Helicopter crash left a Siemens executive, his family and their pilot dead. Here's what we know

CNN

11-04-2025

A sightseeing helicopter plunged from the sky into the Hudson River on Thursday, turning a family outing above Manhattan's misty skyline into a tragedy.
The helicopter carried six people, including three children and an executive from Siemens — a German multinational technology conglomerate. It lifted off from a Manhattan heliport and followed a familiar route: circling the Statue of Liberty, gliding north along the Hudson toward the George Washington Bridge and then turning south. About 16 minutes after takeoff, the aircraft crashed into the water, according to analysis by CNN and FlightRadar24.
Witnesses described the helicopter flipping and spiraling before crashing near the New Jersey shoreline upside down, scattering debris across the river.
'The helicopter was a little bit like nose down, slightly, and I saw the propeller separating from the helicopter. It kept spinning in the air alone. Nothing was attached to it,' Sarah Jane Raymond Ryer, who saw the crash unfold, told CNN affiliate WCBS. A video obtained by CNN shows the rotor blades detached from the helicopter and flying through the air.
Jersey City resident Jenn Lynk recalled hearing a startling noise. 'It sounded honestly like an engine came out. I looked outside my window. I saw a few people running towards the water, and some people were acting pretty normal. So I was like, 'It might not be anything.' Then I started to hear all the sirens come outside,' she told WCBS.
Here's what we know about the crash that killed everyone on board:
The victims include Agustín Escobar, a Siemens executive visiting from Spain, and his family, according to a law enforcement official. New York City Mayor Eric Adams said the family was in the city as tourists.
'Our hearts go out to the family of those who were on board,' Adams said during a news conference. Spain's Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, expressed his condolences, calling the incident 'an unimaginable tragedy.'
The pilot was also killed, though officials have not yet released their identity.
CNN has reached out to the New York Police Department and the US Coast Guard for more information on the victims.
The cause of the crash remains unclear, but its sudden descent stunned witnesses as first responders raced to rescue the victims.
The helicopter took off at 2:59 p.m., from Manhattan's downtown heliport, following a popular sightseeing route, New York Police Department Commissioner Jessica Tisch said. After circling the Statue of Liberty, it flew north along the Hudson River, reaching the George Washington Bridge by 3:08 p.m. It then turned south along the New Jersey shoreline, where it lost control shortly after, Tisch said.
Visibility at the time was 10 miles, though the region was cloudy with winds of 10 to 15 mph and gusts up to 25 mph. A weather system was expected to bring light rain later in the afternoon.
At 3:17 p.m., multiple 911 calls reported a crash near Pier A Park in Hoboken, New Jersey. Witnesses said the helicopter appeared to stop midair before pieces broke off, consistent with preliminary emergency reports, Tisch said.
Jersey City resident, Ipsitaa Banigrhi, described the sound as 'such a loud sound. It felt like thunder,' she told WCBS. 'Then I saw black particles flying. Again, I thought maybe it's just dust or birds, and then we heard all the emergency vehicles and sirens go by. I think that's when it was like, 'OK, what's happening.''
First responders from NYPD and New York City Fire Department teams pulled six people from the water. Four victims were pronounced dead at the scene, and two others succumbed to injuries shortly after, Tisch said. Two children were transported to Jersey City Medical Center, where they were later pronounced dead, Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop said on X.
The aircraft's main fuselage was retrieved from the river on Thursday evening, though officials have announced that dive operations will continue Friday, WCBS reported.
The company operating the helicopter was previously involved in two safety incidents investigated by federal aviation authorities.
In 2015, a pilot for the New York Helicopter Charter company was forced to land in New Jersey after hovering 20 feet in the air for a short time. An initial inspection showed there 'may have been corrosion removed' from sections of the helicopter and that some of the helicopter's component parts may have been deformed to an extent to be 'considered unairworthy,' according to an FAA inspector at the time. The same helicopter was previously involved in a crash in Chile in 2010.
In 2013, a pilot for the company was forced to land a helicopter carrying four passengers on the water near Manhattan after hearing a 'bang' that was followed by the 'Engine Out warning horn.' The pilot inflated the helicopter's floats and got the passengers to safety on an approaching boat.
'The only thing I can tell you is that we are devastated,' Michael Roth, the CEO of the company operating the flight, told CNN of Thursday's crash. 'I'm a father, a grandfather and my wife hasn't stopped crying since this afternoon.'
When asked about the helicopter's maintenance, he said, 'That's something my director of maintenance handles.' The director of maintenance declined to comment.
Maintenance records are not publicly accessible, and the NTSB restricts what companies can disclose during an ongoing investigation.
The helicopter, a Bell 206L-4 LongRanger IV, was built in 2004 and held an airworthiness certificate issued in 2016 that was valid through 2029, according to Federal Aviation Administration records.
Maintenance records are not public and during investigations NTSB rules prohibit companies from releasing certain information relating to the accident.
The investigation into the cause of the crash will pore over documentation on all the work that was done on the aircraft. That would include the company's compliance with two recent Federal Aviation Administration issued airworthiness directives.
One directive from May 2023, required the testing and possible replacement of tail rotor drive shafts on eight different Bell 206L models, including the 206L-4. That directive was prompted by an incident in which a Bell 206L helicopter experienced the loss of a tail-rotor drive due to a joint failure.
The FAA also issued a December 2022 airworthiness directive on Bell 206L models with specific parts requiring inspection and possible replacement of the helicopters' main rotor blades because of 'delamination.' That refers to layers within the blade separating due to material fatigue, damage (from bird strikes, for example), or manufacturing errors, potentially leading the rotor blade to fail.
It remains unclear whether any of these issues played a role in Thursday's crash.
Both the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the crash. The NTSB has dispatched a 'go-team' to the site to examine the wreckage and review maintenance records, it said on social media.
The helicopter was flying within New York's Special Flight Rules Area in New York, where air traffic control support is limited, Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy said in a post on X. Duffy added that the helicopter had received air traffic assistance from LaGuardia Airport shortly before entering the uncontrolled zone.