Investigators to probe whether pilot error and ‘lack of experience’ caused NYC helicopter to crash into Hudson River? Tragedy led to family of 5 from Spain who had taken chopper tour celebrating a birthday to all be killed.
Investigators probing the deadly Hudson River helicopter crash will seek to focus on the pilot’s experience, possible pilot error along with whether possible mechanical failure was to blame for an overhead chopper tour of NYC plunging into waters.
The tragedy led to a family of six from Spain being killed along with the un-named pilot, as the sightseeing craft broke apart in midair and crashed upside-down into the Hudson River, Thursday afternoon, authorities said.
Did faulty Jesus Nut cause Hudson River Helicopter Crash?
NYC chopper that crashed into Hudson River had mechanical issues months prior
Six people were killed Thursday when a helicopter crashed into the Hudson River near Lower Manhattan, authorities told ABC News. https://t.co/uZkWVvuDIt pic.twitter.com/Iz92x4aVjj
— ABC News (@ABC) April 10, 2025
Family of 5 from Spain were celebrating birthday when they took helicopter tour
At the time of the calamity, Siemens executive Agustin Escobar, his wife Mercè Camprubí Montal and their three young children had just flown in from Barcelona, Spain that morning and had taken the tour whilst celebrating the birthday of one of their 3 children, ages, 4, 5 and 11.
The aircraft was operated by New York Helicopter, a local tour company. The chopper appeared to be a N216MH – a Bell 206L-4, according to Flight Radar.
The helicopter flew for approximately 16 minutes before going down into the water. It took off from the Wall Street Heliport and did a circle near the Statue of Liberty before flying up the Hudson River to the George Washington Bridge at about 1000 feet.
Video captured the chopper’s main rotor blades coming off the helicopter, and falling moments after the main craft plunging into freezing waters along the Hudson River on the Manhattan side at Pier 40.
Pilot maneuvering leading into helicopter crash
In a bid to understand what led up to the deadly crash, the the National Transportation Safety Board will examine whether the pilot was forced to make an ‘extreme maneuver’ just moments before — or if there was error on their part according to sources.
‘There’s pilot error where pilots fly into weather and they shouldn’t. Then there’s pilot error… where something happens, and [does the pilot] know how to handle it,’ a source reportedly told the nypost.
The pilot, save for them being 36 years old and a male, and who hadn’t publicly been identified, could have also experienced a massive transmission failure in the lead-up to the tragic wreck, another source told the tabloid.
‘It’s possible something happened with that transmission and the pilot tried to fight it rather than go into auto rotation and then transmission seizes. It’s possible,’ the source said.
Officials will also be looking at whether the pilot was forced into an evasive maneuver.
‘If there was a failure — such as a transmission failure — evasive maneuvers are fine in flying … it’s when they’re violent, or unnatural, they can cause problems,’ the source said.
‘It’s when [there] are extreme [maneuvers], or if a pilot is unnecessarily fighting the helicopter, the ends of rotor blades could strike off a tail boom. This is beyond rare.’
What caused main rotor blade to detach from craft?
Footage of the crash suggested that a ‘catastrophic mechanical failure’ left the pilot with no chance to save the helicopter, according to Justin Green, an aviation lawyer who was a helicopter pilot in the Marine Corps.
It is possible the helicopter’s main rotors struck the tail boom — breaking it apart and causing the cabin to free-fall and plunge into the frigid waters, Green added.
‘They were dead as soon as whatever happened happened,’ Green told the nypost.
‘There’s no indication they had any control over the craft. No pilot could have prevented that accident once they lost the lifts. It’s like a rock falling to the ground. It’s heartbreaking.’
Investigators will also seek to probe is the pilot’s records and flying time, in a bid to gauge their experience and whether they would have been able or ‘seasoned’ as how to handle mid-air adversity.
‘One thing the NTSB is going to look at is not only flight hours, but flight hours in New York City… Tourism is a popular place for newer pilots to gain hours quickly,’ the source told the nypost.
The doomed chopper, meanwhile, was owned and operated by New York Helicopter — a tour company that bills itself as providing comfort and safety to customers.
Mechanical failure likely forced NYC helicopter to crash
The flight departed a downtown heliport at about 3 p.m. and lasted fewer than 18 minutes, radar data shows.
Video of the crash showed parts of the aircraft tumbling through the air and crashing into the water as it headed south along the Manhattan skyline.
The main rotor was still spinning without the helicopter as it fell, one harrowing clip shows. Minutes before the crash, the un-named pilot had reached out to base to say the chopper had run out of fuel shortly after take off and they would be landing in three minutes. Except the craft never landed.
‘It’s devastation,’ New York Helicopter Tours CEO Michael Roth told reporters. ‘I’m a father and a grandfather and to have children on there, I’m devastated. I’m absolutely devastated.
‘The only thing I know by watching a video of the helicopter falling down, that the main rotor blades weren’t on the helicopter.
‘And I haven’t seen anything like that in my 30 years being in business, in the helicopter business. The only thing I could guess – I got no clue – is that it either had a bird strike or the main rotor blades failed. I have no clue. I don’t know.’
‘This is horrific,’ Roth added. ‘But you gotta remember something, these are machines and they break.’
