The pilot of the helicopter that went down in New York’s East River yesterday told investigators that it might have been a lever triggered by a passenger’s bag that caused the crash.

Since then, it has been revealed that the Eurocopter AS350 was chartered for a “doors-off” photography tour and, packed with five passengers and a pilot, also carried a whole lot of their photography equipment.

Pilot Richard Vance, the sole surviving member of the fateful charter, explained how 11 minutes in some of the gear “may have come loose and hooked the fuel shutoff lever, cutting the engine,” reports NY Daily News:

As the helicopter fell Vance radioed, “Mayday. We got engine failure.”

While the lever is used to stop a fire, an air safety consultant, Keith Mackey, said that the fatal move that yanked the lever sounded unusual, but possible:

“It would appear possible that if a strap from a suitcase were wrapped around it and the suitcase were pulled, it would cut the fuel off,” Mackey said.

But that’s not the only issue in this nightmare scenario:

Investigators were also examining whether six inflatable pontoons on the helicopter had properly deployed.

A police source said the helicopter may have turned over because one of the pontoons did not fully inflate.

Watch the crash, filmed by someone on the banks of the river, here.

Tightly harnessed in their seats, making it difficult to escape once in the water, the passengers included “Brian McDaniel, a firefighter from Dallas; Trevor Cadigan, a video journalist who’d recently moved to the city; Carla Vallejos Blanco, a tourist from Argentina, and two men who worked for a sightseeing ticket-selling company, Tristan Hill and Daniel Thompson”.

Cadigan had posted on Instagram just as the helicopter took off:

Another tragedy.

[source:nydailynews]