NTSB Releases Preliminary Report on New York Helicopter Accident

Agency is scrutinizing video from the sightseeing tour crash that killed the pilot and a family of five in April.

Meg Godlewski

Friday, May 09, 2025 at 11:41 AM ET

Verified

Edited By:

Travis Tingle

National Transportation Safety Board team members survey the wreckage recovered from the Bell 206 L-4 helicopter that crashed into the Hudson River on April 10 near New York City. [Credit: NTSB]

Key Takeaways:

The NTSB has released a preliminary report on April's in-flight breakup and crash of a tourist helicopter in New York, which killed the pilot and a family of five.
Witnesses reported loud bangs before seeing the Bell 206L-4's tail boom and main rotor system separate near the Holland Tunnel, with ADS-B data indicating a sudden climb followed by a rapid descent.
Investigators are reviewing surveillance video and ADS-B data, but the helicopter was not equipped with a black box, and the pilot's potential video-recording glasses were not recovered.
The pilot, who had approximately 790 hours of flight experience, was on his eighth tour flight of the day with the Part 135 operated aircraft.

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The National Transportation Safety Board has released the preliminary report on April’s in-flight breakup and crash of a tourist helicopter in New York.

Investigators from both the NTSB and the FAA are scrutinizing video recordings from surveillance cameras that caught the aircraft’s disintegration as it flew over the Hudson River corridor. The crash killed the pilot and a family of five.