Dive teams returned to the Hudson River Saturday to try and recover the final pieces of wreckage from Thursday’s fatal helicopter crash.
The National Transportation Safety Board said the main fuselage, the forward portion of the tail boom, the horizontal stabilizer finlets and the vertical fin have been recovered. They continue to search for the main rotor, main gear box, tail rotor and a large portion of the tail boom.
According to the NTSB, the helicopter did not have any flight recorders, and they have not recovered any onboard video or camera recorders. The NTSB said the helicopter had completed seven tour flights earlier in the day Thursday, and the aircraft’s last major inspection took place on March 1.
Recovery operations will resume Sunday.
Experts say one of the missing parts could be the key to figuring out what caused the sightseeing helicopter to plunge into the water after taking off from New York City, killing all six people on board.
Investigation could hinge on recovery of missing helicopter parts
The investigation into the deadly helicopter crash will take time, even after the missing parts are found, NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy said.
Dive crews worked into the night Friday, as more wreckage was pulled from the murky water.
The helicopter’s main body landed in about 5-foot-deep water, but some parts may have fallen where it’s 75 feet deep and visibility is low, Homendy said.
Finding the main rotor may be the key to the investigation, according to aviation experts.
“If you picked up the rotor head, you can look at the bolts on that and you can tell if they sheared away before the aircraft hit,” Captain Joe Farrell, with Resolve Marine Group, said.
So far, there are more questions than answers after the chopper went down into the river near Jersey City, New Jersey.
“Three working theories. There was the birds discussion, there was drone discussion, and mechanical failure discussion,” Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop said.
What the preliminary investigation found
Authorities said the helicopter was taking Siemens executive Agustin Escobar Canadas and his family on a tour of the New York City skyline Thursday afternoon.
A preliminary investigation said a rotor may have broken off, causing the helicopter to shake uncontrollably before it crashed in the water.
Escobar Canadas, 49, Mercè Camprubí Montal, 39, Victor Escobar Camprubi, 4, Mercedes Escobar Camprubi, 9, and a still unidentified child were killed, along with the pilot, 36-year-old Sean Johnson, a U.S. Navy veteran.
“We do have the log books for the pilot. The pilot held a commercial pilot certificate with rotor craft and instrument ratings,” Homendy said.
The Associated Press reports 38 people have died in helicopter crashes in New York City since 1977.
“The FAA needs to really step up at this moment to provide additional oversight. There was a report from the [NTSB] that said these specific helicopters have a loophole where they don’t need to have the same type of regulation as other revenue-generated aircrafts,” New York City Councilman Christopher Marte said.
The NTSB said it will not speculate on what caused the crash.
contributed to this report.
