British dad whose son died in Grand Canyon helicopter crash warns there may be 8,000 ‘flying bombs’ in US
A father, who is to receive a $100m (£78m) settlement after his son died in a helicopter crash, has told Sky News there could be around 8,000 “flying bombs” in the US due to the danger of fuel tanks that might rupture.
British tourist Jonathan Udall, 31, suffered burns to over 90% of his body after the aircraft burst into flames in the Grand Canyon.
He died after spending 12 days in hospital following the tragedy that occurred when the Airbus EC130 B4 came down shortly before sunset on 10 February 2018.
His newlywed wife Ellie Udall, 29, brothers Stuart and Jason Hill, 30 and 32, and Stuart’s 27-year-old girlfriend Becky Dobson, also died in the crash.
Mr Udall’s parents claimed in a wrongful death lawsuit that their son, originally from Southampton, could have survived if it was not for the post-crash fire – caused by the helicopter’s fuel tank that they claim was prone to rupturing.
Mr Udall’s father, Philip, said his son and daughter-in-law “were perfect, they had it all”.
“John was a very successful businessman in the financial world”, working as the southeast manager for Yorkshire Building Society and “he had a blossoming career,” said Mr Udall. Ellie also worked for the same company and “she was incredible”.
He said the family used to have lots of meals together but there was now a “huge hole where they used to sit”.
“There’s nobody in it. There will forever be two seats empty.”
Jonathan and Ellie Udall were two of five people who died in the tragedy
Mr Udall now wants all helicopters in the US to be fitted with crash-resistant fuel systems.
He said that if this doesn’t happen, other people “are going to die” and “it could be your children next”.
The helicopter in which his son lost his life did not have such a system, and he said he had it on “good authority” that if it had been fitted with one, “they [John and Ellie] would have got out”.
“The system won’t completely prevent fire. What it does do is buy time to get out,” he added.
Philip Udall said: “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 he believes there are around 170 crashes that have happened which were considered to be survivable “and it’s all not survivable because of these fuel tanks”.
He said anyone thinking of getting into a helicopter should ask the following question: “Does this helicopter have a crash-resistant fuel system?”
Jonathan Udall’s father, Philip, has spoken to Sky News
He said “if the answer is no, I would think very carefully about whether I got into it or not”.
“The Grand Canyon is a rough place. There are mountains, valleys. It’s a very turbulent environment.”
The company which ran the tragic flight in which Jonathan and Ellie later died has since fitted all its aircraft with crash-resistant fuel systems.
What does the law say in America?
Mr Udall stated a law was introduced in the US in 1994 which said all helicopters should have such systems, except ones that were designed in the 1970s but were then modified.
“They didn’t need to have [these systems] so manufacturers took advantage of it, [it was] cheaper.”
“There could be something like 8,000 helicopters flying around looking for somewhere to explode.”
He also said the law was changed in recent years which ruled all newly-built helicopters have to have crash-resistant fuel systems.
“We are looking at what we can do because there are still people climbing into helicopters not aware of the fact that what they are sitting on, because the fuel tank is just behind your head,” Mr Udall warned.
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Video shows survivor fleeing wreckage
Payout ‘means nothing to us’
The £78m payout he received over his son’s death “means nothing to us”, he added.
“What it means is we have a resource we can call on that we can use, that we can try and get the situation improved. That was the reason for doing it.”
He said he had already provided equipment to burns units and was getting involved with charities.
“The most important thing is to try to move the clock on so there are no flying bombs.”
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Under the settlement approved by a US judge in Clark County, Nevada, on Friday, Philip and Marlene Udall, will receive $24.6m (£19.3m) from the helicopter operator, Papillon Airways, and $75.4m (£59.3m) from its French manufacturer, Airbus Helicopters SAS.
A 2021 report by the National Transportation Safety Board report in the US concluded that a probable cause for the helicopter crash was the pilot losing control due to tailwind conditions.
The pilot, Scott Booth, told police that the aircraft had encountered a “violent gust of wind” and began to spin.
He fractured his lower left leg, and passenger Jennifer Barham had a spinal fracture in the crash. They also suffered severe burns but survived.
Since then, both of Mr Booth’s legs have been amputated.
The US has announced it is sending an aircraft carrier to the waters off South America as it ramps up an operation to target alleged drug smuggling boats.
The Pentagon said in a statement that the USS Gerald R Ford would be deployed to the region to “bolster US capacity to detect, monitor, and disrupt illicit actors and activities that compromise the safety and prosperity of the United States homeland and our security in the Western Hemisphere”.
The vessel is the US Navy’s largest aircraft carrier. It is currently deployed in the Mediterranean alongside three destroyers, and the group are expected to take around one week to make the journey.
There are already eight US Navy ships in the central and South American region, along with a nuclear-powered submarine, adding up to about 6,000 sailors and marines, according to officials.
It came as the US secretary of war claimed that six “narco-terrorists” had been killed in a strike on an alleged drug smuggling boat in the Caribbean Sea overnight.
A still from footage purporting to show the boat seconds before the airstrike, posted by US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth on X
Pete Hegseth said his military had bombed a vessel which he claimed was operated by Tren de Aragua – a Venezuelan gang designated a terror group by Washington in February.
Writing on X, he claimed that the boat was involved in “illicit narcotics smuggling” and was transiting along a “known narco-trafficking route” when it was struck during the night.
All six men on board the boat, which was in international waters, were killed and no US forces were harmed, he said.
Ten vessels have now been bombed in recent weeks, killing more than 40 people.
Mr Hegseth added: “If you are a narco-terrorist smuggling drugs in our hemisphere, we will treat you like we treat al Qaeda. Day or NIGHT, we will map your networks, track your people, hunt you down, and kill you.”
While he did not provide any evidence that the vessel was carrying drugs, he did share a 20-second video that appeared to show a boat being hit by a projectile before exploding.
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Footage of a previous US strike on a suspected drugs boat earlier this week
Speaking during a White House press conference last week, Donald Trump argued that the campaign would help tackle the US’s opioid crisis.
“Every boat that we knock out, we save 25,000 American lives. So every time you see a boat, and you feel badly you say, ‘Wow, that’s rough’. It is rough, but if you lose three people and save 25,000 people,” he said.
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On Thursday, appearing at a press conference with Mr Hegseth, Mr Trump said that it was necessary to kill the alleged smugglers, because if they were arrested they would only return to transport drugs “again and again and again”.
“They don’t fear that, they have no fear,” he told reporters.
The attacks at sea would soon be followed by operations on land against drug smuggling cartels, Mr Trump claimed.
“We’re going to kill them,” he added. “They’re going to be, like, dead.”
Some Democratic politicians have expressed concerns that the strikes risk dragging the US into a war with Venezuela because of their proximity to the South American country’s coast.
Others have condemned the attacks as extrajudicial killings that would not stand up in a court of law.
Jim Himes, a member of the House of Representatives, told CBS News earlier this month: “They are illegal killings because the notion that the United States – and this is what the administration says is their justification – is involved in an armed conflict with any drug dealers, any Venezuelan drug dealers, is ludicrous.”
He claimed that Congress had been told “nothing” about who was on the boats and how they were identified as a threat.
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