NEW YORK (AP) — A New York City sightseeing helicopter broke apart and crashed into the Hudson River near the New Jersey shoreline, killing the pilot and a Spanish family of five who were on board.
Pieces of the aircraft could be seen floating in the river on Friday as divers searched for clues about what caused the Thursday crash. The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the latest in a series of recent aircraft crashes and close calls have already left some people worried about the safety of flying in the U.S.
Here’s what we know so far:
How did it happen?
Witnesses described seeing the helicopter’s tail and main rotor breaking away and smoke pouring from the spinning chopper before it slammed into the water.
The helicopter took off from a downtown heliport at around 3 p.m. and flew north along the Manhattan skyline before heading south toward the Statue of Liberty. Less than 18 minutes into the flight, parts of the aircraft were seen tumbling into the water.
Rescue boats circled the submerged aircraft within minutes of impact, and recovery crews hoisted the mangled helicopter out of the water just after 8 p.m. using a floating crane.
The bodies were also recovered from the river, New York City Mayor Eric Adams said.
Who were the victims?
In addition to the pilot, the victims included Siemens executive Agustin Escobar, his wife, Mercè Camprubí Montal, a global manager at Siemens Energy, and their three children.
The children were 4, 8 and 10 years old — and the 8-year-old’s birthday was Friday, Adams said.
Escobar was in the New York area on business and his family flew in to meet him for a few days, Steven Fulop, mayor of Jersey City, New Jersey, wrote in a post on X. Photos on the helicopter company’s website show the couple and their children smiling just before taking off.
What may have caused the crash?
Officials haven’t yet given any cause for the crash.
Michael Roth, who owns the helicopter company, New York Helicopter, told The New York Post that he doesn’t know what went wrong with the aircraft.
“The only thing I know by watching a video of the helicopter falling down, that the main rotor blades weren’t on the helicopter,” he said, noting that he had never seen such a thing happen in his 30 years in the business, but that, “These are machines, and they break.”
Justin Green, an aviation lawyer and former Marine Corps helicopter pilot, said videos of the crash suggest that a “catastrophic mechanical failure” left the pilot with no chance to save the aircraft. It is possible the helicopter’s main rotors struck the tail boom, breaking it apart and causing the cabin to free fall, Green said.
How common are such crashes?
The Federal Aviation Administration identified the helicopter as a Bell 206, a model widely used in commercial and government aviation, including by sightseeing companies, TV news stations and police. The skies over Manhattan are routinely filled with planes and helicopters, both private recreational aircraft and commercial and tourist flights.
At least 38 people have died in helicopter crashes in New York City since 1977. A collision between a plane and a tourist helicopter over the Hudson in 2009 killed nine people, and five people died in 2018 when a charter helicopter offering “open door” flights went down into the East River.
Thursday’s crash was the first for a helicopter in the city since one hit the roof of a skyscraper in 2019, killing the pilot.
In recent months, seven people were killed when a medical transport plane plummeted into a Philadelphia neighborhood. The crash in January happened two days after an American Airlines jet and an Army helicopter collided in midair in Washington in the deadliest U.S. air disaster in a generation.
