Officials ID all victims in NYC helicopter crash: What we know

USA Today

12-04-2025

Officials ID all victims in NYC helicopter crash: What we know Agustin Escobar, CEO of Rail Infrastructure at Siemens Mobility, his family, and the helicopter pilot were killed when it crashed into the Hudson River.
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Spanish family of five, pilot killed in NYC helicopter crash
A family of five taking a flight over New York City and their pilot were killed after their helicopter crashed into the Hudson river.
Officials have identified all six people aboard the sightseeing helicopter that crashed into the Hudson River near New Jersey as investigators scour the murky water for additional parts of the chopper.
Among the six killed in the April 10 crash were pilot Seankese Johnson, 36, and a family of five visiting from Spain, including Agustin Escobar, an executive at tech company Siemens, his wife, and their three children, ages 4, 8 and 10.
Escobar was in the city on business but had extended the trip so he and his family could celebrate his daughter's ninth birthday on April 11, according to Steven Fulop, the mayor of Jersey City, New Jersey.
The Bell 206 helicopter collapsed near Jersey City, New Jersey, around 3:15 p.m. after taking off from a heliport in downtown Manhattan for an aerial tour of the city, officials said. The chopper was operated by New York Helicopter Charter Inc. and was owned by Meridian Helicopters LLC, based in Louisiana.
The National Transportation Safety Board has begun an investigation into the cause of the crash. In a news conference, NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy told reporters that dive teams were still searching the waters of the Hudson to locate additional pieces of the helicopter.
Homendy urged witnesses to send video and photos of the crash and asked for patience as investigators identify what led to chopper to tumble out of the sky. "We do not speculate, we need to confirm information," she said. "That is a process that takes time."
Investigators probe reports of birds in the area
National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Jennifer Homendy said at a news conference that the agency is investigating reports that there was a large flock of birds in the area at the time of the crash.
Homendy said the reports about the birds is "something we will be looking into."
Pilot had hundreds of hours of flight experience, NTSB chair says
Johnson, the pilot of the aircraft, had accumulated hundreds of hours of flight time, Homendy said at a news conference.
He held a commercial pilot certificate, and as of March had 788 hours of total flight time, she said.
Officials do not yet know how much experience he had aboard the Bell helicopter, which is the model that tumbled into the Hudson River on April 11.
The 36-year-old moved to the city recently, according to a Facebook profile.
Johnson's profile photo dated to March 28 shows him flying by One World Trade Center and the public page shows photos of him flying by the Willis Tower in his native Chicago.
The helicopter pilot was a Navy veteran, according to his profile.
Divers still looking for pieces of helicopter
Homendy said an NTSB team has began pulling components - including the engine - off the wreckage to begin a comprehensive analysis.
She said NYPD divers are still searching for pieces of the helicopter, including its roof and tail structures and the main rotor. She said the NTSB has not identified a preliminary cause of the crash.
See the moment the helicopter crashed
Video taken by eyewitnesses shows the moment the helicopter fell to the water, appearing to twist rapidly on its descent. Moments after a rotor can be seen falling detached from the aircraft itself.
Watch the video:
Moment helicopter crashes in New York City, killing 6
Six people, including five members of one family, died when the sightseeing helicopter lost control over the Hudson River in New York.
What we know about the crash victims
Escobar was with his wife, Merce Camprubi Montal, and their three children, law enforcement sources reportedly told ABC News.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said the crash was an "unimaginable tragedy."
"Five Spaniards from the same family, three of them children, and the pilot have lost their lives," Sanchez said. "I sympathize with the victims' loved ones at this heartbreaking time."
The Escobar family: Who was the family in the Hudson River helicopter crash?
What to know about NYC sightseeing choppers
Choppers are big business in New York. They generate $78 million for the city annually and 30,000 flights leave every year from the downtown heliport alone, Jennifer Sun of the city's Economic Development Corporation told City Council last year.
But the flights have also been subject to scrutiny over safety concerns – at least 38 people have died in helicopter crashes in the city since 1977 – as well as noise complaints.
In fact the council meeting last year where Sun shared flight data was called in response to a 2,000% jump in helicopter noise complaints over five years, Council Member Amanda Farías said at the meeting.
Residents and legislators have called for an outright ban of nonessential flights, including sightseeing choppers and commuter flights, which vastly outnumber flights piloted by emergency personnel or media.
