Helicopter Broke Apart Before Crashing Into Hudson River, Report Says

New York Times

07-05-2025

The fatal crash, one of several in the last 15 years in and around New York City, has led to calls for more restrictions on sightseeing flights or outright bans on them. But the airspace is controlled by the Federal Aviation Administration, which has been reluctant to limit access.
The passengers were Agustín Escobar; his wife, Mercè Camprubí Montal; and their three children, Agustín, 10; Mercè, 8; and Víctor, 4. The pilot, Seankese Johnson, 36, a U.S. Navy veteran who had recently started flying excursions for New York Helicopter Tours, also died.
The helicopter had taken off from a port in Lower Manhattan, looped around the Statue of Liberty and headed up the river. It made a U-turn near the George Washington Bridge and was flying back on the New Jersey side of the river when it crashed.
The pilot was on the eighth flight of his first day of work after 10 regularly scheduled days off, the report said. He had a commercial pilot certificate and had logged more than 790 hours of flight time, including about 50 hours at the controls of a Bell 206L-4, it said.
The report said that the helicopter 'suddenly separated into three major sections' — the fuselage that held the passengers and pilot, the main rotor system and the tail boom. The rotor system and tail boom were recovered in about 30 feet of water, north of where the fuselage was found, the report said.