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On Friday, the pilot of the helicopter was identified as Sean Johnson, a 36-year-old former Navy SEAL who moved to New York City to begin an aviation career following his military service.
All six people on board the helicopter died, including a Spanish family-of-five and the helicopter’s pilot. Siemens executive Agustin Escobar and his wife Mercè Camprubí Montal - also employed by Siemens and with close familial links to FC Barcelona - died alongside their three young children.
The cause of the disaster remains unclear, with witnesses recalling seeing the helicopter breaking apart in mid-air before plunging into the river. Experts believe a freak mechanical failure was behind the crash.
Bruce Wall, 28, described seeing the chopper “falling apart probably 15 feet before it actually fell and then the tail whipped off” and hearing the sound of “something breaking apart in mid-air,” according to the New York Times.
“The helicopter was still pretty loud and then just a loud, loud crash into water,” he added.
An unnamed woman said the “helicopter was a little bit nose down slightly, it kept spinning in the air” in quotes broadcast by BBC Radio 4.
‘Obviously mechanical failure’, says pilot of same helicopter model
Dan Rice, who frequently flies the same model of helicopter as the one that plummeted into the Hudson River, has said it was “obviously a catastrophic failure” that caused the crash.
Speaking to CBS News, he said: "Obviously, a catastrophic failure of the aircraft. That's very obvious. Booms and noises like that indicate some sort of mechanical issue.”
"There's one video in particular where you see the main component of the helicopter, the fuselage, upside down,” he added. “And what struck me, what scared me, is the main rotor system was gone.
“There's no main rotor on the helicopter. And the tail boom was also gone, and it's just a vessel at that point with no direction."
Rice said he “can’t imagine” what could have led to the tail rotor - the system that prevents the helicopter from spinning out of control — from falling off.
“We'll wait for the investigation to give us those details, but from what I've seen, separation of the blades is what caused this chopper to go down. What led to the separation is what we have to find out," he added.
Alex Croft12 April 2025 02:00
Lawmaker pushes ban on sightseeing helicopter tours after family dies in crash
New York State Senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal has called for a ban on sightseeing helicopter tours, saying we were “minutes” from disaster had the chopper crashed into the densely-populated ground.
Including the crash on Thursday, 25 people have died in New York City in helicopter sightseeing incidents - all of whom have been onboard the aircraft.
"We averted disaster possibly by just minutes. And that is the concern here. Which is if a helicopter gets in trouble in a densely populated area like Manhattan, the disaster could be far worse," Hoylman-Sigal said according to ABC 7 New York.
"There's no reason to allow tourists and tour flight operators to use our valuable precious airspace," he said, adding: "the danger is that FAA regulates airspace above 500 feet, so the city and state are prohibited from passing laws that make tourist choppers safer. “
The senator has been trying to limit helicopter traffic over the city to first responders, news and necessary transport.
Read Mike Bedigan’s full report:
Oliver O'Connell12 April 2025 01:00
Who was the pilot, who also died in the tragedy?
The pilot, Seankese Johnson, 36, received his commercial pilot’s license in 2023, according to the Federal Aviation Administration, and had logged about 800 hours of flight time as of March, National Transportation Safety Board Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy told reporters on Friday.
Recently, he posted a photo on Facebook of him piloting a helicopter with Manhattan in the background. In 2023, he posted that he was flying a firefighting helicopter.
“Long hours and painstaking work to get to this moment. Thank you for all the love and support from those who’ve helped me get here,” Johnson wrote.
Johnson transitioned to aviation after a career in the Navy, the Associated Press reported.
He enlisted in 2006 and served until 2018, achieving the rank of Gunner’s Mate 2nd Class, Defense Department records show. He was stationed on the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan from 2007 to 2011 and in San Diego from 2011 to 2018, serving in the Special Warfare Unit, the Special Warfare Logistics Support Unit, and the Coastal Riverine Squadron.
