Remember the helicopter crash in grand Canyon

agh

Fri, Aug 01 2008, 4:32 pm

A number of summers ago there was a helicopter crash in Grand Canyon involving Frum coupleas. I have been wondering about the surviving mother that got saved from the plane. How is she doing? s she fully recovered.? My hearts go out to those families and I have been thinking about them often over the years.

ss321

Fri, Aug 01 2008, 4:38 pm

not fully recovered or anywhere near it. unfortuantely she probably never will. kids live w/ the grandparents b'h, I dont think they even bring them to visit the mom it would be too disturbing for them. seems like the kids from the other families (where parents passed away), are also well adjusted, baruch hashem!

goodheart

Fri, Aug 01 2008, 6:15 pm

btw the older son lives with the mother nebach this mother is suffering so much
its so sad to see it the other baby lives with her twin.

Mama Bear

Sat, Aug 02 2008, 10:37 pm

the sad that is that she had been doing relatively wells ix months after the crash. she was conscious, was going to start therapy and stuff. then she went into septic shock during surgery and never recovered.

Pineapple

Sat, Aug 02 2008, 10:54 pm

It was a helicopter crash

I dont know if its true but I heard she lost both her legs

Last edited by Pineapple on Sun, Aug 03 2008, 10:07 am; edited 1 time in total

cindy324

Sun, Aug 03 2008, 1:47 am

I remember it very well, it happened about a month before 9/11.

It hit really close to home, these were people I knew personally, we ran in the same social circles.

flowerpower

Sun, Aug 03 2008, 1:48 am

Nebuch. She lost both of her legs and was badly burnt. If I'm not mistaken she lives in a hospice now. Very sad!

mali

Sun, Aug 03 2008, 4:15 am

flowerpower wrote:

Nebuch. She lost both of her legs and was badly burnt. If I'm not mistaken she lives in a hospice now. Very sad!

she lives in her parents' basement. they turned it into a fully equipped hospice, and she's being taken care of 24/7 by nurses.

ChossidMom

Sun, Aug 03 2008, 5:27 am

FYI I remember reading a story about a frum person (not sure if male or female) who worked in the Twin Towers being saved from 9/11 because of going to the Azkara of the people that were killed in the helicopter crash. Maybe someone here remembers.

su7kids

Sun, Aug 03 2008, 5:31 am

ChossidMom wrote:

If I remember correctly, 9/11 was Shloshim for that crash, and many people were at the Shloshim in the morning and came late.

mali

Sun, Aug 03 2008, 5:31 am

ChossidMom wrote:

makes sense. the helicopter crash was during being hazmanim, and 9/11 happened on chof gimmel elul, about a month later.

I'll check the exact dates (the helicopter crash happened the same week as the terrorist bombing in sbarro).

mali

Sun, Aug 03 2008, 5:41 am

the crash was on friday, august 10th, chof alef av. the levaya wasn't until after shabbos though. it makes sense that they had some kind of azkara that day (it isn't the shloshim from their passing though. maybe it's the shloshim from the burial).

ChossidMom

Sun, Aug 03 2008, 5:43 am

I just remember my mind being boggled when I read that story.

BeershevaBubby

Sun, Aug 03 2008, 5:46 am

I remember reading that one of the men who was Niftar had a big company in the WTC (like 200 employees).

There was an Azkarah that day and his office was closed so no one was there.

bubby

Sun, Aug 03 2008, 8:30 am

The lady you're discussing did the makeup for DD's wedding, it was a few years before the crash. I often think of her & I'm so sorry. She introduced us to her kids when we went for a consult. It's tragic for everyone, including (especially??) her children that they don't live with Mommy.

After that terrible crash I begged my kids not to take any of these arial tours. B"H they listened, albeit reluctantly. However, we must always be vigilant as far as we can, especially during the 9 days.

Motek

Sun, Aug 03 2008, 1:43 pm

Mama Bear wrote:

this was the news item a year after the crash:

Federal investigation in Grand Canyon helicopter crash ongoing

By LISA SNEDEKER
Associated Press Writer

LAS VEGAS (AP) - More than a year and 42 surgeries later, Chana Daskal still doesn't know why the Grand Canyon sightseeing helicopter she was riding in crashed in the remote Arizona desert, killing her husband and five others.

