The only survivor of a tragic helicopter crash that took the lives of five young members of Brooklyn’s Jewish community on a Grand Canyon sightseeing trip in 2001 passed away on March 9th in Monsey.
47 year old Chana Daskal lived in Seagate, but had been staying most recently in Monsey because of an illness that was unrelated to the injuries she sustained in the deadly crash. Dozens of people turned out amid steady rains for a Motzei Shabbos funeral for Daskal that was held at the home where she had been staying, with burial taking place at the Har Shalom Cemetery in Airmont.
Daskal, her husband David, Aryeh Zvi Fastag, Shayie Lichtenstein and Avi and Barbara Wajsbaum, were all returning from their aerial tour of the Grand Canyon on August 11th when their helicopter crashed into the 5,500 foot Grand Walsh Cliffs in the Arizona desert some 60 miles away from Los Angeles.
Daskal sustained life-threatening injuries in the crash, which took the lives of everyone else aboard the Eurocopter AS350, including pilot Kevin Innocenti. The Los Angeles Times (lat.ms/3wNLrbU) reported that the crash took place at 2:30 PM, with flaming wreckage of the helicopter scattered around the area.
All six passengers were thrown clear of the helicopter when it slammed into the ground on the desolate mountain, according to The New York Times (nyti.ms/3veDTyp), with just the pilot remaining inside.
“It was demolished,” said Steve Johnson, a spokesperson for the Mohave County, Arizona, sheriff’s office. “The only things recognizable were the tail and rotor blades.”
Daskal, the mother of two young boys, was found by rescuers pinned under the helicopter’s burning tail section and was airlifted to the University Medical Center in Las Vegas, with burns over 80 percent of her body. She sustained a broken back in the crash and had both of her legs amputated.
According to the Arizona Daily Sun (bit.ly/3TtTWlm), Daskal was hospitalized in Las Vegas for five months before she was airlifted to Staten Island University Medical Center’s regional burn center in January 2002. At the time, she thanked those who rescued her, as well as the medical team who treated her and surrounded her with love and prayers.
“Without them I would not have had the strength to survive everything that has happened to me,” said Daskal, who noted that she was confident that G-d had had a reason for keeping her alive.
The National Transportation Safety Board ultimately found that the crash was caused by a pilot error, reported the Associated Press (bit.ly/48QpHcC). Daskal settled a lawsuit for $38 million in 2005 against the estate of the pilot, the helicopter manufacturer and the tour company, which had charged $317 per person for the three-hour tour, which included a picnic along the Colorado River.
Daskal’s medical bills had topped $11 million by 2005, and her lawyer, Gary Robb, estimated that her future care could cost $23 million. At the time of the settlement, it was ranked as the largest pretrial cash settlement for a personal injury case in the United States.
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