Oliver O'Connell12 April 2025 00:30
Sightseeing tourist helicopter broke apart midair before plunging into Hudson River: Full timeline
A sightseeing tourist helicopter has broken apart midair before plunging into the Hudson River, killing the family of five and pilot on board in the latest horror US aviation disaster.
At around 3.15pm on Thursday, the Bell 206 LongRanger plummeted from the sky and crashed upside-down in the river that divides New York City from New Jersey off the west coast of Manhattan.
Officials confirmed the pilot and a family of five Spanish tourists, including three children, died in the tragedy, after FlightRadar24 showed the helicopter had taken off from Manhattan heliport on a sightseeing tour.
Katie Hawkinson, Oliver O'Connell and Tara Cobham cover everything we know so far about the crash:
Oliver O'Connell12 April 2025 00:00
Tragic Manhattan helicopter crash hits home back in Barcelona
Condolences poured in Friday for the Barcelona family that perished in a helicopter accident an ocean away, from Spain’s prime minister to the company where the parents worked and the school where their children studied.
The family of five had meant to celebrate one of their children’s birthdays in the United States. Instead, a private helicopter tour of New York city turned tragic when the aircraft broke apart and plunged into the Hudson River. The pilot also died, bringing the death toll to six.
The victims were Agustín Escobar and his wife Mercè Camprubí Montal, both executives at units of energy technology company Siemens, as well as their three children, and the pilot.
READ MORE:
NTSB boss once again suggests agency's safety recommendations are being ignored
National Transportation Safety Board Chair Jennifer Homendy suggested on Friday that the safety recommendations the agency makes to help reduce transportation risk may not be being implemented.
Over at least the last two years, Homendy has held briefings at major transportation tragedies — like the East Palestine train derailment and the bus crash in Ohio that killed six high school students and injured 18 others — and during each she has explained that her agency makes safety recommendations, but notes that those recommendations are not regulations.
She did the same on Friday.
“We did issue a set of recommendations to improve safety,” Homendy said when asked about the possibility of Thursday’s crash resulting in new regulations on tour helicopters. “Those are recommendations, not regulations.”
In order for the agency’s recommendations to become regulations, law makers would need to act on the suggestions made by the NTSB.
Graig Graziosi11 April 2025 22:33
WATCH: NTSB says they're still looking for cause of Hudson chopper crash
Graig Graziosi11 April 2025 22:01
NTSB boss says organization does not know a preliminary cause of the Hudson River crash, and won't speculate
National Transportation Safety Board Chair Jennifer Homendy said on Friday that the agency does “not have a preliminary cause” to explain the helicopter crash that killed six on Thursday.
A 17-person team of investigators has been tasked with figuring out exactly why the helicopter fell apart in mid-air before it crashed into the waters of the Hudson River.
“We will not speculate on cause – ever – but will not be determining any sort of preliminary or probable cause at the scene of an accident,” Homendy said.
She confirmed that divers are still collecting pieces of the aircraft from the Hudson River.
“We are looking for the main rotor and the tail rotor right now,” she said during a press briefing on Friday.
Graig Graziosi11 April 2025 21:22
Three people killed and one injured in Florida plane crash one day after fatal Hudson River helicopter crash
Three people are dead after a small plane crashed near a major highway in Boca Raton, Florida on Friday afternoon.
The crash occurred one day after a helicopter carrying six people — including three children — crashed into the Hudson River, killing all aboard.
The aircraft, a Cessna 310, crashed around 10.20am after departing from Boca Raton Airport around 10.13am. The plane was heading to Tallahassee International Airport. Data from Flightradar24 showed the plane trying to return to the Boca airport shortly after takeoff.
Officials said the aircraft was experiencing mechanical issues.
Around 12.30pm, police confirmed the people on board did not survive after examining the wreckage on Military Highway. A man in his car was transported to a nearby hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. Officials said he drove through a fiery explosion caused by the crash and hit a tree.
READ MORE:
Graig Graziosi11 April 2025 20:50
WATCH: Hudson river helicopter propellor 'exploded and scattered,' crash eyewitness says
Graig Graziosi11 April 2025 20:27
English (US) ·