New York (AP) – Federal officials on Wednesday released pictures from the New York City Goicing Helicopter, which broke up in Midaira last month, last month, in Midair. killing six people.
A series of static photos taken from a video with the camera shows the torso containing engine and rotors separating from the tail of the helicopter. The rotor blades and the transmission are then disconnected from the cabin, which carry a passenger and a pilot.
The pictures were included in Preliminary message about a flight released National Transport Safety Council.
“Several witnesses described that several loud” bangs “were based on the helicopter before it disintegrated and descended into the river,” says the report.
Justin Green, an aerial lawyer and former naval helicopter pilot, said that the sequence of images shows that the helicopter weighs and fails the tail boom, suggesting that it most likely hit the main rotor blades of the aircraft during flight.
“It is clear that a mechanical problem caused a breakup,” he said. “We still don’t know accurate problems, only potential causes.”
The initial NTSB report, which operates about six pages, does not deal with the initial cause of “aircraft breakdown in flight”, he said. This will probably be determined by the forensic examination of the debris itself, including the rotor blades, the engine and the transfer.
Federal Aviation Administration shows that the aircraft, Bell 206L-4, was built in 2004 and had a problem maintenance last September including its transmission line-up.
NTSB said earlier that the aircraft operated by the Tour Company New York Helicopter was not equipped with any video or data recording devices.
On Wednesday, however, she said that the photographs taken in advance show that the pilot, Seankes Johnson, was wearing sunglasses with a computer that would have the ability of video and sound recording. However, the glasses were not restored.
Johnson, a 36 -year -old naval Seal, received a commercial pilot license in 2023 and, according to the NTSB report, recorded 790 hours of flight.
However, it did not seem to be a particularly experienced flying for Bell 206L-4, according to Al Yurman, NTSB investigator in retirement, who noted that the report found that he had less than 50 hours of flight in this type.
“It’s quite sophisticated for this type of work,” Yurman said. “I’d rather have someone more experienced, but we’ll know more when the full message comes out.”
The report said Johnson worked as “10 days on/10 days off” and flight 10. April was his first day back after 10 days off. The flight was also the eighth day for the pilot and helicopter.
The plane was on a typical tour, left the Heliport center from Wall Street around 15:00 and flew north along Manhattan’s panorama before heading south towards the Svoboda statue.
Less than 18 minutes into the flight, the witnesses saw the tail and the main rotor tear off and the smoke was cast from the rotating helicopter.
In recent years has passed the Tour Company New York Helicopter and faced Ongoing litigation over alleged debts.
The company said it cooperates with the authorities in the investigation. No one responded to the phone in his office or responded to e -mail to search for comments on Wednesday.
The crash was one of the recent chain of disasters in aircraft and close calls that left some people They are worried about the safety of flying In the US too revival About popular and expensive air tours over New York City.
Five commercial conservation helicopters have been going on rivers around Manhattan since 2005 as a result of mechanical failure, a pilot or collision error, killing 20 people.
Crash 10. April killed a prominent family From Barcelona, Spain: Agustín Escobar, 49; Mercè Camprugi Montal, 39; and their children Victor, 4, Mercedes, 8 and Agustin, 10.
Officials said Escobar, the Global CEO of Railway Infrastructure in Mobility Siemens, was in the area of New York in business.
Montal, who worked for Siemens Energy and was the granddaughter of former President of the famous Barcelona FC football club, flew with his children to meet him.
Mercedes would turn 9 days after the crash.
(Tagstotranslate) Helicopter accident in New York (T) Hericopter Sightseeing Alulicopter (T) National Transport Safety Council (T) Mechanical failure
