New York Metropolis Helicopter crash: Firm concerned in lethal accident shuts down operations

NEW YORK — New York Helicopter excursions, the corporate concerned in a lethal crash on the Hudson River is shutting down operations instantly, the the Federal Aviation Administration mentioned.

The FAA additionally says they are going to proceed to assist the NTSB and can be launching a direct evaluate of the tour operator’s license and security file.

In the meantime, investigators nonetheless do not know what triggered the chopper to crash.

New York Senator Chuck Schumer urged federal authorities to revoke the corporate’s working certificates till the investigation into the crash is full.

“The FAA has to do extra. They have to get severe a few tradition of security throughout the helicopter tour business and that overhauling security requirements of tour operators like New York Helicopter and Fly Nyon is the place to begin,” he mentioned.

Restoration operations resumed after divers with the NYPD spent all weekend looking out within the frigid waters for extra wreckage from the crash.

To date, the cockpit, cabin and a part of the helicopter’s tail have been recovered, in response to the NTSB. Crews are utilizing a sonar system to scan the ocean ground for potential areas of different wreckage, together with the plane’s most important rotor.

Officers are looking for solutions to the reason for the craft coming aside midair earlier than plunging into the river off Jersey Metropolis on Thursday.

A household of 5 from Spain, together with the helicopter’s 36-year-old pilot, all died within the crash. The victims embody passengers Agustin Escobar, 49, his spouse, Mercè Camprubí Montal, 39, and their three kids, Victor, 4, Mercedes, 8, and Agustin, 10. Mercedes would have turned 9 on Friday, officers mentioned.

On Saturday evening, the NTSB mentioned the helicopter that crashed was not geared up with any flight recorders. The company added, “no onboard video recorders or digicam recorders have been recovered and not one of the helicopter avionics onboard recorded data that may very well be used for the investigation.”

NTSB investigators met with representatives from the plane’s operator, New York Helicopter Constitution Inc., to evaluate operational data and security administration techniques.

Officers say the accident helicopter’s final main inspection was on March 1. Earlier than the crash, the helicopter had accomplished seven tour flights. The accident occurred throughout the eighth flight of the day.

Investigators have begun evaluating the flight management techniques of the helicopter at a safe location.

New York Metropolis Mayor Eric Adams was joined by Joan Camprubí, the brother of Mercè Camprubí Montal, in a press convention Saturday afternoon.

“They left collectively, they left with out struggling, and so they left with a smile on their faces,” he mentioned. He mentioned he needs to recollect the household that manner as effectively.

Camprubí mentioned that it is a troublesome time for his or her household, however they’re grateful for the assist they’ve obtained from Spain, Catalonia, the U.S., New York, New Jersey and Siemens.

The household needs to maneuver the our bodies to Spain quickly, to allow them to “relaxation in peace collectively,” Camprubi mentioned.

Adams added that he had dropped flowers as a symbolic gesture for the lives misplaced within the helicopter crash, together with Sean Johnson, who was within the Navy. “He fought to defend his county,” mentioned Adams.

“Our phrases can’t deliver again their members of the family, however it’s out manner of claiming as New Yorkers we stand united with this household throughout this second of grief,” Adams mentioned. “Their grief is our grief. Their sorrow, is our sorrow.”

In the meantime, investigators with the NTSB arrived in Jersey Metropolis on Friday to get their first have a look at the wreckage to allow them to start to reconstruct the mangled helicopter.

Divers are looking out the icy chilly currents of the Hudson River, the place plane elements, together with the rotor and tail rotor, are nonetheless believed to be submerged in roughly 40 toes of water.

A Hoboken resident informed our sister station WABC that he believes he found a part of the doomed chopper — what seemed like a seat cushion — that washed up alongside the Jersey Metropolis and Hoboken coast a few half mile north of the crash website.

Maxwell Steffen Cameron-Jones occurred upon it on Friday evening and referred to as the police.

“It is fairly laborious to see that. Notably a seat somebody was sitting on once they misplaced their lives,” he mentioned.

The crash was reported at 3:17 p.m. Thursday on the Jersey Metropolis aspect of the Hudson River. New York Helicopter Excursions operated the helicopter.

The corporate launched an official assertion on Friday, saying partly, “New York Helicopter Excursions is profoundly saddened by the tragic accident and lack of life that occurred on April 10, 2025, involving one in every of our helicopters within the Hudson River.”

“The protection and well-being of our passengers and crew has at all times been the cornerstone of our operations. Our instant focus is supporting the households and their family members affected by this tragedy, in addition to totally cooperating with the FAA and NTSB investigations,” the assertion mentioned.

