Arguments heard in suits over fatal copter crash

VERNAL — The widow and parents of a sheriff's deputy say negligence led to the 2006 helicopter crash that killed him.

Holly Orr and her in-laws, Eugene and Claudia Orr, are suing Moon Lake Electric Association, Pete Martin Drilling and Rat Air Inc. They are also suing helicopter pilot Brian Grayson in the death of Uintah County Sheriff's Cpl. Kevin Orr.

Grayson has in turn filed a counterclaim against Moon Lake Electric.

On Nov. 21, 2006, Grayson was piloting a helicopter — owned by either Rat Air or Pete Martin Drilling — during a search organized by the sheriff's office. Orr was in the helicopter's passenger seat, scanning the ground for a missing woman, when Grayson made contact with unmarked high-voltage power lines and crashed into the Green River.

Orr survived the crash but later died at a Salt Lake hospital.

Mary A. Wells, an attorney for Moon Lake Electric, argued last week that the utility had no legal duty to mark the power lines Grayson hit. She put the responsibility for identifying the presence of the lines on the pilot.

"Pilots are trained to look for (utility) towers, not wires," she said, adding that the lines that were hit were clearly marked on the aeronautical charts Grayson had the day of the crash.

Wells also said it was impossible for Moon Lake officials to foresee the likelihood of an aircraft flying into the lines, calling Grayson's flight path "distinctly unique."

"This is a pilot on a very peculiar mission, looking for a missing person," Wells said. "Moon Lake did not have notice that this type of accident could occur. They had no idea that a person would go missing near the lines."

But Holly Orr's attorney, Joseph W. Steele, told the court the utility had plenty of notice that a crash could occur.

He said in 1982 a helicopter pilot flew into Moon Lake Electric lines across the Green River and crashed. Following the incident, the cooperative sent its "most knowledgeable guy" out to identify a list of potential line hazards. That list led Moon Lake to mark many of the identified lines between 1982 and 2001, Steele said.

"The fault in the way they did it was that they did it willy-nilly," Steele told 8th District Court Judge John R. Anderson. "A responsible utility would have marked the lines that were the biggest threat first."