Thursday’s devastating helicopter crash in the Hudson River, which resulted in six fatalities, marks the latest in a long line of aviation tragedies to strike New York City.
Since 1977, at least 33 people have lost their lives in helicopter incidents across the city, according to figures from “Manhattan Dispatch“.
One of the earliest high-profile accidents occurred in 1977 when a Sikorsky S-61L helicopter’s landing gear failed as passengers waited to board atop the Pan Am Building at 200 Park Avenue (now the MetLife Building). The aircraft toppled over, and its spinning rotors killed four people, including filmmaker Michael Findlay. A fifth person was injured, and a broken rotor fragment struck a pedestrian on the street below, killing one and injuring another.
In 1985, tragedy struck again when a Dauphin 360C operated by New York Helicopter crash-landed in the East River. Of the six passengers aboard, one—a 40-year-old businessman from West Germany—died. The remaining passengers and two crew members survived.
The following year, in 1986, WNBC traffic reporter Jane Dornacker perished during a live broadcast when her helicopter plunged into the Hudson River near 45th Street. As she gave her traffic report, her last words were, “Hit the water! Hit the water! Hit the water!” before the transmission cut out.
In 1997, a Colgate-Palmolive Company helicopter, a BK-117 model, went down in the East River shortly after takeoff from the 60th Street heliport. The crash killed Craig Tate, the company’s chief technical officer, and severely injured another executive. Investigators later determined that the tail rotor had detached mid-flight.
A catastrophic midair collision in 2009 claimed nine lives when a Eurocopter AS350 sightseeing helicopter collided with a small private plane over the Hudson, near Hoboken’s Sinatra Park. Operated by Liberty Helicopter Tours, the helicopter was carrying five Italian tourists. The single-engine Piper plane, which had recently departed from an airport, lost contact with air traffic control shortly before the collision.
Another fatal crash occurred in 2018 when an “open-door” photo flight operated by FlyNyon through Liberty Helicopters went down in the East River. The Eurocopter AS350 crash killed five passengers, two at the scene and three later at the hospital. The pilot, Richard Vance, survived. The victims’ families were later awarded $116 million in damages, with their legal team calling for stricter aviation safety standards.
In 2019, a solo pilot—Tim McCormack—died when his Agusta A109E helicopter made an emergency landing on the roof of a 54-story Midtown skyscraper. Having taken off just 11 minutes earlier from the 34th Street heliport, the helicopter crashed due to suspected mechanical issues. A piece of debris fell more than 700 feet, landing dangerously close to pedestrians and vehicles on the street below.
Following Thursday’s tragic accident, aviation attorney Gary C. Robb—who represented the family of a 2018 crash victim—described the incident as “a tragic day for aviation” and emphasized the need for a comprehensive investigation.
From what is known for now – the head of the Spanish branch of the technology company Siemens and his family were identified as five of the victims who were killed on the ill-fated helicopter that plunged into the Hudson River Thursday, according to law enforcement sources. Agustin Escobar, president and CEO of Siemens in Spain, his wife and their three children were killed in the fiery crash in which a tourist chopper plunged into the murky waters.
