Monday, Aug. 13, 2001 | 11:18 a.m.
More than 1,500 mourners gathered in New York today to say goodbye to five people killed in a Grand Canyon helicopter crash, many vowing to help raise three children who were orphaned and two others who face that possibility.
Four funerals, beginning at 6 a.m. PDT, were held in Brooklyn. The services were in Yiddish. The New York Post said that the officiant called for prayers for the victims and those they left behind, including three children of Avi and Barbara Wajsbaum, the youngest of whom is 2.
The pilot -- Kevin Innocenti, 27, of Henderson -- and five New York residents, all members of the Orthodox Jewish community, were killed Friday afternoon in the helicopter crash. The bodies of the tourists were flown to New York overnight for quick burial in accordance with Jewish law.
A seventh victim, Chana Daskal, remained in critical condition today at University Medical Center. Her husband, David Daskal, was among those whose funerals were held today. They have two children.
In addition to the Wajsbaums and Daskal, the other tourists killed were Shiya Lichtenstein, and Aryeh Zvi "Steve" Fastag.
The Daskal family scheduled a news conference in Las Vegas for this afternoon and released the following statement this morning: "We want to thank everyone for your prayers during this tragedy. We are relying on our faith in God to get us through this experience.
"We know God has a reason for everything, and while it's hard to understand why, we know everything has a purpose. Many family members have flown to Las Vegas to show support for each other. Our friends and family are laid to rest today. We mourn their passing, but celebrate their life."
Arizona officials and representatives of the Orthodox Jewish religion rushed to identify the victims' bodies through dental records and put them on a plane to New York late Sunday night.
Orthodox Jewish tradition calls for the deceased to be buried within 24 hours and for the bodies not be disturbed by an autopsy, Las Vegas Rabbi Richard Schachet of the Valley Outreach Synagogue said.
The helicopter crashed about 2:30 p.m. Friday near Meadview, Ariz., about 60 miles east of Las Vegas.
Brooklyn Rabbi Edgar Gluck, who works as a consultant to the New York Medical Examiner, flew to Arizona with the dental records of the victims, and noted it was important to the victim's families to have the bodies quickly returned to Brooklyn.
"I can't express how important this is," Gluck told the New York Post. "It's our way of living, and to not have done this would have added to the extreme pain and suffering of the families."
They were flown from the Mohave County Coroner's office in Kingman, Ariz., to the Maricopa County Coroner's office in Phoenix Sunday evening so that X-rays could be used to compare the victims' teeth to dental records, Gluck said.
The Maricopa County Coroner's office declined to release any information about the victims today.
The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the crash, and the lead investigator said Sunday the agency doesn't expect to determine a cause for at least six months.
NTSB officials began their investigation into the crash on Sunday, and planned to interview the only witness to the crash today, Jeff Rich, NTSB senior air safety administrator, said.
"Initial statements from the pilot of a second tour helicopter following the one that crashed said he saw the helicopter in front of him," Rich said. "He looked down to do some tasks in the cockpit, and when he looked up the helicopter was gone and he saw a plume of smoke."
There were no emergency calls from the helicopter before it crashed, and it did not have any kind of recording device onboard. A team of about 20 investigators will put the facts of the accident together as they go over the wreckage, which has been moved to a hangar in Boulder City, Rich said.
"The process is a lot like someone working a jigsaw puzzle," Rich said.
Rich said a total of six helicopters from Papillon Grand Canyon helicopters of Las Vegas made the trip to the Grand Canyon Friday. Each carried six tourists and a pilot.
Steve Golomb, a friend of the victims who helped plan the four-day trip to Las Vegas for the group of about 20 friends and relatives, didn't take the helicopter tour because he said he was afraid of flying.
Golomb said that 12 people from the group, which was staying at the Bellagio, went on two of the helicopters for the day trip to the Grand Canyon.
The helicopters were flying about 5 to 10 minutes apart, and the accident occurred on the way back after three of the helicopters, including the one that crashed, stopped for fuel at Grand Canyon West Airport, about 10 miles east of the crash site.
Helicopters often don't completely fill up with fuel, depending on the weight of the passengers, instead relying on a fuel stop during the trip, Rich said.
After refueling, the American Eurocopter AS350 crashed at the base of the Grand Wash Cliffs, just off the edge of a shelf of rock about 4,200 feet up the cliffs, said Bruce Lenon, a National Park Service ranger who flew the Lake Mead Recreation Area's Cessna over the crash site.
"Two Papillon helicopters had landed at the site and it looked like the pilots were out trying to help," Lenon said. "I radioed in the latitude and longitude and relayed to Arizona Department of Public Safety and Flight for Life so they knew where the crash was."
A Flight for Life helicopter flew Chana Daskal, the only survivor, to UMC. She suffered burns over 80 percent of her body.
Lenon said that the wreckage was scattered across a 15- to 20-yard area.
"All I could really make out was the blue tail of the helicopter with a big black scar across it," Lenon said.
The helicopter that crashed was produced in 1991, and was purchased by Papillon in August or September, Rich said. The aircraft was previously privately owned in Japan, Rich said.
"It had about 1,300 flight hours on it, and for a 10-year-old helicopter that's relatively new," Rich said. "In the brief investigation we've done so far there doesn't appear to have been any problems with the helicopter in the past."
NTSB records show Papillon has been involved in four helicopter crashes along the Colorado River during the last three years.
According to a Newsday report, the most recent was in September when six passengers and a pilot were injured after a Papillon helicopter made a rough landing four miles east of the Hoover Dam.
Friday's crash was the deadliest canyon tour accident since 1995 when a plane crashed while trying to return to Grand Canyon Airport, killing eight people.
A June 1986 tour plane's crash that killed 25 led to new rules that prohibit flying below the canyon rim.
The Associated Press, the New York Post and Newsday contributed to this story.
archive
