A Tragic End After a Helicopter Pilot's Fresh Start

New York Times

11-04-2025

'Living the dream.'
That was how Seankese Johnson, 36, described his new career as a New York City commercial helicopter pilot, flying sightseeing tours around Manhattan.
The phrase was the headline atop his LinkedIn page on Friday, even as news spread among loved ones that he was the pilot of the helicopter that crashed into the Hudson River on Thursday afternoon, killing him and a family of five tourists from Spain.
His father, Louis Johnson, said on Friday that his son had moved to New York just this year for 'a new chapter in his life.'
Mr. Johnson had recently begun flying chopper tours after obtaining his commercial license in 2023 and gaining experience flying heavier-duty helicopters.
He flew them on fire rescue missions in California and on agricultural projects in Virginia among other stints, according to his résumé and his loved ones.
More recently Mr. Johnson, a U.S. Navy veteran, began to combine a convivial personality with his love of aviation, taking a job flying sightseeing tours in his native Chicago beginning last fall.
Friends knew him simply as Sean, whose fun-loving, jokester side was the direct opposite of his meticulous, almost solemn approach to flight safety.
'He was the type to cross his T's and dot his I's,' a friend, Bobbie Rose-Smith, said.
'He never took his job lightly,' she said. 'No matter where he was or what he was flying, he was going to know that helicopter inside and out.'
He also used his aviation career as a way to constantly relocate around the country, Ms. Rose-Smith said.
He moved to New York City to fly for New York Helicopters, which sees a steady stream of tourists seeking an exhilarating ride and view of the city from on high.
On Thursday afternoon, around 3 p.m., Mr. Johnson's passengers were Agustín Escobar, Mercè Camprubí Montal and their three children — Agustín, 10, Mercè, 8, and Víctor, 4.
Photos on the New York Helicopter Tours website show the family smiling in front of the aircraft and when strapped in at the helipad, on the East River near Wall Street. Mr. Johnson can be seen at the controls.
He took them past the Statue of Liberty and headed north over the Hudson to the George Washington Bridge.
Heading back south, Mr. Johnson had just passed the site of the 'Miracle on the Hudson' landing where, in 2009, Chesley Sullenberger, who is known as Sully, successfully landed US Airways Flight 1549 on the river with no casualties.
Then, according to witness and video accounts, Mr. Johnson's helicopter seemed to detach from its rotor, with the body slamming into the river so hard that a boom was heard for miles.
'It had to be some malfunction or something, or some kind of freak thing because he would have been able to see the signs and handle anything routine,' Louis Johnson, his father, said by phone on Friday.
'He's the person you want in that pilot seat,' he said. 'He was committed and he knew what he was doing. He was not new to this at all.'
The father said he felt strongly that, 'with Sean, it would not have been a pilot error.'
He said his son grew up in Chicago and began flying small planes and then got taken up by a friend in a helicopter, 'and he just fell in love with it.'
Laith Mugrabi, one of Sean Johnson's brothers-in-law, said Mr. Johnson 'wanted to fly helicopters everywhere.'
'He was like a bird,' he said. 'He wanted to be up in the air.'
'He knew what he was doing,' Mr. Mugrabi added. 'I went up flying with him in a heartbeat because I trusted him.'
In the Navy, Mr. Johnson served aboard the U.S.S. Ronald Reagan, an aircraft carrier, largely fueling jets, and assisted with a rescue mission after the 2011 tsunami in Japan, according to a friend, Niko Tiapula, who served with him.
After transitioning to the Naval Reserves, Mr. Johnson, a fitness buff and bodybuilder, would train with friends who were Navy SEALs, Mr. Tiapula said.
Mr. Johnson earned his certifications and instrument ratings as a helicopter pilot while earning a bachelor's degree in criminal justice from Southern Utah University in 2023, a decade after beginning his training at Embry‑Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Fla., according to his LinkedIn page.
His job experience included flying missions on Chinook helicopters for Billings Flying Service in Montana last year to help fight wildfires in California. Previously, he worked for the Heli-1 company flying Blackhawks, a type of helicopter used in the military and in aerial firefighting.
On Thursday Mr. Johnson was flying a Bell 206L LongRanger, a single-engine staple of sightseeing tours, police departments and traffic news choppers.
A video he recently posted on his LinkedIn page titled 'Good morning, New York City' shows him at the controls on what would have been a typical tourist flight route over the Hudson River. Passing Lower Manhattan and the gleaming Freedom Tower to his right, he cradled the control stick in his right hand and tended to the control panel with his left.
'When it all comes together,' he posted as a caption on the same video, but on his Facebook page.
Ms. Rose-Smith said 'he understood the risks of his job, but for him the rewards outweighed the risks.'
'He finally got to do what he wanted to do and he was just living the dream,' she said.