What to KnowNational Transportation Security Board officers are have begun the official federal investigation of the NYC sightseeing helicopter crash that killed 5 Spaniard vacationers and a pilot.Aviation specialists say a helicopter just like the one concerned within the crash might not have had a so-called black field, a flight recorder system used to assist investigators of their investigation.New York Helicopter Excursions, the corporate concerned within the crash, has been concerned in two different chopper incidents, with the latest courting to 2015.
Nationwide Transportation Security Board officers arrived in New York Metropolis to start the official federal investigation of the New York Metropolis sightseeing helicopter that broke aside in midair on Thursday and crashed into the Hudson River, killing the pilot and a household of 5.
Whereas the investigation was nonetheless within the early levels as NTSB officers addressed the media on Friday, investigators will have a look at each piece of data, from climate situations, to electronics, radar of the flight path to previous upkeep information.
A black field, which is the a flight recorder system usually used to assist reconstruct the occasions of an aviation incident, might not have been used within the helicopter operated by New York Helicopter Excursions, aviation specialists say.
Footage from contained in the cabin of the chopper with tail quantity N216MH exhibits what was like inside because the household of 5 and the pilot went for the sightseeing journey of the New York Metropolis skyline.
In keeping with police, the chopper took off from the Wall Avenue heliport at 2:59 p.m. on Tuesday, circling close to the Statue of Liberty and the George Washington Bridge. Subsequently, the helicopter circled south, flying on the New Jersey aspect of the Hudson River when at round 3:17 p.m. 9-1-1 calls reported a chopper crash close to the Holland Tunnel.
Thursday’s crash is just not the primary aviation incident for the sightseeing firm.
Data from the Nationwide Transportation Security Board present New York Helicopter Excursions had two previous incidents involving helicopter crashes.
In June 2013, a helicopter carrying a Swedish household made an emergency touchdown within the Hudson River after the chopper misplaced energy shortly after takeoff. The pilot, together with two adults and two youngsters, have been safely pulled out of the submerged chopper.
Two years later, in Could 2015, a Bell 206L-3 New York Helicopter chopper was “substantially damaged” throughout a tough touchdown in Kearny, New Jersey, leaving the pilot injured. The next investigation from the NTSB discovered that the there was a deliberate concealment and reuse of an “unairworthy” tail rotor driveshaft by unknown personnel.
Since 1977, no less than 37 individuals have died in helicopter crashes in New York Metropolis, when an accident on a skyscraper touchdown pad led to restrictions on the place choppers may land.
In 2019, two crashes occurred inside a month. A pilot was killed on June 10, 2019 after hitting the roof of a skyscraper amid poor climate situations. The helicopter struck the 750-foot AXA Equitable constructing, sparking a hearth that compelled workplace employees to flee.
Simply weeks previous to that incident, on Could 15, a helicopter crashed into the Hudson River and sank, however the pilot managed to securely escape.
