Andrew Wight’s death has shocked the film industry after the helicopter he was piloting crashed as it was taking off at Jaspers Brush airfield near Nowra, on the NSW South Coast, on February 4, 2012. Mike deGruy, an American filmmaker also died in the crash.

National Geographic, the employers for both of the victims, and director James Cameron of the “Titanic”, confirmed the victims’ identities in a joint statement that said “the deep-sea community lost two of its finest”….”They were my deep-sea brothers and both were true explorers, who did extraordinary things and went places no human being has been,” he said. “They died doing exactly what they loved most.”

Mike deGruy, of Santa Barbara, California, won several Emmy and British Academy of Film and Television Arts, also known as (BAFTA), awards for cinematography.

Andrew Wight, of Melbourne, was the writer-producer of the 3D movie “Sanctum,” which took in $100 million and was Australian cinema’s biggest box office hit of 2010.

The joint statement said Mike deGruy spent over 30 years producing and directing documentary films about the ocean. DeGruy was an accomplished diver and submersible pilot who spent many hours filming deep beneath the sea.

Contact a Helicopter Lawyer

If you have been injured or a loved one has been killed in a helicopter crash, then call us 24/7 for an immediate consultation to discuss the details of the accident and learn what we can do to help protect your legal rights. Whether the accident was caused by negligence on the part of the helicopter owner, hospital or corporation, the manufacturer or due to lack of training, poor maintenance, pilot or operator error, tail rotor failure, sudden loss of power, defective electronics or engine failure or flying in bad weather conditions, we can investigate the case and provide you the answers you need. Call Toll Free 1-800-883-9858 and talk to a Board Certified Trial Lawyer with over 30 years of legal experience or fill out our online form by clicking below:

Legal Help: Contact a Helicopter Lawyer

Airplanes Operating Private and Charter Flights worldwide substantial increase in accidents in 2011.

While a small amount of operations continued to be one of the safest segments. According to AIN, total accidents involving U.S.-registered business jets nearly doubled, from 17 in 2010 to 32 in 2011.  U.S.-registered turboprop accidents jumped from 32 in 2010 to 43 in 2011.

This increase in the number of accidents coincides with an increase in the number of business jet flight operations worldwide.  Statistics compiled by the FAA, flight operations including arrivals and departures, increased by approximately 4 percent between December 2010 and November 2011 over the same time period just a year earlier.

Turboprops Are By Far the Worst in Fatalities

The number of fatalities in turboprop accidents more than doubled in 2011 from where 29 people were killed in 11 accidents last year compared to 12 people killed in four accidents in 2010. By the fourth quarter of 2011 alone, 13 people died in four fatal accidents involving a private or corporate-owned turboprop, while there were no fatal turboprop accidents in the final quarter of 2010. In 2011, two people were killed in two fatal accidents of turboprops, whereas two people were killed in turboprop crashes in 2010. In 2011, two of the fatal turboprop accidents involved airplanes operating outside the U.S.

Because the FAA and NTSB draw fine distinctions between “incidents” as well as “accidents”, these agencies are inconsistent and hopefully the status of the occurrence may change.

An example of these inconsistencies would be runway overruns, retracted landing gear, and gear-collapse mishaps, which are typically listed as incidents by the FAA and not calculated by the NTSB. However, when an occurrence causes substantial damage or serious injury, the NTSB would record it as an accident.

In other incidents, if they don’t result in serious damage or injury, these are usually listed just as incidents. These incidents can include precautionary engine shutdowns, flameouts, bird or other animal strikes, blown tires, window separations, doors opening, lightning strikes, system malfunctions, parts departing an airplane, loss of control, and turbulence. Additionally, depending on what is found during the investigation, events initially classified as incidents are sometimes dropped from safety databases, if investigators consider them inconsequential. Some mishaps which were preliminarily listed officially as incidents, have been changed to accidents because of the seriousness of their nature.

Contact a Helicopter Lawyer

If you have been injured or a loved one has been killed in a helicopter crash, then call us 24/7 for an immediate consultation to discuss the details of the accident and learn what we can do to help protect your legal rights. Whether the accident was caused by negligence on the part of the helicopter owner, hospital or corporation, the manufacturer or due to lack of training, poor maintenance, pilot or operator error, tail rotor failure, sudden loss of power, defective electronics or engine failure or flying in bad weather conditions, we can investigate the case and provide you the answers you need. Call Toll Free 1-800-883-9858 and talk to a Board Certified Trial Lawyer with over 30 years of legal experience or fill out our online form by clicking below:

Legal Help: Contact a Helicopter Lawyer

 At the Sheridan Municipal Airport in Arkansas, several people were injured when the Piper PA-22 Tri-Pacer Aircraft crashed while taking off, at approximately 11:30 a.m. on January 31, 2012.

A statement made by a Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Lynn Lunsford said then the Piper PA-22 Tri-Pacer went down, two people on board the aircraft suffered serious injuries and were transported to a hospital for treatment. 

Grant County deputies were alerted when one of the men on board called 911 for help. Deputies said inside the plane was Wesley Griffin and the pilot Warren Wilkerson.  Mr. Wilkerson was flown by helicopter to a Little Rock hospital and Griffin is now recovering in a hospital close to Sheridan.

Reasons for the crash are not known at this time; however FAA investigators were headed to the scene for further investigation.

Contact a Helicopter Lawyer

If you have been injured or a loved one has been killed in a helicopter crash, then call us 24/7 for an immediate consultation to discuss the details of the accident and learn what we can do to help protect your legal rights. Whether the accident was caused by negligence on the part of the helicopter owner, hospital or corporation, the manufacturer or due to lack of training, poor maintenance, pilot or operator error, tail rotor failure, sudden loss of power, defective electronics or engine failure or flying in bad weather conditions, we can investigate the case and provide you the answers you need. Call Toll Free 1-800-883-9858 and talk to a Board Certified Trial Lawyer with over 30 years of legal experience or fill out our online form by clicking below:

Legal Help: Contact a Helicopter Lawyer