Accidents
NTSB Chief: Doors-off Helo Flight Was 'Death Trap'
NTSB faults passenger harnesses, emergency floats in fatal NYC helo crash.
NTSB chairman Robert Sumwalt presides over a hearing about the March 11, 2018 crash of an Airbus AS350B2 helicopter into New York City’s East River that killed all five passengers aboard. (Photo: NTSB)
NTSB chairman Robert Sumwalt presides over a hearing about the March 11, 2018 crash of an Airbus AS350B2 helicopter into New York City’s East River that killed all five passengers aboard. (Photo: NTSB)

In language that was uncharacteristically blunt and direct, National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) chairman Robert Sumwalt accused the doors-off photo tour company NYONair, parent of FlyNYON, of turning “a perfectly good helicopter into a death trap” and characterizing it as “madness.”