The strange crash of a Bell 206 helicopter in New York with six people on board

This Thursday, a helicopter crashed into the Hudson River in New York with six people on board, including five tourists.

According to the newspaper El Mundo, the pilot and a family of five Spanish citizens, including three children, were on board the helicopter. Unfortunately, all the occupants of the helicopter have died.

According to Flightradar24, the helicopter was a Bell 206L-4 LongRanger IV, with US civil registration N216MH. The path the aircraft took before it crashed can be seen here. This photo of that helicopter was posted on Tripadvisor in April 2022. The image above was published by the company that operates the helicopter, Meridian Helicopters (see PDF), a Broussard, Louisiana-based company that leases and sells Bell 206 helicopters and organizes tourist flights in cities across several countries.

+ UPDATED 11.4.2025 05:02H: RedWave Press publishes these two photos of the Spanish family that died in this accident, next to the helicopter they were flying in. The man was Agustín Escobar Cañadas, CEO of the Spanish subsidiary of the Siemens company. He was accompanied by his wife and his three children aged eleven, five and four. According to the newspaper Clarín, the pilot was 21 years old, but his identity has not yet been released.

According to Europa Press, the New York City Fire Department received a call at 3:17 p.m. local time about the helicopter crash. The helicopter made a 16-minute flight, circling the Statue of Liberty before taking off up the Hudson River toward the George Washington Bridge.

Hudson River Helicopter crash @fox5ny @ABC7 @NBCNewYork @CBSNewYork @njdotcom @News12NJ @CNN @cnnbrk

Credit: Bruce Wall pic.twitter.com/CVy249wApx

— SangriaUltra (@xpertcommander) April 10, 2025

This video recorded by Bruce Wall has been published on social media, in which we see the helicopter crash. Here you can see three screenshots from this video (click on the images to see them enlarged).

The cause of the helicopter crash is currently unknown. What we see in these images is rather disconcerting. I show some details here:

The helicopter crashed into the Hudson River upside down and without a tail. In some images published by various media outlets, the helicopter's skids are visible on the river's surface. In these images, we see that the two-bladed main rotor (red circle) detached from the helicopter, for reasons that are still unknown. It's strange; I don't remember seeing an accident like this. What we see in the blue circle appears to be the tail. For my part, I'm refraining from speculating about what happened. We'll have to wait for the official report.

According to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the helicopter was a 2004 model year, with serial number 52296. The current airworthiness certificate was issued on November 16, 2016, and was scheduled to expire on November 30, 2029. I will keep you posted on any further developments regarding this incident. My condolences to the families of the pilot and the deceased tourists.

---

Main photo: Meridian Helicopters.