A subsidiary of aircraft manufacturer Boeing has been ordered to acknowledge a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the widower of a St. Thomas helicopter pilot who died in a crash two years ago. Lawyers representing the family of the pilot say defective engine parts caused an in-flight malfunction resulting in her death and those of three passengers who were also on board.
The clerk’s office in the U.S. District Court on St. Thomas logged the summonses issued to Boeing Distribution and other named codefendants in the official court record on Feb. 17. Five other companies, identified in the lawsuit as John Doe Corporations 1 through 5, have been added to those that could be held liable.
Defendant companies were given 21 days to answer the summons sent by the plaintiff. Government regulators associated with the investigation were given 60 days to acknowledge any summons sent to them issued by the District Court.
In late January, officials at the National Transportation Safety Administration released its final report on the 2021 helicopter crash. Investigators said the crash resulted from a “total loss of engine power” caused by faulty compressor blades in the engine.
John Doe corporations are described in court documents as being unknown at this time but believed to be manufacturers, installers, resellers, and/or maintainers of the helicopter’s engine or its components.
The lawsuit was filed on Feb. 14, 2023, by Nicholas Van Heruck — husband of helicopter pilot Maria Rodriguez — on behalf of himself and the couple’s two children. Van Heruck accuses Boeing Distribution, Inc. — formerly known as Aviall Services, Inc. — of failing to use reasonable care in the construction, distribution, installation, and/or servicing of the engine of the aircraft his wife was flying at the time of her death. The suit also asks the District Court of the Virgin Islands to award a wrongful death declaration, along with damages and legal fees.
Rodriguez was operating a Bell 206B helicopter over western St. Thomas on Feb. 15, 2021, when the fatal incident occurred. The aircraft was part of the equipment Rodriguez used to conduct her business, Caribbean Buzz Helicopters.
Documents filed in District Court include eyewitnesses’ accounts from Botany Bay describing what they saw in the final moments of that flight. One witness captured the moment in a digital recording, seeing the craft fall from the sky toward the shoreline. Audio captured on that recording shows a loss of engine noise in mid-flight. Images at the end of the video show black smoke rising from what was later determined to be the crash site.
Three passengers — Daniel Yanonne, his wife, Neisha Zahn, and their son Tyler Yannone — also died in the crash. At the time, Rodriguez was taking the passengers on an aerial tour of western St. Thomas.
