The cause of the helicopter crash in New York‘s Hudson River that led to the deaths of the pilot and CEO of Siemens along with his wife and their three children, investigators are examining.

Agustin Escobar, a Siemens executive, and his wife Merse Cambrobi Montal, from Spain, had booked the helicopter trip to celebrate the upcoming birthday of their eight-year-old child.

Authorities named the pilot as Sinkes Johnson. He was 36 years old, according to the Jersey City mayor’s office.

Giving an update on the investigation into the crash, National Transportation Safety Board chairwoman Jennifer Homedy said the initial cause of the tragedy had not been determined.

Homedy said divers were still recovering parts of the helicopter from the Hudson River – and revealed that the pilot had logged more than 780 hours of flight time.

Earlier, New York City police director Jessica Tish, said divers had retrieved all occupants from the helicopter, which was upside down in the water.

“Four victims were pronounced dead at the scene and two others were taken to local hospitals in the area, where unfortunately both succumbed to their injuries,”
she added.

Records show the helicopter was built in 2004 and had already logged 12,728 flight hours when it needed to be repaired.

An investigation is underway to determine what caused the aircraft to fall and crash into the river. The investigation will focus on the pilot’s experience, the wreckage and the Big Apple company that runs the sightseeing tours.

Investigators will also review maintenance work done on the fatal aircraft, including the completion of two recent safety airworthiness directives issued by the FAA for Bell 206L helicopters.

What investigators are looking at

1. Mechanical failure

Aviation lawyer and former US Marine Corps helicopter pilot Justin Green told US media that video footage of the crash suggests “catastrophic mechanical failure”.

A critical component of the aircraft, known as the “Jesus nut”, may have been missing or defective, aviation analyst Julian Bray warned. The “Jesus nut” is a term coined by US soldiers during the Vietnam War, referring to the critical fitting that holds the central pivot shaft to the helicopter’s mast. This single nut is so vital that, should it fail during flight, the consequences would be catastrophic, with the rotor completely detaching from the helicopter.

The expert said this may have caused the helicopter’s blades to detach while still spinning in the air and possibly cut the aircraft off before it hit the water. Bray said: “What appears to have happened with this particular helicopter is that the rotor, the main rotor. had become detached, because in a video you can see the blades spinning away from the helicopter.

2. Pulling on the controls

Dave Fishwick, the Burnley businessman, gave his own theory of the crash. In a video on TikTok he said the tail propeller could have been severed by a sudden back and forth movement of the controller,

“I’m not sure if that actually happened,” Fishwick said. “I’m sure it had something to do with the main propeller disk not holding the helicopter where it should have been.”

3. Birds

Investigators are also looking into reports of flocks of birds spotted near the crash site. Ms Homendy said the NTSB was “aware” of the reports and that the issue had been discussed.

Asked about reports that a large flock of birds was seen in the area shortly before the crash, she said: “We discussed it this morning. It is something we are looking into. What I would say to the public is that if something seemed different or intrigued you, you can share it with our investigators.”

4. Low fuel level

According to reports, the helicopter was low on fuel when it crashed. Michael Roth, the managing director of New York Helicopter Tours, told the Telegraph that the pilot “called in that he was landing and needed fuel”. “It should have taken him about three minutes to arrive,” Roth said. “But 20 minutes later, he didn’t arrive.

5. Excessive maneuvering

Former military aviator Jim Brauchle told the Mail that he believes the “two main causes of this phenomenon are mechanical failure or excessive manoeuvring”. He also called for a “full investigation” into the incident. “From the footage it appears that the main rotor (propeller) struck the body of the helicopter, severing the tail of the helicopter, which created an irreparable incident.”

Who were the victims?

The pilot of the helicopter was Sinkes Johnson, known as Sean, who had shared photos and videos of his flights with the Manhattan skyline as a backdrop on social media. In the summer of 2023, he announced he was flying a Blackhawk helicopter to fight fires for a Montana-based company.

Passengers Agustin Escobar, 49, Merce Cabrooby Montal, 39, and their three children, Victor, 4, Mercedes, 8, and Agustin, 10, died in the crash.

Escobar was in New York City on business and his family flew in to join him for a few days, Steven Fulop, the mayor of New Jersey, wrote in a post on X.

Montal worked for Siemens Energy, a separate division of Siemens. Her grandfather was former Barcelona president Agusti Montal.

The birthday that turned into a tragedy

A detail that adds even more weight to the tragedy that occurred in New York involving the family of five of Siemens Spain CEO Agustín Escobar is being brought to light by Spanish media.

As El Diario reports, Escobar, his wife and their three children traveled all the way to New York to celebrate the birthday of one of the children.

The Escobar family had arrived in New York from Barcelona just hours before the tragic flight, opting to take one of the aerial tours that tourists visiting the American metropolis choose to take, around the Statue of Liberty and up to the George Washington Bridge.

What eyewitnesses say

At the same time, experts are trying to analyse the causes of the crash by examining the images captured by eyewitnesses.

In the footage, the propeller on the tail of the helicopter appears to have been cut off, falling at a different time from New York Helicopters’ Bell 206L-4 LongRanger IV.

“From the footage it appears that the rotor hit the main ‘body’ of the helicopter, cutting off the tail with this tragic result,” former military pilot Jim Brusl told the Daily Mail. According to him this could have been caused by either mechanical failure or over-handling.

In the same vein an expert spoke to Fox 5 saying that in such a possibility, the flight was doomed: “If the rotating head came off the helicopter that was doomed. There is no way a helicopter could make a normal landing with that kind of damage. The only thing that will happen is that it will crash.”

According to international media reports, the helicopter “crashed like a rock” into the Hudson River, resulting in the death of the 36-year-old pilot in addition to the Escobar family.

“I heard a loud crack. I looked up and saw a helicopter going down and crashing into the water. I didn’t see anyone floating,” an eyewitness told the New York Times.

“I saw it fall out of the sky. I heard five or six loud sounds that sounded to me like gunshots in the sky and I saw pieces of the helicopter break off and then it fell into the river,” described for his part Danny Horbyak, who saw the crash from his home window.

Although there has yet to be an official statement on the cause of the crash, video footage of the moment the helicopter went down shows that the propeller in its tail had come off.

Campaign to end tourist flights

“Many of these helicopters are 30 or even 40 years old,” said Andrew Rosenthal, president of Stop the Chop, a group that has launched a campaign to end tourist helicopter flights over New York City and the New York and New Jersey metropolitan area.

The downed helicopter was 21 years old, and “still quite old,” he added.

He even pointed out the contradiction with taxi drivers who are required to get a new one five to eight years, but “we let these things fly through the sky at 30 and 40 years old.”

At least 38 people have died in helicopter crashes in New York City since 1977.

In 2009, an aircraft and a tourist helicopter collided over the Hudson, killing nine people, and five others died in 2018 when a helicopter crashed into the East River. Numerous accidents have also occurred, according to the group Stop the Chop.

For all its risks, it’s also a profitable activity for the city, as tours bring a total of $2.7 million annually to New York City in rentals from companies that take more than 42,000 tours annually.