sky," according the NTSB preliminary report.

When asked "Was the engine running?" Daskal responded "No, not at the end," and then added "it got quiet," according to the report.

Daskal remained in critical condition this morning with burns over 80 percent of her body and heavily sedated. Investigators have not been able to speak with her about the crash that killed her husband, four other New York tourists and the pilot of the Papillon Grand Canyon Helicopter.

Rich said there was evidence the rotors of the helicopter were still moving, but investigators won't know if the engine was running until all the tests are completed.

The Mohave County, Ariz., Sheriff's Office detectives noticed scraping on a nearby rock and suspected the helicopter may have hit there before crashing.

But NTSB investigators are discounting that the scarring on rocks near the crash site had anything to do with the crash.

"We surveyed the entire area and we didn't find any evidence that (the helicopter) impacted anywhere outside of the wreckage area," Rich said.

The report also state, "All ground scars were confined to the immediate vicinity of the wreckage mass within the approximate diameter of the main rotor."

Rich said all of the evidence will be looked at as investigators determine what caused the crash about 2:30 p.m. Aug. 10 near Meadview, Ariz., 60 miles east of Las Vegas. The crash occurred about 4,040 feet up the 5,500-foot Grand Wash Cliffs in a sloped mountainous area covered with "sparse brush, hard dirt, loose rocks and Joshua trees," the preliminary report says.

The cause of the crash is not expected for months and could take up to a year, officials said.

Investigators will check the engine as well as the rest of the wreckage along with fuel samples and radar data, and review interviews with other pilots and employees of Papillon Grand Canyon Helicopters and the pilot's history.

The pilot, Kevin Innocenti of Henderson, had flown for Papillon for about a year and made the flight over the Grand Canyon likely hundreds of times, as company officials said pilots often make the flight three times a day.

Innocenti's pilot's license was in good standing and he had no record or accidents or discipline, Federal Aviation Administration officials said.

The tourists were buried last week in New York. Hundreds of people turned out for the funerals of Daskal's husband, David Daskal, Avi and Barbara Wajsbaum, Shiya Lichtenstein and Arie Fastag.

The Maricopa County medical examiner's office in Phoenix released the causes of death for the tourists. The Wajsbaums and Daskal died from burns and blunt force trauma. Fastag died from burns and Lichtenstein died from head injuries.

The Mohave County, Ariz., medical examiner's office ruled the cause of death for Innocenti was from burns.