Helicopter broke apart before crashing into Hudson River, report says

The wreckage of a tour helicopter that crashed in the Hudson River ashore after it was removed by crane at an Army Corps of Engineers facility in Jersey City, N.J., April 11, 2025. The sightseeing helicopter that crashed into the Hudson River last month, killing all six people aboard, suddenly broke into three pieces before dropping into the water, according to a preliminary report released by federal investigators on Wednesday. (Dakota Santiago/The New York Times)

By Patrick McGeehan

The sightseeing helicopter that crashed into the Hudson River last month, killing all six people aboard, suddenly broke into three pieces before dropping into the water, according to a preliminary report released by federal investigators earlier this week.

The report, from the National Transportation Safety Board, provided no explanation for the helicopter’s midair destruction. It simply laid out some of the facts that investigators gathered immediately after the tragedy on April 10 that left the pilot and a family of five Spanish tourists dead.

The helicopter, a Bell 206L-4 LongRanger operated by New York Helicopter Tours, had been flying at about 110 mph over the river that afternoon, at an altitude of 625 feet to 650 feet, before it rose to about 675 and then descended rapidly, the report said. In the next seven seconds, it fell more than 550 feet before it splashed into the water without its rotor blades or tail at about 3:15 p.m.

Witnesses described hearing “several loud bangs” from the helicopter before it broke up and descended into the river, the report said.

The fatal crash, one of several in the past 15 years in and around New York City, has led to calls for more restrictions on sightseeing flights or outright bans on them. But the airspace is controlled by the Federal Aviation Administration, which has been reluctant to limit access.

The passengers were Agustín Escobar; his wife, Mercè Camprubí Montal; and their three children, Agustín, 10; Mercè, 8; and Víctor, 4. The pilot, Seankese Johnson, 36, a U.S. Navy veteran who had recently started flying excursions for New York Helicopter Tours, also died.

The helicopter had taken off from a port in lower Manhattan, looped around the Statue of Liberty and headed up the river. It made a U-turn near the George Washington Bridge and was flying back on the New Jersey side of the river when it crashed.

The pilot was on the eighth flight of his first day of work after 10 regularly scheduled days off, the report said. He had a commercial pilot certificate and had logged more than 790 hours of flight time, including about 50 hours at the controls of a Bell 206L-4, it said.

The report said that the helicopter “suddenly separated into three major sections” — the fuselage that held the passengers and pilot, the main rotor system and the tail boom. The rotor system and tail boom were recovered in about 30 feet of water, north of where the fuselage was found, the report said.

The investigation was hampered by the helicopter’s lack of video or data recording devices. Photos of the pilot taken just before the helicopter departed showed that he was wearing “computer-augmented sunglasses” that were capable of recording video and audio, the report said. But those sunglasses were not recovered.

A final, more conclusive report from the safety board is expected, but it is likely to take several months to prepare.