The National Transportation Safety Board had expected to release its final report by July. But federal investigators still are reviewing what caused the Aug. 10, 2001, Papillon Grand Canyon Helicopters tour crash below the crest of the scenic Grand Wash Cliffs near Meadview, Ariz., about 60 miles east of Las Vegas.

Daskal, 26, who is from the Orthodox Jewish neighborhood of Seagate in Brooklyn, N.Y., was the sole survivor of the crash that killed five New York City tourists and the Henderson pilot.

The NTSB's preliminary report said Daskal told rescuers that the aircraft "got quiet and fell from the sky." Investigators, however, are skeptical because Daskal had been given morphine before she was asked what she recalled.

The NTSB has said the investigation was hampered because much of the American Eurocopter AS350-B2 helicopter was destroyed in the crash.

A spokeswoman for the federal agency now estimates that findings may not be released until fall.

"It's not unusual for an investigation to go longer than a year," said NTSB spokeswoman Lauren Peduzzi. She blamed heavy work load in the Los Angeles regional office for the length of the investigation.

Meanwhile, Daskal, who received third-degree burns over 85 percent of her body, remains in the Cornell burn unit at New York Presbyterian Hospital.

"With the one-year mark, it is a pretty emotional time," said Gary C. Robb, a Kansas City-based attorney leading Daskal's lawsuit against Papillon Airways, among others. "A lot of people didn't think she was going to make it. She struggles every day. She is a triumph of the human spirit and the desire to live."

Most of the 42 surgeries have been skin grafts, but she also has had her left leg and her right foot amputated and operations to stabilize her back that was broken in the crash. She is paralyzed from the waist down.

"In my career, I have never seen such a strong will to survive," Robb said.

Daskal spent seven months in University Medical Center's hospital burn unit in Las Vegas before she was transported to Brooklyn in late February, spending only about three weeks at home before being transferred to the Staten Island University Medical Center intensive care unit.

Daskal has incurred $4.5 million in medical and surgical expenses over the past year, Robb said.

"She is a medical miracle. Her doctors have repeatedly said that what she has gone through and how she has been able to progress is just remarkable."

Daskal's sons, 4-year-old Eli and 1-year-old Avi, are living with Daskal's twin sister, Brache Rosenberg.

"Chana says they took my husband, they took my looks, but they can't take me away from my children," Robb said. "She wants to see her kids grow up. She told me, I need to be alive to raise my children."

Daskal has filed a lawsuit in Clark County District Court against Papillon Airways, based in Grand Canyon, Ariz. The lawsuit, which alleges pilot error and a faulty engine caused the crash, also names the pilot's estate and American Eurocopter Corp. and Turbomeca Engine Corp., two manufacturers of helicopter and engine parts in Grand Prairie, Texas; and Zuni LLC, a Washington-based helicopter retailer.

The pilot, Kevin Innocenti of Henderson, and David Daskal, Shayie Lichtenstein, Avi and Barbara Wajsbaum and Aryeh Zvi Fastag, all of Brooklyn, died.

Cdlf

Sun, Aug 03 2008, 9:34 pm

I'm spooked and crying! We were just discussing this last night and wondering how she's doing. I did hear that she did win a major financial settlement which will hopefully cover her medical expenses and help with he children's future. But there are disputes as to how much she should give her husband's family. One of the Wajsbaum boys who lost both parents was recently Bar Mitzvahed. They live with grandparents. I do remember hearing 2 spouses remarried.

abismommy

Sun, Aug 03 2008, 11:49 pm

mali wrote:

ChossidMom wrote:

My son's bris was in BP the morning of (one of?) the levayas - Monday morning, Chof-Gimmel Av.

goodheart

Mon, Aug 04 2008, 12:03 am

Its so sad as much money as she made doesn't matter she has no life.
shes nebach a vegtable shes suffering alot. btw the older son lives with her.

lostIma

Mon, Aug 04 2008, 9:07 am

Jut to clarify all the "doubts here" ... I live in Seagate actually and I nebbbacccchh get to see her so often being walked by the nurses.. the reality is, she will never recover... shes a vegatable... badly burnt, no legs.... soo hard to even glance.... her children wont ever have a "normal" life. The older one constantly sees his mother like this and knows hes a "rich boy" all this just confuses a child ....The younger one who was only 5 onths when this all happened doesnt really know better other then he calls his aunt - mommy.... which is so hard to hear by the family.... otherwise money desnt do ANYTHING ust makes MORE problems and MORE politics within the family..... may we never have to hearof such Tzoros and such pain