A sightseeing helicopter that plunged into the Hudson River near New York City last year, killing a family of five and the pilot, crashed after hitting a flock of geese, the National Transportation Safety Board said in a series of investigative reports released on Thursday.
Investigation Details
The Bell 206L-4, operated by New York Helicopters, took off from lower Manhattan on April 11, 2025, circling the Statue of Liberty, before flying north along the Hudson River. After turning back south, the aircraft was near the New Jersey shoreline when it broke apart in the air, flipping and spiraling into the water.
A mixed-species flock of Brant and Canada Geese impacted the rotor blades and the rear of the aircraft, the Smithsonian Institution’s feather identification lab determined. The victims in the crash included three children and their parents – who both worked for Siemens, a German multinational technology conglomerate. The pilot was also killed.
Over 24,000 incidents of aircraft hitting animals were reported in the Federal Aviation Administration’s wildlife strike database last year. More than 1,000 of those were determined to have happened in New York or New Jersey.
Original reporting: KEYT (Ventura/Santa Barbara) — read the source article.
