Touring company in Hudson River crash had a history of mechanical issues

Apr 11, 2025 09:13 AM IST

In total, six lives were lost in the Hudson River crash, raising serious questions about helicopter safety.

New York Helicopter Tours, the company at the centre of Thursday’s deadly crash in the Hudson River — which killed all six people on board — has a prior chopper crash-land history that raises serious questions about its safety record.

Debris floats in the water at the scene where a helicopter crashed in the Hudson River in Jersey City(Bloomberg)

Known for flying sightseeing and private tours around New York City, the New York Helicopter Tours’s helicopters crashed shortly after takeoff in northern New Jersey in 2015.

The pilot said the chopper began spinning uncontrollably while hovering just 20 feet above the ground. He managed to bring it down with a “hard landing,” avoiding fatalities, but the situation could have been far worse.

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Hudson River wasn’t the company’s only brush with danger

The helicopter had been in a similar accident years earlier—in Chile in 2010. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) found that the drive shaftwas “unairworthy.” Even more alarming, it appeared to be an improper replacement part that should never have been used on the aircraft.

{This is a developing story. Please stay tuned with us for the latest updates.}