The daughter of a Long Island pediatrician who died after falling from a moving Airstream believes the caravan had “significant safety oversight.”
Monika Woroniecka, 58, had just stopped with her family for ice cream at a gas station on the way to their AirBnb in Cape Vincent, New York, before she died.
Woroniecka and her daughter Helena decided to drive the last 20 minutes of their trip in the $130,000 Airstream camper.
As Woroniecka tried to secure the passenger side of the RV, she was thrown from the Airstream and died in front of her shocked family.
Speaking with the New York PostHelena said that although her mother’s death was a ‘pure accident’, ‘significant safety considerations were given’ to the caravan’s design because the door opened inwards and not outwards ‘against the wind’.
Dr. Woroniecka was a pediatric allergy and immunology specialist at Stony Brook Medicine, where she worked for more than 20 years
Woroniecka is seen here next to her husband Dr. Robert Woroniecka and their two daughters Alexandra and Helena
As Woroniecka tried to secure the passenger side of the RV, she was thrown from the $130,000 Airstream
The family was on their way to view the solar eclipse and had stopped for ice cream just before the tragedy
She told the outlet, “The Airstream doors open in the opposite direction than you would expect.
‘You don’t need an engineering degree to know that the doors of any moving vehicle, whether it’s a bus, a car or a trailer, should open into the wind, not towards it.
“That seems like an important safety consideration to me and it seems like the only reason they open that way is to protect the trailer canopy.”
Woroniecka’s husband Robert Woroniecka, 59, was driving the gray 2019 Ram pickup truck west on Route 12 E in Brownville on Saturday around 3 p.m. when the tragedy occurred.
Witnesses behind the Airstream claimed they saw the passenger side door of the Airstream open, and Woroniecka’s arm hanging from the door after the wind caused the door to swing ajar.
When emergency responders arrived, she was transported to Samaritan Medical Center, where she died.
Helena also told the outlet that her mother named the caravan Nebula because “it represented adventure and exploration.”
She said, “She loved that trailer so much and put her soul into it. She even just went in there to sleep at home when it rained and put so much love into it.
‘She also loved traveling and exploring, which is why my parents bought the caravan – they were planning to take early retirement and travel to national parks and spend time exploring together.
“My mother loved her family more than anything, so the fact that my sister and I came home so everyone could see the eclipse together is what she was most excited about: spending time with everyone.”
Witnesses behind the Airstream claimed they saw the passenger door of the Airstream open, and Woroniecka’s arm hanging from the door after the wind caused the door to swing ajar
The New York State Police continue to investigate the incident that left Woroniecka dead
Dr. Woroniecka has three daughters, including Alexandra (left) and Helena (right), who was traveling with her
In a statement to DailyMail.com on Tuesday, Airstream said the family should not have sat in the back of the caravan while it was being towed.
“Airstream is saddened to hear about the death of Dr. Monika Woroniecka on April 6, 2024, and our deepest condolences go out to her family, friends and community,” a spokesperson said.
‘Airstream travel trailers are not designed to carry passengers while in motion. The safety protocol outlined in Airstream operating manuals and shared on the Airstream website advises owners that they cannot tow an Airstream with people inside.
“Many states prohibit carrying passengers in a travel trailer or fifth wheel, and we advise owners to consult their state’s Department of Motor Vehicles for current regulations.”
Helena added: ‘This was an accident. Pure accident, and there is no one to blame. This is no one’s fault.
“Sure, maybe Airstream doesn’t recommend traveling in the trailer. But we thought that the last twenty minutes of an eight-hour drive on very quiet and slow country roads might go just fine.
“And in some states it’s perfectly legal to do this. It was just a freak accident. She was the most loving, generous and warm-hearted person I have ever known.
“She was always thinking about how she could reach out to someone, whether it was her family or patients or friends with medical questions or strangers on the street.”
The scene on State Route 12E near Watertown, New York, on Saturday afternoon
Neighbor Maria Antipas was left distraught outside Woroniecka’s Stony Brook, New York, home on Monday over the news of Woroniecka’s death.
‘I can’t believe something like this would happen. It’s just a nice family, good neighbors. She is a nice person,” Antipas said.
Antipas said they would look after each other’s houses while they were traveling and that she had a key to their house.
“They just left,” she remembered. “They got an Airstream a few months ago and they’ve been going on little trips. I look after their house when they’re away, and they do the same for me.’
Richard, a kidney doctor in Stonybrook, and his wife had moved into the house on Dogwood Drive in Stonybrook six or seven years ago.
She said the couple was outdoors and has three grown daughters who are all very smart.
She told DailyMail.com that she remembered the day Richard drove the Airstream home. “It was shiny,” she remembered. “They were so excited to get it.”
Maria said the last time she saw Woroniecka was the day before she left. She was walking her dogs and they waved to each other.
The family appears to have been riding in a new 2024 Airstream Bambi 16RB
The carefully designed, relatively small camper is sixteen feet long and can accommodate four people
The cost of the brand new model starts at $60,400
In New York State, it is illegal to drive a moving trailer without a fifth wheel. Airstream manufacturers also warn against driving the RV while it is in motion
Devastated, she repeated: “I can’t believe something like this happened. It’s so tragic.’
It is illegal to tow passengers in an Airstream in New York State, and it is something the company warns against.
Dr. Woroniecka was a pediatric allergy and immunology specialist at Stony Brook Medicine, where she worked for more than twenty years.
She treated children with food, environmental, drug and bee sting allergies, childhood asthma and skin conditions such as eczema and hives.
‘Dr. Woroniecka enjoys traveling, hiking, exercising and spending time with family and friends,” according to her work profile.
She grew up in Poland and attracted Polish-speaking patients from across the region, it added.
