New York pediatrician's daughter says Airstream trailer had 'safety oversight' in fatal mishap: report

The daughter of a Long Island pediatrician who was fatally flung from an Airstream over the weekend said a "significant oversight" in the trailer's design contributed to the tragic accident.

Horrified motorists saw Dr. Monika Woroniecka, 58, cling for dear life to the door handle of the family's trailer before she lost her grip and struck her head on the shoulder of State Route 12E in Watertown on Saturday, New York State Police said in a release. 

"They were going for an Airbnb in Cape Vincent to see the eclipse. They stopped at an ice cream place about 20 minutes before they were going to get [there], that's when they decided to have the mother, the daughter and the daughter's boyfriend get in the back of the camper," Trooper Jack Keller told Fox News Digital. 

"They were in the back in the camper, that's when the victim noticed the door ajar and tried to close it. She fell out and struck her head and ultimately succumbed to those injuries," Keller said.

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Woroniecka's daughter Helena told the New York Post that her mother loved the Airstream, giving it a nickname and even sleeping inside while it was parked in the driveway. 

But a fatal flaw in its design played a part in her mother's unthinkable death, she posited: 

"The doors on the Airstream open the opposite way that you would expect. It doesn’t take an engineering degree to know that on any moving vehicle, whether a bus or a car or a trailer, doors should open against the wind, not towards it," Helena told the Post. "That seems like a significant safety oversight to me and seems like the only reason they do open that way is to protect the awning of the trailer."

In an email to Fox News Digital, Airstream wrote that its trailers weren't built for passengers when they are in motion: 

"Airstream travel trailers are not designed to carry passengers while in motion," the company wrote. "The safety protocol detailed in Airstream’s operating manuals and shared on Airstream’s website advises owners that they cannot tow an Airstream with people inside. Many states prohibit carrying passengers in a travel trailer or fifth wheel."

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The company also included a quote from Monika Geraci of the RV Industry Association, who added that towable recreational vehicles aren't equipped with seatbelts or safe seating positions because they are not designed to carry passengers while the vehicle is in motion and that all passengers should ride in the towing vehicle with seatbelts affixed. 

New York state law prohibits anyone from riding inside a trailer while it is being pulled by a separate vehicle.

Helena addressed the company's advisories in her interview with the Post:  

"Sure, maybe Airstream doesn’t advise traveling inside the trailer. But we thought maybe that the last 20 minutes of an eight-hour drive on very quiet and slow country roads would be fine," she told the outlet. "And it’s perfectly legal to do so in some states... It was just a crazy accident... There’s nobody to blame. This is nobody’s fault."

Woroniecka had nicknamed the 2024 Airstream "Nebula," her daughter said, because it "represented adventure and exploration," and had attached shells spelling out the name in a frame over its entrance. 

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"She did also love to travel and explore, which is why my parents bought the trailer – they were planning to take an early retirement and travel to national parks and spend time exploring together," Helena said of the trailer, which her parents purchased two months prior, according to the Post. "She loved that trailer so much and poured her soul into it."

The mother of three was so excited to see the eclipse with her family, Helena told the Post, that she "was learning about space and researching different eclipse glasses and buying everyone’s favorite groceries" for weeks beforehand.

"My mom loved her family above everything else, so the fact that my sister and I were coming home so everyone could go see the eclipse together – that’s what she was most excited for was spending time with everyone," the daughter told the outlet.

Helena told the Post that Samaritan Medical Center, where her Woroniecka was pronounced dead, was the hospital where she gave birth to her daughter when the family lived in Buffalo. 

"This trip was the first time they would be back in that town, and she was excited to see their old apartment and the old town, and it so happens that she died in the same hospital I happened to be born in," Helena said.

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She told the outlet both her parents were born in Poland in 1965 and moved to the U.S. in 1992. Woroniecka's native language was Polish, according to her bio at Stony Brook Medicine where she worked, which "[drew] Polish-speaking families from far distances."

"She was the most loving, generous, and golden-hearted person I’ve ever known," Helena said of her mother, the Post reported. "She was always, always thinking about how to lend a helping hand to someone, whether her family or patients or friends that had medical questions or strangers on the street. She spent her whole life helping and taking care of people in one way or another, and I’ll spend the rest of my life trying to be like her."