More: Helicopter tours of NYC have a controversial and deadly history
Tourists opt viewing NYC skyline from the plane or a skyscraper
Sightseeing helicopter rides have become a popular part of any New York City tour but the crash on Thursday left many visitors inclined to find another way to view the iconic skyline.
On a rainy Friday, Maureen Standing said she and her boyfriend, Sean Maurath could 'view it from the airplane.' The couple from Cleveland arrived last night into LaGuardia Airport, in Queens, said Standing, 46.
'We got a solid view of it all lit up,' Standing, a teacher, said, as the pair exited the subway by the Empire State Building for a nearby museum. "I'm apprehensive about flying these days anyway."
The Weiß family from Germany was staying at a hotel in Jersey City, just a few hundred yards from where the chopper plunged into the Hudson River.
Broder Weiß said the family had no plans of going on a helicopter ride. The 17-year-old had heard about the skyline tours from friends but his mother is afraid of heights.
'So that kind of stands in the way of that,' said the teenager.
His mother's fear didn't stop the Weiß family on Thursday from ascending One World Trade Center, the tallest building in North America.
'I think that's enough view from above,' Weiß said.
– Eduardo Cuevas, USA TODAY
What might have happened to the helicopter
It's too early to say what happened to the sightseeing helicopter, but video of the aircraft careening into the river makes it clear there was some kind of catastrophic failure of the rotor, said Jim Brauchle, an aviation attorney with Motley Rice LLC who has represented families of crashes and a former Air Force navigator. Video shows what appears to be a detached rotor falling moments after the helicopter hit the water.
"When you see the rotor detaching, two things come to mind. One is there was some type of mechanical or structural failure that made it separate. Second is this phenomenon called 'mast bumping,'" Brauchle told USA TODAY.
Mast bumping happens when the rotor blade of the helicopter tilts too far down and strikes the helicopter, which can cut the tail of the helicopter off and appears to be what happened to this craft, he said. It can happen when a pilot makes too abrupt of a maneuver such as a quick dive or climb. It's not a terribly common phenomenon, but it's happened before, particularly in smaller helicopters that have two rotor blades, Brauchle said. That's common for sightseeing helicopters.
'I haven't seen anything like that in my 30 years being in business, in the helicopter business,' New York Helicopter Tours CEO Michael Roth told the New York Post. 'The only thing I could guess – I got no clue – is that it either had a bird strike or the main rotor blades failed. I have no clue. I don't know.'
'This is horrific,' Roth said. 'But you gotta remember something, these are machines and they break.'
A mechanical failure is also possible, Brauchle said. Metal fatigue can set in with the rotors after they're used for a long time. Brauchle said tourism helicopters are among the most used because they're out flying for hours every day, sometimes in harsh weather. Regular maintenance is important to prevent disasters, but some parts failures might not be detectible in an inspection, he said.
Brauchle said he helped represent the families of victims of a 2009 disaster involving a sightseeing helicopter that collided with a private plane over the Hudson River.
"It was this same kind of thing where parents and children got killed, and I just remember the devastation of those families. So really, my heart goes out to the relatives of the people that got killed, because it's just an unbearable loss," he said.
Helicopter group says industry is 'devastated'
The chairman of a helicopter industry group said the crash has "devastated" the community.
"All of our thoughts – and the thoughts of a nation - are with the families and loved ones of the victims during this unimaginable time," said Jeff Smith, the chairman of the Eastern Region Helicopter Council.
Smith said the helicopter community would cooperate and assist in the investigation to ensure nothing like this happens again.
"Safety is the cornerstone of our industry, and any loss of life is a profound tragedy that reminds us of the heavy responsibility we bear every day," he said.
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Investigation into cause of crash continues
The family was on a sightseeing helicopter tour with the company New York Helicopter, which charges hundreds of dollars per person for aerial tours of various landmarks in the city, according to its website.
Authorities are still investigating the cause of the crash, but said they believe the helicopter fell into the water "inverted." Video of the crash appears to show the helicopter plummeting into the water followed by a detached helicopter blade seconds later. The helicopter's landing gear could be seen emerging from the water as rescue crews swarmed the area afterward.
AccuWeather said the skies were cloudy with a southeast wind at 10 to 15 mph at the time of the crash.
USA TODAY has reached out to the New York Police Department, the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration for more information into the investigation.
Contributing: Donovan Slack, Trevor Hughes, Eduardo Cuevas and Krystal Nurse, USA TODAY; Reuters