NEW YORK (AP) – Spanish families were trying to celebrate one of their children's nineth birthday when a tourist helicopter left in the air and crashed into the Hudson River between New York City and New Jersey, killing all six in the latest US Air Damage, officials said Friday.
Officials, including the National Transportation Safety Board, are investigating a crash fall in mid-afternoon Thursday. There was no word for the cause. The NTSB will briefly explain the reporter on Friday.
The victims included Siemens executive Agustin Escobar, his wife, Merce Campulvi Montal, global manager of the energy technology company, and three children in addition to the pilot, who were described in the investigation told The Associated Press. The person was unable to publicly discuss the details of the investigation and spoke on condition of anonymity. The pilot was also dead.
Watch: Toronto plane crash fall and FAA layoffs add to Air Force concerns
New York City Mayor Eric Adams said the children were 4, 8 and 10 years old and their 8th birthday was on a Friday.
“So this is probably part of the usual tourist attraction where you can see the city from the skyline,” Adams told Fox 5 New York. “But it's a truly unfortunate situation. And our hearts go to the family.”
Escobar was in the New York area of business and his family flew to see him for several days, Stephen Flip, mayor of Jersey City, New Jersey, said in an X post.
A fragment of an aircraft floating in the river Friday morning was visible as divers resumed searches for evidence of the cause.
Photos on the helicopter company website show the couple and their children on board just before takeoff smiling.
The flight departed the downtown heliport around 3pm and lasted less than 18 minutes. Radar data shows that they flew north along the Manhattan skyline and then south towards the Statue of Liberty.
Video of the collision shows part of the aircraft falling through the air into water near the coastline of Jersey City, New Jersey.
Witnesses explain that the helicopter is plunging into Hudson
Jersey City's Bruce Wall said he saw the helicopter “collapsing” in the air. The tail and main rotor broke, and the rotor continued to spin as it descended into the water.
Dani Hobiak was at her Jersey City home when she heard she heard “continue with some gunshots.” She looked out the window and saw Chopper “flew some pieces into the river.”
Hostess Leslie Camacho at a riverside restaurant in Hoboken, New Jersey, said the helicopter was spinning out of control with “smoke coming out” and it hit the water.
Rescue teams circled the submerged aircraft within minutes of the impact near the edge of the long maintenance pier of the ventilation tower that provided the Dutch tunnel. Recovery crew used a floating crane to wind a broken helicopter out of the water just after 8pm.
The bodies were also recovered from the river, Adams said.
The flight was run by a New York helicopter. No one answered the phone call on Thursday or Friday at company offices in New York and New Jersey.
A person answering the phone at the home of company owner Michael Ross said he declined to comment. Ross told the New York Post that he was in devastation and that he “has no clue” as to what happened.
He said that “the only thing I know from watching the video of the helicopter falling is that the main rotor blade was not in the helicopter.” He never saw that happen in his 30 years in the helicopter business, but said, “These are machines and they break.”
An email seeking comment was sent to an attorney who previously represented Ross.
The Federal Aviation Administration has identified the helicopter as a Bell 206. This is a model widely used in commercial and government aviation, such as tourism companies, television news stations, police, and more. It was originally developed for the US military and has been manufactured by thousands of people for many years.
What causes the crash?
Video of the crash suggests that “catastrophic mechanical failure” did not give the pilot a chance to save the helicopter, said Justin Green, an aviation lawyer who was a Marine helicopter pilot. The helicopter's main rotor could hit a tail boom and fall apart, causing the cabin to fall free, Green said.
“After the pilot lost the lift, we couldn't prevent that accident,” Green said. “It's like a rock falling onto the ground. It's heartbreaking.”
The skies over Manhattan are routinely filled with private recreational aircraft and both commercial and tourist airplanes and helicopters. Manhattan has several helipads, from which business executives and others are whisked into destinations throughout the metropolitan area.
Since 1977, at least 38 people have been killed in helicopter accidents in New York City. Nine people died in a collision between a plane and a tourist helicopter via Hudson in 2009, and five died in 2018 when a charter helicopter providing an “open door” flight descended on the East River.
The New York helicopter also owned a Bell 206, which lost power during a sightseeing tour in June 2013 and landed emergency at Hudson. The National Transportation Safety Board has discovered that maintenance flubs and engine lubrication abnormalities lead to power outages.
Thursday's crash was the first crash for a helicopter in the city after crashing into the roof of a skyscraper in 2019, killing a pilot.
The accidents and noise caused by helicopters have repeatedly led some community activists and officials to propose a ban or limit traffic on Manhattan heliports.
In an interview with the Associated Press, New York Sen. Brad Hoyleman Cigar, who represents a district on the west side of Manhattan along the Hudson River, said the crash was “a reminder of our worst fears about tourist helicopters” and called for a ban across the city.
“Having a mandatory flight through a densely populated area is a disaster recipe,” he said.
Other recent crashes and close calls have killed seven people in January when a medical transport plane plunged into a Philadelphia neighborhood. It came two days after an American Airlines jet and an Army helicopter collided in Washington's airborne air in the most deadly US disaster of a generation.
Associated Press authors Mike Balsamo and Philip Marcelo in New York. Harry Golden of Seattle. Joseph Wilson of Barcelona, Spain. Dave Collins of Hartford, Connecticut. I contributed to this report.
Insightful, reliable journalism, for everyone.
With your tax-deductible contributions, our important reports will continue to thrive. Support PBS News Hour while all gifts are matched!
Donate
