2018 New York City helicopter crash

On March 11, 2018, a sightseeing Eurocopter AS350 Écureuil helicopter crashed into the East River off the Upper East Side of Manhattan, New York City, killing five people. Two passengers died at the scene, and three others were pronounced dead at the hospital. The pilot escaped the helicopter following the crash. The aircraft was operated by Liberty Helicopters for FlyNyon.

Accident

The flight originated from Helo Kearny Heliport (FAA LID: 65NJ) at approximately 1900 EDT on March 11, 2018. The pilot had been flying passengers for FlyNYON on flights lasting 15 to 30 minutes since 11:00 that day, although he could not recall how many flights he had completed. When the van carrying the passengers arrived, the pilot checked each passenger's harness and put their life vests on. After seating the passengers in the helicopter, he locked their harness tethers to the helicopter and provided safety instructions, including where the cutting tool was on their harness and how to use it.

The pilot, following the passengers' requests for sights, flew toward the Statue of Liberty at an altitude ranging from 300 – 500 ft above ground level (agl), then proceeded to the Brooklyn Bridge and Central Park. After contacting the tower at LaGuardia Airport to request entry into its controlled airspace, the pilot started to climb to approximately 2000 ft agl. During the climb, he noticed the front passenger had removed his primary restraint, and reminded the passenger to keep the restraint fastened, as the passengers in the left front, left rear, and right rear seats were supposed to stay restrained while the inboard passengers in the center rear seats were allowed to unclip their primary restraints and sit on the floor with their feet on the skids.

Onboard video reviewed after the crash showed the front passenger turned in his seat so he was facing outboard with his legs outside the helicopter. While taking several photographs between 19:00 and 19:05, he leaned backward and his supplemental harness tether hung down loosely near the helicopter's floor-mounted controls. At 19:05:51, when he sat up again, video showed the tail of the tether became taut, then suddenly released; this was followed two seconds later by decreased engine noises. Radar showed the helicopter began to descend at 19:06:11.

According to several witnesses, the helicopter suddenly descended near the northern end of Roosevelt Island and then plummeted into the river. The helicopter was described to be autorotating at low altitudes immediately prior to its crash. The pilot stated, in a post-crash interview with the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), that a low rotor rpm alarm began to sound and warning lights came on, indicating low engine and fuel pressure. At that point, he believed the engine had failed and considered landing at Central Park, but thought there were too many people present to attempt a landing, and directed the helicopter towards the East River instead, starting the turn at 19:06:30. The pilot radioed a mayday call to LaGuardia at 19:06:58.

During the descent, the pilot attempted to restart the engine at least twice, and then he confirmed the fuel flow control lever was still positioned for normal operation. After he was sure the helicopter could reach the river, the pilot activated the skid-mounted floats at 19:07:02, 800 ft agl. When he reached to engage the emergency fuel shutoff lever in preparation for a hard landing, he realized it had already been activated, and that part of a passenger's fall protection tether was underneath the fuel shutoff lever. When he disengaged the fuel shutoff lever, he was able to restart the engine, but at that point, the helicopter had already descended past 300 ft agl and the engine "wasn't spooling up fast enough" to avoid a crash landing. He put the helicopter in a nose-up flare before it hit the water.

With the doors off, the cabin began to fill with water, first on the pilot's side (right side) of the cabin. The pilot stated he started to unlock the carabiner securing the front passenger's tether to the helicopter, but had gotten no more than two or three rotations before the helicopter began to sink, rolling past a 45° list. Subsequent review of a video showing the descent (recorded by a witness using a cellphone) led aviation experts to believe the passengers would have survived had the helicopter not turned over and sunk. The aircraft sank 11 seconds after touching down on the water, at approximately 19:07:26, when the onboard video camera's lens became submerged.

The pilot, who was not attached to the aircraft by a supplemental harness, unbuckled his manufacturer-provided primary restraint after the helicopter was submerged and escaped. All five passengers drowned after the helicopter rolled over into the water as they were trapped by their supplemental harnesses. To leave the aircraft, a passenger would have had to either reach behind them and unscrew the locking carabiner (or assist another passenger with their carabiner), or use a cutting tool (provided by FlyNYON and attached to each harness) to sever the tether. A passing tugboat heard the mayday call from the pilot and tied up to the helicopter to keep it from sinking further. Rescue divers responded seven minutes after the first 911 call. The passengers were cut out of the wreck by emergency responders, some after having been dragged for 50 blocks south in the upside-down helicopter: a 3 knot current pulled the helicopter from 86th to 34th during the rescue. The pilot was taken to the hospital for observation.