Aircraft Went Down July 4 En Route To Fort Lauderdale, Seven Fatally Injured

The NTSB has taken over the investigation of an accident involving an AW139 helicopter which went down in the Atlantic Ocean on a flight from a private island in the Bahamas to Fort Lauderdale July 4.

Television station WFOR reports that NTSB spokesman Eric Weiss confirmed on Monday that the wreckage of the helicopter had been removed from the water and shipped to a secure location in the United States. The Bahamas Air Accident Investigation Department said that the flight data and cockpit voice recorders had been recovered from the aircraft and shipped to Washington, D.C. for analysis.

There were seven people on board the helicopter when it went down, including Chris Cline, who is described in the report as a billionaire coal magnate.

The main wreckage was pulled from the water by cranes over the weekend. Investigators remained on site Monday to be sure all of the wreckage from the helicopter had been recovered.

A preliminary report should be available in about two weeks, according to the NTSB.

(Image from file. Not accident aircraft)

FMI: Source report