Overview
- Family members identified the victims as pilot David McCarty and his nieces Rachel McCarty, Faith McCarty and Katelyn Heideman.
- The MD 369FF departed Pegasus Airpark in Queen Creek and crashed around 11 a.m. in remote Telegraph Canyon, where crews reached the site on foot and confirmed four fatalities.
- An eyewitness reported the helicopter hit a long slackline strung across the canyon before plunging to the bottom.
- Federal records and the International Slackline Association say the highline carried aviation markers and a NOTAM warned of a flagged, lighted rope about 600 feet above ground level.
- The NTSB and FAA are leading the probe, documenting the site and preparing to move wreckage for analysis, with a preliminary NTSB report expected within 30 days.