NTSB report: Witnesses heard loud 'bangs' before fatal NYC helicopter crash
An image captured by a surveillance camera, released Wednesday by the NTSB, shows the doomed helicopter in the moments before it crashed last month, killing the pilot and a family of five from Spain. Credit: Bruce Wall via AP
Witnesses heard loud "bangs" last month from the doomed sightseeing helicopter just before it broke apart above the Hudson River and crashed, killing a family of five and the pilot, according to a preliminary report from the National Transportation Safety Board.
The report, released Wednesday, also includes new images captured by a surveillance camera of the helicopter in the moments before hit the river. It's the government’s first public explanation about what might have happened April 10, when the Bell 206L-4 plunged into the Hudson near Jersey City, in one of the deadliest helicopter crashes in the region in years.
"Several witnesses described hearing several loud ‘bangs’ emanating from the helicopter before it broke up and descended into the river," the report says. "Surveillance video (with accompanying audio) captured the helicopter traveling south before it suddenly separated into three major sections: fuselage (including the engine), main rotor system (including both main rotor blades, transmission and roof-beam structure), and the tail boom (including the tail rotor)."
The pilot killed in the crash, Seankese Johnson, 36, had flown from the Statue of Liberty, up to the George Washington Bridge and then made a U-turn to head back downtown, the report said.
Also killed in the crash were Agustín Escobar, 49, global CEO of rail infrastructure at Siemens Mobility; his wife, Mercè Camprubí Montal, 39, who worked for Siemens Energy, a separate company; and the couple's children Victor, 4, Mercedes, 8, and Agustín, 10.
Escobar had been in the city for a business trip, Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop said a day after the crash. His family joined him to celebrate Montal's upcoming 40th birthday and the birthday of Mercedes, who would have turned 9 on the Friday after the crash, Fulop said. They were visiting from Spain.
The images show the helicopter breaking into three parts — the fuselage, the main rotor system and the tail boom. One image shows the helicopter — upside down with its main and tail rotors missing — seconds before the crash.
A total of 38 people have died in helicopter failures since 1977. The last had occurred in 2019.
With AP
Matthew Chayes, a Newsday reporter since 2007, covers New York City.
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