Condition improves of victim in Grand Canyon helicopter crash
Authorities say a British tourist who was pulled from the wreckage of a fiery helicopter crash in the Grand Canyon has been upgraded to fair condition at a Nevada hospital.
They say 29-year-old Jennifer Barham had been in critical condition since the sightseeing helicopter from Las Vegas went down Feb. 10 on tribal land outside Grand Canyon National Park.
A spokesman for University Medical Center of Southern Nevada says the 42-year-old pilot remains in critical condition.
Three other British tourists aboard the helicopter were killed the day of the crash and two others died weeks later after being hospitalised.
A preliminary report by the National Transportation Safety Board says the helicopter made at least two 360-degree turns before crashing.
Aviation experts say that indicates the tail rotor wasn't operating properly.
The parents of one of the British tourists who died last week filed the first wrongful death lawsuit related to the crash.
The complaint filed in Nevada accused helicopter owner Papillon Airways and manufacturer Airbus of negligence in failing to equip the helicopter with a crash-resistant fuel system.
The systems have fuel tanks that expand, rather than rupture, on impact and self-sealing components to keep fuel from spreading. They are meant to prevent aircraft from catching fire and lessen the chance that people on board get burned.
Jonathan Udall, of Southampton, was burned on more than 95 percent of his body in the crash and died on 22 February in a Las Vegas trauma center — 10 days after the helicopter crashed at the bottom of the canyon on the Hualapai reservation outside the national park.
