Doomed NYC helicopter broke into three sections before crash, NTSB says

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By David Shepardson

(Reuters) -A tourist helicopter that crashed into New York City’s Hudson River last month, killing all six people on board, broke into three major pieces before descending rapidly, the National Transportation Safety Board said on Wednesday.

The Bell 206 chopper, operated by New York Helicopter Tours, departed on April 10 at 2:58 p.m. ET from a downtown Manhattan helicopter pad and flew north over the Hudson River before crashing about 17 minutes later, the NTSB said in a report.

Several witnesses described hearing several loud “bangs” coming from the helicopter before it broke up and descended, the NTSB said. The agency said the helicopter suddenly separated into three major sections: the fuselage including the engine, the main rotor system, and the tail boom.

Debris was recovered from several places in the river and from a rooftop near the Hoboken, New Jersey, transit building, the NTSB said.

The helicopter airframe had accrued 12,975 total hours of operation, and the engine had accrued a total of 23,305 hours of operation, the NTSB said. The helicopter’s most recent inspection was conducted in late February and it had operated about 50 hours since then, the NTSB added.

A family from Spain was among those killed in the crash.

The airspace around Manhattan is crowded with helicopters offering tourists a bird’s-eye view of the sights, with at least two dozen operators listed on tour website Viator.

In 2018, five passengers aboard a helicopter died in New York when the aircraft crashed into the East River, while the pilot survived. The helicopter was on a charter flight that featured an open door to allow passengers to take photographs of the skyline.

(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Leslie Adler and Rami Ayyub)