Haunting loud bangs were the last sounds heard from a helicopter moments before it plunged into New York’s Hudson River – killing a family of five and the pilot.
On Wednesday, a preliminary report released by the National Transportation Safety Board revealed that witnesses told investigators they heard deafening ‘loud bangs’ erupting from the helicopter, moments before it broke into three pieces and spiraled out of the sky on April 10.
The report states witnesses heard ‘loud bangs emanating from the helicopter before it broke up and descended into the river.’
Agustín Escobar, a Siemens executive from Spain, his wife Merce Camprubi Montal and their three children aged four, eight and ten were killed when the sightseeing chopper plummeted into the Hudson River.
The family were on vacation in New York to celebrate the birthday of one of their daughters.
A rotor blade was seen in extraordinary video plummeting into the water, with aviation experts saying that this likely occurred because the main rotor blades separated from the aircraft and sliced the tail.
The NTSB also revealed in the preliminary report that the chopper pilot, Sean Johnson, had just returned from a 10-day break.
Johnson was rostered to fly 10 days on, 10 days off – a relatively standard schedule for a pilot.
He had logged more than 790 hours of flying experience, and the ill-fated flight was his eighth of the day. The seven prior flights on the same helicopter had occurred without a problem.
During the flight, Johnson was wearing computer-augmented sunglasses, which had the capability to record both video and audio, but the glasses were never recovered from the crash site.
The report states debris from the aircraft was found as far away as Hoboken, New Jersey – on a rooftop near a transit building.
Michael Roth, 71, who owns New York Helicopter which provided the tour and the chopper, said the aircraft was running out of fuel before it crashed.
‘He [the pilot] called in that he was landing and that he needed fuel, and it should have taken him about three minutes to arrive, but 20 minutes later, he didn’t arrive,’ Roth told The Telegraph.
Roth said he was devastated by the crash and agreed with other experts that the video appears to show the main rotor blades had broken off.
‘The only thing I know by watching a video of the helicopter falling down, that the main rotor blades weren’t on the helicopter,’ he told the New York Post.
‘And I haven’t seen anything like that in my 30 years being in business, in the helicopter business. The only thing I could guess – I got no clue – is that it either had a bird strike or the main rotor blades failed. I have no clue. I don’t know.’
While the NTSB is yet to reveal an official cause, aviation lawyer who was a helicopter pilot in the Marine Corps Justin Green said it appeared a ‘catastrophic mechanical failure’ left the pilot with no chance to save the helicopter.
It is possible the helicopter’s main rotors struck the tail boom, breaking it apart and causing the cabin to free fall, Green said.
‘They were dead as soon as whatever happened happened,’ Green said. ‘There’s no indication they had any control over the craft.
‘No pilot could have prevented that accident once they lost the lifts. It’s like a rock falling to the ground. It’s heartbreaking.’
At the time of the crash, it was cloudy with winds around 10 to 15 mph with gusts up to 25 mph.
Surface visibility was considered good — 10 miles — but it was cloudy as a system is moving into the region, bringing light rain to the region this afternoon and evening. The water was about 50 degrees Fahrenheit.
This is a breaking news story. More to come.