A harness/tether system intended to safeguard occupants of an Airbus Helicopters AS350 B2 during doors-off photo flights was so difficult to quickly unlatch that it was partly to blame for the deaths of all five passengers in a March 11, 2018, crash into New York City’s East River, the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) says.
The helicopter lost engine power during cruise flight, and the pilot subsequently conducted an autorotative descent and ditching in the river, the NTSB said in its final report on the accident. The AS350’s emergency flotation system did not deploy, and the helicopter sank into the river, fully inverted, and was submerged 11 seconds after it touched down. In addition to the passengers’ deaths, which were attributed to drowning, the pilot received minor injuries.