New York, NY - Yossi Ben-Bassat Was The Hero. Now He's The Goat

New York, NY - Yossi Ben-Bassat, the helicopter pilot who rescued his passengers after their tourist chopper splashed into the East River last year, is now being blamed for the crash - by federal investigators and two passengers now suing the chopper company.

The National Transportation Safety Board cites "the pilot's inadequate preflight planning, which resulted in an attempted takeoff with an overweight helicopter," in its final report on the June 15 crash.
Karen Butler and Gary Rugless, the stout couple from Chelmsford, England, that made up part of the payload, filed suit last week against tour company Helicopter Flight Services, claiming it neglected to properly account for passenger weight before takeoff.

The pilot did not ask passengers their weight, and the company did not have a scale at the Pier 6 heliport on Wall Street, according to the NTSB's Feb. 28 report. Instead, Ben-Bassat, a former Israeli air force veteran, eyeballed the girth of the hefty tourists and guessed wrong by nearly 170 pounds, the report said.
While trying to lift off, the aircraft stuttered and labored, and at one point the skids scraped the ground as the copter failed to gain altitude with the weight of the passengers, according to the federal agency. The helicopter barreled toward the East River until it reached the end of the 270-foot helipad and struck its tail on the pier, catapulting it and its passengers into the water.

Butler, who was celebrating her 40th birthday on a surprise trip to New York, could not swim. When the craft began to sink, she struggled to free herself from the safety harness until Ben-Bassat freed her and pulled her to the surface by her hair.
Ben-Bassat was hailed as a hero, but now the couple and the agency are saying he's the cause of the crash. Ben-Bassat, who no longer works for Helicopter Flight Services, would not comment on the suit or NTSB findings.