This story saddens me so much, but I feel like these 2 wonderful ladies are now together again. Life really sucks sometimes. But these 2 are now together forever. My heart breaks for the families, and the entire situation sucks so bad. I am just so sorry this was their destiny together. Rest in Peace ladies.

Outrage about what? We don't even know what happened yet. Is there outrage every time someone is killed in a traffic accident? And I'm not even sure what you mean by a commuter. Commuter what?

And as far as inept maintenance, even if the aircraft was just inspected some things will not be found. Mechanics are not supermen. And that assumes it was mechanical. Could have been pilot error. A seagull could have flown into the tail rotor.

And it wasn't a tour helicopter, so you can't tie it to the crash of the tour helicopter a couple of years ago. And even in that one it was a midair. The helicopter was hit by a small fixed wing. the pilot of the fixed wing was at fault. In the wrong place at the wrong altitude talking on the wrong frequency.

But by all means let's jump to conclusions.

If it was a commuter service that had that many accidents, and people who lived in NY/NJ were the ones dying, there would be much more outrage at this.

Quote:

If true, that makes the situation even worse - inept inspectors or inept maintenance crew .... then again it wouldn't be unheard of if someone was taking a bribe ![/quote]

I wouldn't jump to conclusion just yet. We are not even sure it was a mechanical issue. If you ever read up on a NTSB investigation, they are VERY good at what they do. They will figure it out eventually.

Quote:

If true, that makes the situation even worse - inept inspectors or inept maintenance crew .... then again it wouldn't be unheard of if someone was taking a bribe !

From what I read:

The chopper in question was only days earlier inspected. The inspection is very thorough.. it involves taking a lot of the aircraft apart. The inspections take over a week to do.

Who's doing the checks and balances on maintenance with these sightseeing helicopters ? Crashes appear to happen every year.

Hey they are doing a Groupon:

$150 for one -- $300 for 2 (free photo if buy the 2) LOL

http://www.groupon.com/r/uu26384633

New York Helicopter Crash: Woman On Birthday Tour Dies in East River



A helicopter crashes into the East River, New York, Oct. 4, 2011. (ABC News)

ABC News
By RICHARD ESPOSITO, MARK CRUDELE, COLLEEN CURRY and CHRISTINA NG
Oct. 4, 2011

A woman visiting New York to celebrate her 40th birthday died trapped in the back seat of the helicopter that spun out of control and plunged into New York City's East River today.

The passengers were four members of a British family on holiday to celebrate Sonia Marra Nicholson's birthday.

The other three passengers were Nicholson's partner Helen Tamaski, her mother Harriet Nicholson and her stepfather Paul Nicholson, officials said.

Tamaski is in critical condition at Bellevue hospital. Harriet Nicholson is also at Bellevue and in stable condition. Paul Nicholson, 72, in stable condition at New York University Hospital.

Paul and Harriet Nicholson are British citizens who live in Portugal and Sonia Marra Nicholson and Helen Tamaski were living in Australia.

Three members of the family and the chopper pilot were almost immediately pulled ashore this afternoon while divers searched frantically for the final passenger. Rescue personnel immediately began performing heart compressions on one of the individuals initially pulled from the water and who appeared to be unconscious.

Sonia Marra Nicholson was recovered more than two hours after the crash at 5 p.m. and pronounced dead.

"I just hope it is the only fatality and our prayers are with those in the hospital," New York's Mayor Michael Bloomberg said.

The Bell 206 helicopter took off from a heliport at 34th Street. Joy Garnett told WABC TV that she saw the chopper lift off and almost immediately begin to spin around several times and then plunge into the river.

"He took off and spun," one official said. The pilot tried to turn it around and land, but he missed by 40 feet, officials said. The chopper landed in 50 feet of water and sank within minutes.

"Whoever was on hand, people that work here, were throwing things in to them, but the (helicopter) was upside down, its pontoons in the air," Garnett said. "We could only see two figures clutching onto the pontoons and it took about five minutes for it to sink."

Garnett said the onlookers on the dock called 911.

The pilot was identified as Paul Dudley. Dudley made a spectacular emergency landing in a Brooklyn park in 2006 when a Cessna 172 he was piloting had engine trouble. In that landing, no one was injured.

Dudley, who was rescued from the East River, is the manager at the Linden, N.J., airport. He flew his chopper to the helipad at East 34th Street to pick up his four passengers, officials said.

The chopper went down about 3:20 p.m. and within 10 minutes rescue divers were in the murky water searching for survivors, officials said.

Some of the officers who rushed to the scene were conducting a counter terror drill. When chopper went down the doffed their flack vests and dropped there automatic weapons as they raced to the river's edge.

Mayor Bloomberg praised the city's response to the crash. "A quicker response could not have happened and it wouldn't have made any difference," he said.

He said the chopper was inverted.

The mayor said flotation devices for passengers are optional in helicopters and that most don't carry them. "But if a helicopter lands upside down, they don't do any good," he said.

Ten boats from the New York police and fire departments as well as the Coast Guard and a helicopter were part of the search. Scuba teams were in the water. Some ferry service on the East River was suspended during the search.

Officials from the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board were on the way to investigate the crash.

Helicopters that fly under 1,000 feet are not in contact air traffic controllers and don't file a flight plan.

ABC News' Aaron Katersky contributed to this report

http://abcnews.go.com/US/helicopter-c ... t-river/story?id=14666235