SAN DIEGO (CN) — The families of three U.S. Navy sailors killed in a helicopter crash in 2021 reached a settlement Monday with the helicopter manufacturer they said designed a defective component of the helicopter.
The families of Petty Officer 2nd Class James Buriak, Petty Officer 2nd Class Sarah Burns and Petty Officer 3rd Class Bailey Tucker filed a lawsuit against Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. in August 2023 over product liability in the MH-60S Sea Hawk helicopter crash, which also took the lives of two other sailors, Lt. Bradley Foster and Lt. Paul Fridley.
According to the plaintiffs, the helicopter, known as Loosefoot 616, had just finished a two-and-a-half-hour search and rescue mission about 60 miles off the coast of San Diego when it landed aboard the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln, an aircraft carrier. The helicopter began to experience lateral vibrations as soon as it touched down, causing the helicopter to yaw left and right so that its rotors impacted the flight deck, resulting in its tipping over into the ocean, the plaintiffs write…