The doomed helicopter that plunged into the Hudson River last Thursday, killing its pilot and five passengers, had no equipped flight recorders, federal officials said.
The Bell 206 helicopter, operated by New York Helicopter in Manhattan, was on its eighth flight of the day when it dropped from the sky during a sightseeing tour Thursday afternoon, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.
Investigators have recovered the helicopter’s main fuselage, including its cockpit and cabin, the forward portion of its tail boom, its horizontal stabilizer finlets and its vertical fin, the safety board announced Saturday night.
Some of those parts will be sent to the safety board’s laboratories in Washington, officials said.
NYPD divers are still looking for the chopper’s main rotor, main gearbox, tail rotor and a large portion of its tail boom.
NTSB investigator documenting the wreckage recovered from the Bell 206 L-4 helicopter that crashed into Hudson River on April 10 near Jersey City, New Jersey , photographed on April 11, 2025. (National Transportation Safety Board)
NTSB investigator documenting the wreckage recovered from the Bell 206 L-4 helicopter that crashed into Hudson River on April 10 near Jersey City, New Jersey , photographed on April 11, 2025. (National Transportation Safety Board)
New York City Mayor Eric Adams (L) listens as Joan Camprubi, brother of mom killed on the crash, speaks during a press conference following a helicopter crash in the Hudson River at Pier 40, in New York City, on April 12, 2025. The Spanish family killed when a New York sightseeing helicopter plunged into the Hudson River, leaving no survivors, were celebrating a birthday, a local official said on April 11, 2025, as divers scoured for wreckage. (Photo by CHARLY TRIBALLEAU/AFP via Getty Images)
Agustin Escobar, his wife, Merce Camprubi Montal, with two of their three children are pictured in an undated photo. The family was killed in a helicopter crash on Thursday, April 10, 2025. (Facebook)
Gardiner Anderson / New York Daily News The mangled wreckage of a helicopter is lifted from the Hudson River in Jersey City, New Jersey on Thursday, April 10, 2025. (Gardiner Anderson / New York Daily News)
A helicopter broke apart in midair and crashed upside-down into the Hudson River between Manhattan and the New Jersey waterfront Thursday, April, 10, 2025, killing six people on board. (Bruce Wall via AP)
A helicopter is seen submerged in the Hudson River in Jersey City, New Jersey after it crashed on Thursday, April 10, 2025. (Gardiner Anderson / New York Daily News)
Debris floats in the water at the scene where a helicopter crashed into the Hudson River, Thursday, April 10, 2025, in Jersey City, N.J. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig) Show Caption 1 of 8 NTSB investigator documenting the wreckage recovered from the Bell 206 L-4 helicopter that crashed into Hudson River on April 10 near Jersey City, New Jersey , photographed on April 11, 2025. (National Transportation Safety Board) Expand
So far, investigators have found no onboard cameras or video recorders, and the helicopter’s avionics didn’t record any useful information, safety board officials said. The helicopter’s last inspection was on March 1.
Spanish tourists Agustin Escobar, the CEO for rail infrastructure at Siemens Mobility; his wife, Merce Camprubi Montal, and their three young children all died in the crash, as did pilot Seankese “Sean” Johnson, after pieces of the helicopter, including the rotor, appeared to break off in midair.
The helicopter overturned and fell from the sky, hitting the river upside down.
At least 38 people have died in helicopter accidents in New York City since 1977, including on a 2018 crash where a FlyNYON doors-off helicopter plunged into the East River. Five passengers were strapped in with restraints that could not be removed midflight, causing them to sink to their deaths while the pilot swam away safely.
“We know there is one thing for sure about New York City’s helicopter tour companies: they have a deadly track record,” Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said at a Sunday news conference at the Wall St. heliport. “It is usually the companies, not the pilots, that are openly manipulating FAA rules, cutting corners and could well be putting profits over people.”
Schumer is calling for the Federal Aviation Administration to ground New York Helicopter flights.
“I am urging the FAA to pull their operating certificate immediately and cease flights until their full investigation is concluded, at the very least,” he said. “Pull the license of this company.”
Schumer also wants to see an increase in “ramp inspections” of other helicopter tour companies.
Schumer criticized FlyNYON for offering “today only” 70% discounts on its flights, calling the practice “galling,” though an archive.org search shows the company was offering those discounts for weeks before the fatal crash as well.
Long a critic of city helicopter tour companies, Schumer said New York Helicopters was operating under a “Part 91” certification, which isn’t as stringent as other types of FAA certification.
“It does not require the entire team of people who oversee or fly the helicopter to have the level of training and experience that commercial and passenger helicopter companies have,” he said.