By PHILIP MARCELO
NEW YORK (AP) — Federal officers launched new photos Wednesday exhibiting a helicopter that crashed in New York final month breaking up in midair.
The sequence of stills taken from surveillance digital camera video had been included within the Nationwide Transportation Security Board’s preliminary report into the doomed sightseeing flight, on which six folks died April 10.
The pictures present the moments the helicopter broke into three elements — the fuselage, the primary rotor system and the tail increase.
“Several witnesses described hearing several loud ‘bangs’ emanating from the helicopter before it broke up and descended into the river,” the report says.
On the time of the crash, the Bell 206L-4 had operated about 50 hours since its final inspection Feb. 27, in accordance with the report. The helicopter’s airframe accrued practically 13,000 complete hours of operation, and the engine accrued greater than 23,000 hours.
Federal Aviation Administration information present the plane was in-built 2004 and had a upkeep difficulty final September involving its transmission meeting.
The NTSB mentioned beforehand that the plane, which was operated by tour firm New York Helicopter, was not outfitted with any video or knowledge recording units.
However on Wednesday it mentioned photographs taken beforehand present that the pilot, Seankese Johnson, was carrying computer-augmented sun shades, which might have had video and audio recording functionality. The glasses haven’t been recovered, nonetheless.
Johnson, a 36-year-old former Navy SEAL, acquired his business pilot’s license in 2023.
He logged 790 hours of flight time, fewer than 50 of which had been within the make and mannequin of the helicopter concerned within the accident, the NTSB mentioned.
“The pilot worked a 10 days on/10 days off schedule and the accident flight was his first day back after having 10 days off,” in accordance with the report. “The accident flight was the eighth tour flight of the day for the accident helicopter, and all of those flights were operated by the pilot.”
The plane was on a typical tour, departing from the downtown heliport by Wall Road round 3 p.m. and flying north alongside the Manhattan skyline earlier than heading south towards the Statue of Liberty.
Lower than 18 minutes into the flight, witnesses noticed the tail and primary rotor breaking away and smoke pouring from the spinning helicopter.
Lately New York Helicopter, the tour firm, went via chapter and confronted ongoing lawsuits over alleged money owed.
The crash was amongst a latest string of plane crashes and shut calls that left some folks fearful concerning the security of flying within the U.S. It additionally revived considerations concerning the widespread and dear aerial excursions over New York Metropolis.
Longtime opponents revived calls to ban or restrict “nonessential” helicopter flights, together with the roughly 30,000 sightseeing rides over town every year. However Mayor Eric Adams doesn’t help additional restrictions.
5 business sightseeing helicopters have gone down within the rivers round Manhattan since 2005 because of mechanical failure, pilot error or collision, killing 20 folks.
The opposite victims of the April 10 crash had been Agustín Escobar, a 49-year-old world CEO of rail infrastructure at Siemens Mobility; his spouse, Mercè Camprubí Montal, a 39-year-old who labored for Siemens Power, a separate firm; and their kids Victor, 4, Mercedes, 8, and Agustin, 10.
The household was from Barcelona, Spain, and Montal was the granddaughter of a former president of the well-known Barcelona FC soccer membership.
Officers have mentioned Escobar was within the New York space on enterprise, and his household flew in to satisfy him. Mercedes would have turned 9 the day after the crash.
Initially Revealed: Could 7, 2025 at 4:28 PM EDT
