Parents of Tourist Killed in 2018 Grand Canyon Helicopter Crash Awarded $100M in Court Settlement
Jonathan Udall was killed along with his wife and three friends when their tourist helicopter crashed in the Grand Canyon
Teddy Fujimoto via AP
A tour helicopter crash in the Grand CanyonThe parents of a British tourist who was killed along with four others in a 2018 helicopter crash in the Grand Canyon will receive a $100 million settlement.
As reported by the Associated Press, the family of 31-year-old Jonathan Udall will see $24.6 million from Papillon Airways Inc., the helicopter operator, and $75.4 million from Airbus Helicopters SAS, the manufacturer. The settlement was approved by a Nevada judge last Friday,
Udall and his wife Ellie Milward, 29, were aboard the Airbus EC130 B4 helicopter along with Becky Dobson, 27, Dobson’s boyfriend Stuart Hill, 30, and his brother Jason Hill, 32, when it spun out of control and crashed in the Grand Canyon in February 2018, the BBC reported. The helicopter trip was to celebrate Stuart Hill’s birthday and Udall and Milward’s recent marriage.
Dobson and the Hills were pronounced dead at the scene. Udall suffered burns on 90% of his body and died 12 days later, while Milward succumbed to her burn injuries shortly after the death of Udall, per the BBC.
PEOPLE reached out to both Papillon and Airbus for comment, but they did not immediately respond.
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“Jonathan Udall suffered the most agonizing death imaginable,” Gary C. Robb, an attorney for the Udall family, said in a statement via his firm's news release shared with PEOPLE Wednesday. “He was burned alive and then stranded for over seven hours in a ravine at the Grand Canyon. He fought for his life in the hospital for 12 days before he died.”
The pilot and another passenger suffered injuries but survived, the AP reported.
A lawsuit filed on behalf of Udall’s family argued that a crash-resistant fuel system was not equipped on the helicopter, resulting in the fuel tank bursting into flames upon low impact, according to the news release issued by Robb's firm.
“Mr. Udall would have survived without any injury if the helicopter [had] been properly equipped with a crash-resistant fuel system,” Robb explained in his statement.
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The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said that rough winds were a likely cause for the loss of control of the helicopter. The agency noted in its final report, based on an investigation, that the chopper did not have a crash-resistant fuel system, per the AP.
The helicopters in Papillon’s fleet weren’t required to have them equipped, but the company has since retrofitted the aircraft with fuel tanks that expand and seal upon impact instead of rupturing.
Papillon Helicopters spokesman Matt Barkett told the AP that safety is a priority to the company. He echoed the NTSB's conclusion that there were no mechanical problems on the aircraft, adding, “Our pilot was not found to be at fault due to the extreme weather conditions.”
Following the $100 million settlement, Robb added in his firm’s news release that the Udall family planned to use the proceeds to advocate helicopter safety and offer burn survivor support.
“The Udall family wants to shine a spotlight on this issue so the industry will take note and voluntarily seek to correct this public health issue,” said Robb, via the AP. “They don’t want anyone else to go through what their son went through in an otherwise survivable accident — not a broken bone. He would have walked away.”
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