The dad of a man who died in a helicopter blaze in the US has warned there could be around 8,000 ‘flying bombs’ due to the danger of fuel tanks that might rupture.
Jonathan Udall, from the UK, sustained burns to 90 percent of his body after the helicopter he was in burst into flames, following a crash during a tour of the Grand Canyon.
Udall, 31, was on honeymoon in Las Vegas with his new wife Ellie Milward, 29, and friends Becky Dobson, 27, her boyfriend Stuart Hill, 30, and his brother, Jason Hill, 32, on 10 February 2018. All five Britons died.
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Following the tragedy, Udall’s parents filed a wrongful death lawsuit and this week were awarded £78 million ($100m).
In the suit, the couple claimed that Udall could have survived the crash if it were not for the post-crash fire, which was caused by the helicopter's fuel tank that they claim was prone to rupturing.
Speaking to Sky News, Udall’s dad, Philp, said his son and daughter-in-law were ‘perfect, they had it all’.
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He said the close-knit family would regularly have meals together, but there’s now a ‘huge hole where they used to sit’.
He added: "There's nobody in it. There will forever be two seats empty."
The heartbroken dad wants all helicopters in the US to be fitted with crash-resistant systems, and warned that if this didn’t happen, more people ‘are going to die’.
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He told Sky News: "There is a loophole in the law [in the US] that allows helicopters to fly without a crash-resistant fuel system - so basically it's a flying bomb.
"And that's our lawyer's words. It's a plastic container about as good as a milk bottle, that you've got the fuel in. When the helicopter goes down it just fractures and the fuel is out. This has been going on since 1994."
Mr Udall said a law introduced in 1994 ordered all helicopters to have such systems fitted, except for ones that were designed in the 1970s and later modified.
He added: "They didn't need to have [these systems] so manufacturers took advantage of it, [it was] cheaper.
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"There could be something like 8,000 helicopters flying around looking for somewhere to explode."
He’s urging anyone who is considering getting in a helicopter to ask: “Does this helicopter have a crash-resistant fuel system?"
And if the answer is 'no', to ‘think very carefully’ about whether they want to go into it or not.
Claire Reid