NTSB Releases Prelim Report on Vegas Chopper Crash

Las Vegas: Federal investigators are focusing on unexplained turns and a sudden climb that a sightseeing helicopter made moments before it crashed in a remote canyon east of Las Vegas last week, killing the pilot and four passengers on a twilight tour marking marriage milestones.
A preliminary National Transportation Safety Board report issued Tuesday summarizes details already made public by a board member after he viewed the charred wreckage of the Dec. 7 crash near Lake Mead.
"The left turn and climb are not part of the normal route," said the report, which makes no conclusions or recommendations. NTSB officials said a final report on the crash could take a year.
Radar records show that about a minute before the crash, the aircraft operated by Sundance Helicopters of Las Vegas climbed 600 feet and turned sharply left, fell 800 feet, turned left again and plunged into a ravine, the report said.
The pilot, Landon Nield, 31, of Las Vegas, died in the crash, along with Kansas tourists Delwin and Tamara Chapman, both 49, and India visitors Lovish Bhanot, 28, and Anupama Bhola, 26.
The Chapmans were celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary. Bhanot and Bhola were honeymooning after their marriage last month in a suburb of New Delhi, India.
Nield, a devout Mormon who grew up in Wyoming and Utah, was also a newlywed — he married in Las Vegas in June. He had no history of accidents or violations, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
13/12/11 Ken Ritter/Associated Press/ABC News

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Categories: Foreign Dec 2011, Safety Dec 2011