The Bell 206 took off from the Downtown Manhattan Heliport at 2:59 p.m. It went as much as the George Washington Bridge earlier than returning south alongside the river’s New Jersey aspect.

A video shared with our sister station WABC confirmed items of the helicopter breaking up and crashing into the water. Officers say the helicopter hit the water inverted, and not using a tail rotor or a most important rotor blade.

Who had been the victims?

Agustin Escobar, an government at Siemens, was within the New York space on enterprise, and his household flew in to satisfy him for a couple of days, Steven Fulop, mayor of Jersey Metropolis, New Jersey, wrote in a publish on X. Photographs on the helicopter firm’s web site present the couple and their kids smiling simply earlier than taking off.

In a press release posted on the social platform X on Friday evening by Joan Camprubí Montal, Montal’s brother, members of the family mentioned there have been “no phrases to explain” what they’re experiencing.

“These are very troublesome instances, however optimism and pleasure have at all times characterised our household. We wish to preserve the reminiscence of a contented and united household, within the sweetest second of their lives,” he mentioned. “They’ve departed collectively, leaving an indelible mark amongst all their kinfolk, associates, and acquaintances.”

The pilot was Seankese Johnson, 36, a U.S. Navy veteran who obtained his business pilot’s license in 2023. He had logged about 800 hours of flight time as of March, Jennifer Homendy, chair of the Nationwide Transportation Security Board, informed reporters Friday.

In the summertime of 2023, Johnson introduced on Fb that he was flying a helicopter to battle fires for a Montana-based agency. In March this 12 months, he modified his profile to a picture of him piloting a helicopter with a view of One World Commerce Middle and the Manhattan skyline within the background.

What could have triggered the crash

The NTSB wouldn’t speculate on the reason for the crash so early within the investigation.

NTSB chair Jennifer Homendy acknowledged that the helicopter breaking up mid-air is a severe concern, however confused extra investigation is important to find out why.

They’re trying into witnesses’ experiences of flocks of birds on the time of the crash and all different experiences. The NTSB once more requested members of the general public with any data to submit photos and movies to witness@ntsb.gov.

Homendy mentioned the helicopter’s most important and rear rotors, transmission, roof, and tail constructions had nonetheless not been discovered as of Friday.

“We’re very factual, and we’ll present that sooner or later,” she mentioned.

Justin Inexperienced, an aviation lawyer and former Marine Corps helicopter pilot, mentioned movies of the crash counsel {that a} “catastrophic mechanical failure” left the pilot with no likelihood to avoid wasting the plane. It’s attainable the helicopter’s most important rotors struck the tail increase, breaking it aside and inflicting the cabin to free-fall, Inexperienced mentioned.

“They had been lifeless as quickly as no matter occurred occurred,” Inexperienced mentioned. “There isn’t any indication that they had any management over the craft. No pilot may have prevented that accident as soon as they misplaced the lifts. It is like a rock falling to the bottom. It is heartbreaking.”

Considerations about sightseeing helicopters

The accidents and the noise brought on by helicopters have repeatedly led some neighborhood activists and officers to suggest banning or proscribing visitors at Manhattan heliports.

Fulop mentioned excursions are fixed and happen in a busy and closely trafficked space. He hopes this may enhance the dialogue and reduce visitors.

“Hopefully, this brings some extra consideration to it, that the actual fact past simply noise, you could have actual security issues,” Fulop mentioned.

The FAA says they’re briefly halting all operations across the Hudson River crash website.

The skies over Manhattan are routinely stuffed with planes and helicopters, non-public leisure plane and business and vacationer flights. Manhattan has a number of helipads from which enterprise executives and others are whisked to locations all through the metropolitan space.

At the very least 38 folks have died in helicopter accidents in New York Metropolis since 1977. A collision between a airplane and a vacationer helicopter over the Hudson in 2009 killed 9 folks, and 5 died in 2018 when a constitution helicopter providing “open door” flights went down into the East River.

New York Helicopters additionally owned a Bell 206 that misplaced energy and made an emergency touchdown on the Hudson throughout a sightseeing tour in June 2013. The pilot managed to land safely, and he and the passengers – a household of 4 Swedes – had been unhurt. The Nationwide Transportation Security Board discovered {that a} upkeep flub and an engine lubrication anomaly led to the ability cutoff.

Thursday’s crash was the primary for a helicopter within the metropolis since one hit the roof of a skyscraper in 2019, killing the pilot.

Some data from ABC Information and The Related Press