The widow of the Blue Hawaiian Helicopter pilot who died in a crash on Molokai two years ago claims defective design and manufacturing caused the helicopter to go down.
Violeta Escobar is suing European Aeronautic Defense and Space Co., which manufactured the Eurocopter EC 130 B4 aircraft, its subsidiaries and Nevada Helicopter Leasing, which owned the tour helicopter.
Escobar, whose husband, Nathan Cline, flew the helicopter, filed her lawsuit in U.S. District Court here Wednesday, just a few days before the second anniversary of the Nov. 10, 2011, crash and expiration of the statute of limitations for filing a claim.
The crash also killed all four passengers: Stuart Robertson and Eva Birgitta Wannersjo of Toronto and newlyweds Michael and Nicole Abel of Pennsylvania.
The lawsuit claims the defendants knew or should have known of the "unreasonably dangerous design and manufacturing defects that could without warning cause the helicopter structure and/or its components and accessories to fail during commercial flights."
The lawsuit does not identify which design, manufacturing process, part or accessory was defective.
The National Transportation Safety Board has not issued its final report or identified a probable cause of the crash.
One witness told NTSB investigators that he saw "something black fall off" the aircraft just before it crashed. He wasn’t sure what it was, but said the "tail fell."
The NTSB investigation is focused on the aircraft’s tail section, particularly on the fractured metal ring connecting the aircraft’s tail fan assembly to the tail boom.
The agency’s reports also examines the weather at the time of the crash. Witnesses told investigators that there were high wind, heavy rain and low, dark clouds over the mountain ridge where the helicopter crashed.
No representative of European Aeronautic Defense and Space Co. could be reached for comment.
