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The ill-fated New York City tour helicopter that crashed into the Hudson River on Thursday is featured in a now-eerie video promoting the company’s purported safety record.
The helicopter, a Bell 206L-4 LongRanger IV, broke apart midair on Thursday afternoon and plummeted upside down into the water near the shoreline of Jersey City, New Jersey. The crash killed a Spanish family of five and the aircraft’s pilot, a Navy SEAL veteran.
Eyewitness video shows the helicopter’s main and tail rotor detaching from the body of the aircraft and splashing into the water separately. The exact cause of the crash has yet to be determined.
The helicopter, registration number N216MH, was operated by New York Helicopters. The company’s website still features a video of the doomed aircraft being inspected before takeoff. The video is embedded on the homepage under a section titled “Why Choose Us,” which highlights the company’s experience, affordability, and safety record.
“We have an industry-leading safety record,” the website states alongside the video.
The silent video shows a worker approaching the black-and-white helicopter, which has its main rotor blade tied to a dolly. The worker unties the rope, walks around the aircraft, and pulls the main rotor via the rope. He then climbs onto the side of the helicopter to inspect the engine and drive shaft before entering the cockpit to perform additional checks. The video ends with the helicopter starting its engine and taking off.
The Bell 206 was manufactured in 2004 and had logged 12,728 hours of flight time. In September, it was forced into repair due to a mechanical issue with its transmission assembly, according to FAA data cited by the New York Post.
In April 2023, the FAA issued two safety alerts for all Bell 206L model helicopters, warning of a risk of tail rotor drive (TRDS) failure caused by a faulty bonded joint in the segmented drive shaft. The FAA recommended replacing any failed tail rotor drives with compliant, serviceable parts and prohibited the installation of non-compliant TRDS parts.
In one chilling video of Thursday’s crash, it appears the tail rotor detached before the main rotor.
Michael Roth, CEO of New York Helicopter Tours, told the New York Post he had never seen anything like it in his 30 years in the helicopter business.
“The only thing I could guess—I have no clue—is that it either had a bird strike or the main rotor blades failed. I have no clue. I don’t know,” he said. “This is horrific. But you gotta remember something, these are machines, and they break.”
The company released a statement saying it is “profoundly saddened by the tragic accident and loss of life.”
“At New York Helicopter Tours, the safety and well-being of our passengers and crew has always been the cornerstone of our operations,” the statement reads. “Our immediate focus is supporting the families and their loved ones affected by this tragedy, as well as fully cooperating with the FAA and NTSB investigations.”
This is not the first time a helicopter operated by Roth’s company has experienced mechanical issues. In 2015, another Bell 206 was forced to make a hard landing while hovering 20 feet off the ground after taking off in northern New Jersey. The NTSB determined the incident was caused by a tail rotor driveshaft failure due to the reuse of a faulty part.
The part had been painted by a previous owner, making it impossible to tell whether it had been part of the helicopter during an earlier hard landing, according to The New York Times.
Two years earlier, a Bell 206 operated by the company lost power and made an emergency landing on the water while carrying four Swedish tourists. The pilot deployed the aircraft’s pontoons and safely landed on the river.
Thursday’s tragedy has prompted Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y., to call for the flights to be reined in or stopped altogether.
The crash follows a 2018 fatal incident when a tour helicopter operated by Liberty Helicopters for FlyNYON tragically slammed into the East River, killing five passengers.
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Michael Dorgan is a writer for Fox News Digital and Fox Business. You can send tips to [email protected] and follow him on Twitter @M_Dorgan.
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