Five months after a helicopter crashed into a slackline in an Arizona canyon, killing four Eastern Oregon residents from the same family, a bipartisan group of Oregon lawmakers is backing a bill to update airspace safety precautions.
U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley is introducing the McCarty and Heideman Air Safety Enhancement Act, a bill that would direct the Federal Aviation Administration to review and update its policies for low-altitude airspace safety. The bill puts specific focus on high-altitude slacklining, a sport where people walk across an anchored set of narrow webbing, like a tightrope.
Merkley said he named the legislation after the families who lost loved ones in a Jan. 2 helicopter crash in Pinal County, Arizona. On that day, 59-year-old pilot David McCarty flew with his three nieces, Rachel McCarty, 23, Faith McCarty, 21, and Katelyn Heideman, 21. The helicopter collided with a slackline suspended 600 feet in the air and crashed to the ground. A preliminary report from the National Transportation Safety Board states that a second helicopter almost collided with the slackline later that day.
The family’s roots are in Umatilla County. The deaths hit especially hard in Hermiston, and in Echo, a tight-knit community of 600 people, where the McCarty sisters attended school.
Merkley credited their sister, Elizabeth Gallup, with advocating for change following her family’s tragedy. He said she’s traveled to Washington, D.C. on behalf of the effort.
“This is a citizen advocate taking family tragedy and preventing it from happening to someone else, and that’s really powerful,” he said.
Gallup said in a social media message to OPB that the family is committed to getting the bill across the finish line.
“It is a crucial and urgent step towards making the airspace safer for pilots, passengers, cargo, and anyone using the airspace for work or recreation,” she wrote.
A coalition of aviation associations has also lately urged the FAA to review its rules for low-altitude “temporary obstructions,” specifically citing the Arizona helicopter crash.
In a Congress often defined by gridlock, Merkley said he is optimistic the bill could pass before lawmakers wrap up business in January.
He’s found support in the U.S. House of Representatives — with Eugene Democrat Val Hoyle, and Ontario Republican Cliff Bentz, whose district covers Umatilla County.
“As we look ahead, it is my hope that meaningful changes can be made to ensure a tragedy like this is never repeated,” Bentz said in a statement Wednesday.
Merkley said he is currently trying to find a Republican senator to co-sponsor the bill.