Helicopter Crashed at the Hudson River

I just got home few minutes back from outside. Had to step out to get some food and take care of some other tasks ahead of my travel. It was drizzling but I did not mind to step out without the umbrella because it was not suppose to be a heavy rain. In any case, I grabbed some food and finished few other things that I had to do and headed for home without thinking left and right.

The bag I had on my hand was fairly heavy. So, I decided to walk as fast as I could and I reached home in no time. Once I got home, I turned the computer on and headed over the news site. That is when I learned that a helicopter has been crashed at the Hudson river at around 3:15p.m. local time. Six people died in the crash and there were no survivors.

There were three adults and three children among the deceased individuals. What is particularly sad is that except the pilot, rest of people were family members and they were traveling from Spain to the New York City. The crashed helicopter belongs to a helicopter tour company based out of Downtown, New York City.

The helicopter crashed near the Pier 40 but more towards the New Jersey side of the river. Based on the FAA report, the crashed helicopter was of Bell 206 model. Not so surprisingly, the crash incident was captured on a mobile phone and went viral on various social media sites.

Although very different, this incident reminds me of the plane (US1549) that crashed at the Hudson river back in 2009. Luckily, no one died on that incident. You can find more information on this incident from this Wikipedia article. I am pretty sure by the time you read this post, there would lot more information to get a clearer picture of the incident.

I am no aviation expert but simply looking at the video, it is evidently clear that the helicopter blades were not moving at the time of the crash and it almost seems like the chopper simply fell from the sky. This may very well be connected with the power failure or the total separation of the rotor blades from the main engine. I mean, generally speaking, there could be thousands of reasons and I am pretty sure NTSB will find the truth at some point once they conclude their investigation on this incident.

This news saddened me in a big way. My heart and prayer goes out to the family who lost their loved ones. May their departed soul rest in peace.