FAA directs New York helicopter tour company to shut down after fatalities over Hudson River

The Federal Aviation Administration said Sunday that the helicopter tour company whose sightseeing chopper broke apart in flight and crashed in New York, killing the pilot and a family of five visitors from Spain, is shutting down operations immediately.

The FAA, in a statement posted on X, also said it would launch an immediate review of New York Helicopter Tours’ operating license and safety record.

The move came hours after New York Sen. Chuck Schumer had called on federal authorities to revoke the operating permits of New York Helicopter Tours.

The company’s sightseeing helicopter broke apart in midair and plunged into the Hudson River Thursday, killing the tourists from Spain and the pilot, a Navy SEAL veteran.

At a news conference Sunday, before the announcement by the FAA, Schumer said the company should be required to halt all flights as the National Transportation Safety Board investigates the deadly crash.

The Senate Democrat minority leader also called on the Federal Aviation Administration to ramp up safety inspections for other helicopter tour companies, accusing them of “cutting corners and putting profits over people.”

The victims included passengers Agustin Escobar, 49, his wife, Mercè Camprubí Montal, 39, and their three children, Victor, 4, Mercedes, 8, and Agustin, 10. The pilot was Seankese Johnson, 36, a U.S. Navy veteran who received his commercial pilot’s license in 2023.

“One of the things we can do to honor those lives and try to save others is to make sure it doesn’t happen again,” Schumer said. “We know there is one thing for sure about New York City’s helicopter tour companies: They have a deadly track record.”

Thursday’s crash has renewed safety concerns about New York’s sightseeing excursions, a popular tourist draw that whisks passengers high above the city, offering soaring views of the Statue of Liberty, the World Trade Center, and other landmarks.

In the last two decades, five helicopters on commercial sightseeing flights have fallen into the Hudson and East rivers as a result of mechanical failures, pilot errors, or collisions, killing 20 people.

The president of New York Helicopter Tours, Michael Roth, did not respond to phone and email inquiries. The company said in a statement published on its website that it was cooperating with authorities in the investigation.

In response to Schumer’s calls for more oversight, an industry group, Eastern Region Helicopter Council, said Manhattan’s sightseeing choppers “already operate under the most stringent of regulations.”

“We stand ready to work with leaders on finding ways to ensure the safety and preservation of our businesses and aviation community,” the group said.

Critics of the industry have long sought to limit or entirely ban nonessential helicopter flights from taking off above the city, though they have had limited success. After New York City capped the number of flights that could take off from Manhattan heliports at 30,000 annually in 2016, many companies moved operations to New Jersey.

Two years later, in 2018, five people died when a helicopter offering “open door” flights crashed in the East River after a passenger’s restraint tether snagged on a fuel switch, stopping the engine.

The cause of Thursday’s crash is not yet determined. According to Schumer, rescue divers were continuing to search for the helicopter’s main rotor and assembly gear box, which would give clues about what happened.

—Jake Offenhartz, Associated Press

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