On April 10, a helicopter carrying a Spanish family of five crashed into the Hudson River in New York City. The family -- Agustin Escobar, President and CEO of Siemens in Spain, along with his wife and their three children -- died in the crash along with the helicopter pilot.
Video of the crash showed the helicopter's tail was missing and so was the main rotor, and people wondered how such a catastrophic failure could have happened. Witnesses reported hearing a loud boom before seeing the helicopter plummet into the water.
The FAA and NTSB are investigating and the FFA has announced the immediate shutdown of New York Helicopter Tours, the company involved:
FAA Statement New York Helicopter Tours — the company involved in the deadly crash on the Hudson earlier this week — is shutting down their operations immediately.⁰ ⁰We will continue to support @NTSB’s investigation. Additionally, the FAA will be launching an immediate…
— The FAA ✈️ (@FAANews) April 14, 2025
The entire post reads:
Lastly on the topic of helicopter safety broadly: The FAA is already analyzing airplane/helicopter hotspots nationwide, and we will be hosting a helicopter safety panel on April 22 to discuss the findings, risks, and additional mitigation options.
Safety is the FAA’s number one priority, and we will not hesitate to act to protect the flying public.
The company is already subject to an investigation from the National Transportation Safety Board, which said Saturday that the helicopter was not fitted with any flight recorders or onboard cameras.
A family of five visiting from Spain including three children — plus the pilot — were killed when the helicopter plunged into the river Thursday.
They were Agustin Escobar, 49 and Mercè Camprubí Montal, 39, and their three children, Victor, 4, Mercedes, 8, and Agustin, 10. The pilot, 36-year-old Seankese Johnson, was a U.S. Navy veteran who qualified as a commercial pilot in 2023 with more than 800 hours' flying time.
The company's website was still online early Monday and has for several days displayed a message to say it is "profoundly saddened by the tragic accident and loss of life that occurred on April 10, 2025, involving one of our helicopters in the Hudson River."
The message said all press inquiries would be handled by federal agencies. The company's president, Michael Roth, did not respond to requests for comment from the The Associated Press.
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What a tragedy.
Trying to wrap my head around how an industry can sell, or perhaps how an operator can commercially operate a product with a known single point failure flaw like this. Or is it 100% blamed on the pilot, so it is not considered a product flaw?
— Eric Knudsen (@eric_sdi) April 14, 2025
We'll see what the investigation shows.
Shutting down their operations because the FAA found massive safety failures is my guess
— IWasaNeverTrumper (@WasaNever) April 14, 2025
Yes.
For the FAA to post about your shutdown, you’re in TROUBLE.
— Bay (@baysights) April 14, 2025
We would not want the FAA to be posting about shutting down our helicopter business. That can't be good.
My father flew both fixed and rotary wing aircraft. The moments I had flying with him in fixed wing were transcendental. He absolutely refused to take any of us up in a helicopter. I scoffed at that until I saw this latest incident. My grandson wants to fly. I’m not so sure now.
— Christopher 🫨 (@CagedChef457) April 14, 2025
This writer has always been skeptical of helicopters.
You such in a big trouble if FAA post this. https://t.co/3bZQHdKOM2
— Luis Galindo (@LuisGalindo27) April 14, 2025
NBC News is also reporting the helicopter had no flight recorders on board:
The helicopter that crashed into the Hudson River "was not equipped with any flight recorders. No onboard video recorders or camera recorders have been recovered,” The NTSB says. https://t.co/tl5LDVFVo8
— NBC News (@NBCNews) April 14, 2025
As crews continue to search for key parts of the helicopter that crashed into the Hudson River, they won’t find one piece of evidence that is usually critical to investigators.
“The helicopter was not equipped with any flight recorders. No onboard video recorders or camera recorders have been recovered and none of the helicopter avionics onboard recorded information that could be used for the investigation,” the National Transportation Safety Board said in a statement Saturday.
Thursday’s deadly accident claimed the lives of a family of five visiting from Spain and the pilot.
“Divers from the New York Police Department are continuing to search for the helicopter’s main rotor, main gear box, tail rotor and a large portion of the tail boom. Side-scanning sonar is being used to identify potential locations of wreckage,” the NTSB’s statement said.
According to officials, the last major inspection of the helicopter was on March 1, and before the crash it completed seven tour flights.
May be part of why the FAA shut them down, although they're not legally required to have them.
Unbelievably, there's no legal requirement for helicopters used for 'recreation' to have flight recorders. https://t.co/yLBba961zG
— The American Way With Sheila Kay (@usasheilakay) April 14, 2025
This may change after this incident.
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