NYC sightseeing helicopter plunges into river, killing 6

NEW YORK AP A New York City sightseeing helicopter broke apart in midair Thursday and crashed upside-down into the Hudson River killing the pilot and a family of five Spanish tourists in the latest U S aviation mishap personnel explained The casualties included Siemens executive Agustin Escobar his wife Merc Camprub Montal a global manager at an capacity mechanism company and three children in addition to the pilot a person briefed on the inspection notified The Associated Press The person could not discuss details of the research publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity Photos posted on the helicopter company s website demonstrated the couple and their children showing contentment as they boarded just before the flight took off The flight departed a downtown heliport around p m and lasted less than minutes Radar information manifested it flew north along the Manhattan skyline and then back south toward the Statue of Liberty Video of the crash displayed parts of the aircraft tumbling through the air into the water near the shoreline of Jersey City New Jersey Observers describe the helicopter s plunge into the Hudson A witness there Bruce Wall disclosed he saw it falling apart in midair with the tail and main rotor coming off The main rotor was still spinning without the helicopter as it fell Dani Horbiak was at her Jersey City home when she heard what sounded like several gunshots in a row almost in the air She looked out her window and saw the chopper splash in several pieces into the river The helicopter was spinning uncontrollably with a bunch of smoke coming out before it slammed into the water mentioned Lesly Camacho a hostess at a restaurant along the river in Hoboken New Jersey On air traffic control radio an NYPD helicopter pilot can be heard saying Be advised you do have an aircraft down Holland Tunnel Please keep your eyes open for anybody in the water About five minutes after that someone asks Hey Finest a reference to the NYPD s call sign what s going on over there by the Holland Tunnel The ship went down someone else responds Rescue boats circled the submerged aircraft within minutes of impact near the end of a long maintenance pier for a ventilation tower serving the Holland Tunnel Recovery crews hoisted the mangled helicopter out of the water just after p m using a floating crane The bodies were also recovered from the river Mayor Eric Adams revealed The flight was operated by New York Helicopters functionaries reported No one answered the phones at the company s offices in New York and New Jersey A person who answered the phone at the home of the company s owner Michael Roth revealed he declined to comment Roth recounted the New York Post he was devastated and had no clue why the crash happened The only thing I know by watching a video of the helicopter falling down that the main rotor blades weren t on the helicopter the Post quoted him as saying He added that he had not seen such a thing happen during his years in the helicopter business but noted These are machines and they break Emails seeking comment were sent to attorneys who have represented Roth in the past The Federal Aviation Administration identified the helicopter as a Bell a model widely used in commercial and regime aviation including by sightseeing companies TV news stations and police It was initially developed for the U S Army before being adapted for other uses Thousands have been manufactured over the years The National Transportation Safety Board declared it would investigate Tragedy strikes a family from Spain Escobar worked for the tech company Siemens for more than years the greater part in recent days as global CEO for rail infrastructure at Siemens Mobility according to his LinkedIn account In late he briefly became president and CEO of Siemens Spain In a post about the position he thanked his family my endless source of strength and happiness for their unconditional endorsement love and patience Escobar regularly posted about the importance of sustainability in the rail industry and often traveled internationally for work including journeying to India and the UK in the past month He also was vice president of the German Chamber of Commerce for Spain since Camprub Montal worked in Barcelona Spain for ability hardware company Siemens Potency for about seven years including as its global commercialization manager and as a digitalization manager according to her LinkedIn account What may have caused the crash Video of the crash suggested that a catastrophic mechanical failure left the pilot with no chance to save the helicopter mentioned Justin Green an aviation lawyer who was a helicopter pilot in the Marine Corps It is achievable the helicopter s main rotors struck the tail boom emerging it apart and causing the cabin to free fall Green mentioned They were dead as soon as whatever happened happened Green disclosed There s no indication they had any control over the craft No pilot could have prevented that accident once they lost the lifts It s like a rock falling to the ground It s heartbreaking The skies over Manhattan are routinely filled with planes and helicopters both private recreational aircraft and commercial and tourist flights Manhattan has several helipads from which business executives and others are whisked to destinations throughout the metropolitan area At least people have died in helicopter accidents in New York City since A collision between a plane and a tourist helicopter over the Hudson in killed nine people and five died in when a charter helicopter offering open door flights went down into the East River New York Helicopters also owned a Bell that lost power and made an crisis landing on the Hudson during a sightseeing tour in June The pilot managed to land safely and he and the passengers a family of four Swedes were uninjured The National Transportation Safety Board ascertained that a maintenance flub and an engine lubrication anomaly led to the power cutoff Thursday s crash was the first for a helicopter in the city since one hit the roof of a skyscraper in killing the pilot The accidents and the noise caused by helicopters have repeatedly led particular public activists and personnel to propose banning or restricting traffic at Manhattan heliports Other up-to-date crashes and close calls have already left various people worried about the safety of flying in the U S Seven people were killed when a anatomical carriage plane plummeted into a Philadelphia neighborhood in January That happened two days after an American Airlines jet and an Army helicopter collided in midair in Washington in the deadliest U S air catastrophe in a generation