NYC Hudson River helicopter crash was birthday event for family, as pilot radioed he ‘needed fuel'
The Spanish family killed in a horrific helicopter crash into the Hudson River had hired the high-flying sightseeing tour as part of a birthday celebration for one of their children, officials said Friday as the helicopter owner told reporters the pilot was low on fuel moments before the tragedy occurred.
Tourists Agustin Escobar, the CEO of technology giant Siemens Spain, his wife Merce Camprubi Montal, and their three young children were all killed in the crash along with the pilot.
The family had come to New York City to celebrate the birthday of one of their children, Mayor Adams said Friday.
'We know the ages of the young people involved — 4, 8 and 10 — and unfortunately the 8-year-old it was his birthday today, so this was probably part of a normal tourist attraction of seeing the city from the skyline, but just a real unfortunate situation,' Adams said on Fox 5's 'Good Day New York.'
The 36-year-old pilot had radioed moments before plummeting into the water that he was desperately low on fuel and was heading back to the helipad, New York Helicopter CEO Michael Roth told The Telegraph.
The pilot made the radio transmission just before the 3:15 p.m. crash on the New Jersey side of the river. The helicopter took off from the Downtown Manhattan Heliport in lower Manhattan just before 3 p.m.
'He [the pilot] called in that he was landing and that he needed fuel, and it should have taken him about three minutes to arrive, but 20 minutes later, he didn't arrive,' Roth told The Telegraph. 'I got a call from my manager and my downtown heliport and she said she heard there was a crash, and then my phone blew up from everybody. Then one of my pilots flew over the Hudson and saw the helicopter upside down.'
'The death of the child, of any human being, is a monumental disaster,' Roth told The Telegraph. 'We're all devastated. Every employee in our company is devastated. My wife has not stopped crying.'
When reached by the Daily News late Thursday, Roth refused to comment on the crash.
'I'm not going to say anything,' he said before hanging up on a reporter.
The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board have launched investigations into the crash, Mayor Adams said in several interviews Friday.
The copter in the fatal crash first headed up the Hudson River to the George Washington Bridge, where it turned around and then headed back south, flying along the New Jersey side of the river before suddenly dropping upside-down into the river near Hoboken, Mayor Adams and Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said Thursday.
The flight lasted less than 18 minutes, officials said.
New York Helicopter filed for bankruptcy in 2019, claiming it had hundreds of thousands in debts. A large portion of the debts, about $114,000, were for 'repair services.'
The company has mixed reviews on Yelp, with at least one customer complaining that the company didn't do proper safety checks before takeoff. Other customers said employees were rude and charged unexpected fees.
'Extreme negligence of security protocols that must be associated with a helicopter ride,' said customer Kumar Sourabh, who visited the Big Apple from California. 'I have been in a helicopter ride before and had a 180 degree opposite experience. There was no briefing provided on security measures. As soon as the aircraft landed, and without any notice or instructions, as the helicopter blades were running on full sound, the owner rushed to us and started to pull us down.'
A Bell 206 helicopter owned by New York Helicopter crashed into the Hudson River in June 2013.
The helicopter lost power, and the pilot made an emergency landing. No injuries were reported, and the NTSB found that a maintenance flub and an engine lubrication anomaly led to the power cutoff.
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