Aviation Accidents and Safety

Federal aviation records show a NOTAM issued about a week before warned that a tightrope/slackline had been stretched across the mountainous area where a Columbia Basin Helicopters aircraft crashed, killing pilot David McCarty, 59, and his nieces Rachel McCarty, Faith McCarty and Katelyn Heideman; witnesses reported seeing the helicopter strike part of the slackline before falling into the canyon. NTSB investigators are combing the wreckage and expect a final report months away, while the FAA notes pilots are expected to review NOTAMs along their route and within 25 nautical miles; McCarty founded Columbia Basin Helicopters, which grew into a company with substantial federal contracts across nine Western states.