(Kai Simonsen)
(
)
They’re friends to the end.
The family of an Australian woman killed in Tuesday’s East River helicopter crash called the pilot a hero yesterday, even as federal investigators have focused their probe on his actions before and during the flight.
“The pilot, Paul Dudley, is a family friend who acted with great bravery in the rescue,” said a statement released by Sonia Marra’s father and sisters.
Marra, who was in town celebrating her 40th birthday, died trying to escape from the helicopter as it sank into the river.
“Sonia was loving her first experience of New York, the city and its people,” the statement said.
“She was incredibly happy to be here, and it gives us some comfort to remember that.
“We are a strong family, and will cope with our loss in our own way.”
Her father, Paul Nicholson, 71, her mom Harriet, 60, and her partner, Helen Tamaki, 43, all survived the crash.
Tamaki and Harriet Nicholson remained in critical condition at Bellevue Hospital yesterday as Paul Nicholson kept up a bedside vigil.
The statement offered “a heartfelt thank you” to their rescuers, who they said acted with “great courage.” They also thanked Bellevue staff.
“We have all felt protected and cared for in a way we will never forget,” they said.
Marra and the Nicholsons are British nationals. Marra lived with Tamaki, a New Zealander, in Sydney, Australia, where she was a well-known restaurateur.
The family came to New York to celebrate Marra’s 40th birthday. Tuesday’s flight was supposed to be a quick sightseeing tour past the Empire State Building.
Afterward, Dudley and his friends planned to go out to dinner.
But tragedy struck just after Dudley’s chopper, a 1976 Bell 206B, took off from the East 34th Street Heliport.
Dudley lost control as the chopper spun around and turned at a 45-degree angle.
The craft flipped over as it slammed into the East River.
After the craft hit the surface, Dudley managed to unbuckle the seat harnesses worn by Tamaki and Harriet Nicholson, his lawyer told reporters.
But Dudley couldn’t get to Marra in time. He yelled to rescuers that she was trapped inside — but they couldn’t reach her in time.
After the chopper sank, she unbuckled her harness and tried desperately to escape, rescuers said.
They found her inside the chopper cabin.
National Transportation Safety Board probers have wrapped up their investigation at the crash scene, and expect to issue a preliminary finding on the cause of the tragedy next week.
Dudley, who was convicted of burglary in 1980 — and got his first pilot license six years later — faces scrutiny of his flight record, which includes a 2006 emergency landing in a Brooklyn park.
The chopper has been trucked to Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn, where it was parked yesterday on a wheeled pallet. Probers say so far they have found no signs of engine failure, as Dudley had claimed.
A veteran copter pilot suggested the chopper might have been close to its payload limit of about 1,500 pounds.