Witnesses have the “harrowing” recollection of seeing an airplane “fall out of the sky” into its watery burial when a helicopter crashed into the Hudson River in New York on April 8, killing a family of five tourists and the pilot.
For expansive views of some of New York’s most famous buildings, a tourist helicopter carrying a family from Spain took off from a Manhattan heliport on April 10.
On the aircraft flown by New York Helicopters, Agustin Escobar, a Siemens executive from Barcelona, Spain, his wife Mercè Camprubi Montal, and their four, five, and eleven-year-old children were enjoying breath-taking views of the cityscape.
The family was in New York to celebrate one of the children’s birthdays, according to the Spanish newspaper El Diario.
Tour becomes lethal
CNN reports that the trip took a disastrous turn around 3:15 p.m., just 16 minutes into the ride, when the chopper lost control and plummeted into the chilly Hudson River.
Videos posted on social media reveal that the helicopter plunged downward before crashing into the ocean with a loud splash, its spinning wings landing instantly thereafter.
In an attempt to save survivors, FDNY and NYPD divers quickly followed the helicopter into the murky river; however, the pilot and the Escobars were murdered.
“Amazing”
As the helicopter began to twist and spiral before plunging upside down into the Hudson River, sending debris across the river, people walking around Pier 40 stared in shock.
“I noticed the propeller detaching from the aircraft, and the helicopter was slightly nose down. It continued to spin by itself. Sarah Jane Raymond Ryer, a witness, told CNN station WCBS that there was nothing connected to it.
“I just waited here and about five minutes later we started seeing the police and stuff come,” witness Max told ABC7. “It sounded like a sonic boom on my right, so I looked up and literally saw a helicopter splitting in two, with the rotor flying off and this guy was going straight into the water and nothing came up afterwards, it must have just sunk and that was it.” “That is unlike anything I have ever seen in my life.”
“But yeah, just like a big bang on my right and then like a whoop whoop [making a helicopter noise] as you see the propeller like flying off like up way higher than the helicopter and just land straight in the water,” Max added, going on to describe what he had heard and seen.
Rajany, another witness, reported that the plane “just kind of fell apart,” shaking her. The most horrifying thing we have ever seen was that.
Bruce Wall, a witness, stated, “I heard some crackling, looked up, and then just saw a plane falling apart.” “The plane just sort of tumbled into the water with the propeller still in the air after the tail broke off, maybe 15 feet in the air after that.”
“Tumbling to pieces”
In the meantime, Dani Horbiak described how she “heard it before she saw it” while working from her Jersey City home with a view of the Hudson.
“I saw it plummet from the sky! Horbiak videotaped the helicopter “falling to pieces” before it “splashed down into the river below,” close to the pier. “I heard five or six loud noises that sounded almost like gunshots in the sky and saw pieces fall off, then watched it fall into the river,” Horbiak added.
“Seeing this happen to this family has truly rattled me immensely.If the wind had been a little stronger or the helicopter had been a little farther over, this may have been an even worse tragedy. Therefore, I’m thankful that no one else was hurt in the face of the disaster,” the woman told the UK Sun.
According to another Jersey resident, the noise first alerted her as well: “It sounded honestly like an engine came out.” I peered out my window. Some of the people I saw were acting quite normally, while others were sprinting for the water. I thought, “Oh, maybe it’s nothing.” Jenn Lynk remarked, “Then I began to hear all the sirens come outside.”
“Needed fuel.”
Aviation experts are concentrating on mechanical failure or abrupt weather changes as potential causes of the disaster, even though the exact cause is still being investigated.
“[The pilot] called in that he was landing and that he needed fuel, and it should have taken him about three minutes to arrive, but 20 minutes later, he didn’t arrive,” stated Michael Roth, CEO of New York Helicopters.
“I have no idea how this happened. All I can say is that we are devastated. Since this afternoon, my wife hasn’t stopped crying,” he said to CBS. We are a tiny business. As a grandfather and father, we are simply heartbroken. We don’t know what happened.
The pilot was skilled and licensed, according to authorities, and the weather, despite the fog, was within safe flying limits. More information is anticipated in the days ahead thanks to the divers’ recovery of the aircraft’s black box.
This incident serves as a sobering reminder of how swiftly things may change in life.
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