Grand Canyon Chopper Crash Kills 7
Recovery crews hiked into a rugged area of the Grand Canyon on Sunday to reach the remains of a sightseeing helicopter that crashed with seven people on board. Authorities said there were no survivors.
The helicopter, operating as an A-Star tour, went down after noon Saturday in rugged terrain about 60 miles east of Las Vegas.
It had taken off from the Grand Canyon West Airport with the pilot and six passengers aboard and had been headed for the bottom of the canyon, said Federal Aviation Administration operations officer Larri Frelow.
Authorities did not immediately release the names of the victims pending family notification.
Mohave County Sheriff's Office spokesman Carlos Rooks said recovery crews had to hike to the crash site Sunday because the terrain was only accessible by foot. The National Transportation Safety Board and FAA were among the agencies investigating.
The helicopter was owned by Nevada-based Sundance Helicopters Inc., according to the sheriff's office. Sundance officials did not return several calls seeking comment Sunday, but a person who answered the phone said the company would release a statement later in the day.
The accident was the second deadliest canyon tour crash since 1995, when a plane went down while trying to return to Grand Canyon Airport, killing eight people.
It followed by two years an August 2001 crash in the same general area of a sightseeing helicopter owned by Papillon Airways and Papillon Grand Canyon Helicopters. Six people aboard that helicopter were killed. A federal report said it didn't appear the helicopter suffered mechanical failure before it slammed into steep cliffs.
Other recent helicopter crashes near the Grand Canyon include:
May 2003, a Grand Canyon tour helicopter crashed about 15 miles east of Meadview, not far from Sunday's crash site, injuring the pilot. No one else was on board. That helicopter was also owned and operated by Papillon. The sightseeing helicopter crashed in a remote desert area under unknown circumstances.
September 2002: A Las Vegas-based sightseeing helicopter crashed near the Grand Canyon. A Dutch tourist's leg was broken, but five other passengers and the pilot were unharmed. A preliminary federal report blamed hydraulic failure for the crash.