The helicopter crash that happened in New York on Thursday (April 10) has shaken a lot of people.
It went down into the Hudson River around 3:17pm, and sadly, no one survived. All six people onboard passed away.
The aircraft was being operated by New York Helicopters, according to NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch.
The pilot’s name was later released — Sean Johnson, a Navy SEAL veteran.
The victims included a Spanish executive and his family
Among the people on board were Agustín Escobar, who worked at Siemens and was from Barcelona, his wife Merce Camprubi Montal, and their three young kids.
The children were just 11, five, and four years old. Just absolutely heartbreaking.
The pilot was a former Navy SEAL named Sean Johnson
The pilot flying the helicopter was Sean Johnson. He used to serve as a Navy SEAL before getting into aviation.
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His name came out after officials confirmed the crash details.
Helicopter’s owner revealed details about the final moments
Michael Roth, who owns the helicopter, told The Telegraph that Sean had called in to say he was about to land and that he needed fuel.
Roth explained, “It should have taken him about three minutes to arrive, but 20 minutes later, he didn’t arrive.”
Something clearly went very wrong in that short window.
Sean Johnson previously worked as a celebrity bodyguard
Before moving to New York and becoming a pilot, Sean actually worked as a bodyguard for celebrities.
It’s wild how different that is from flying helicopters, but that was his path.
His wife shared her grief after the tragedy
Sean’s wife, Kathryn Johnson, spoke to Gothamist after getting the news.
She said, “I’m just at loss for words. I don’t even know what happened. It’s just hard right now.”
You can really feel how stunned and heartbroken she is. Just raw pain.
His co-pilot mourned the loss online
One of Sean’s co-pilots and close friends, Earl Watters, posted a tribute on Facebook.
He wrote, “With a heavy heart I post this…Thanks to everyone that has reached out to me. Yes, the pilot of the helicopter crash in NY was my Co-Pilot and great friend on Boomer last year Sean Johnson…
“The world has lost an all around great person and amazing friend. He definitely changed my life for the better and I just want to celebrate his life and how he lived. Always and forever a BOOMER crew member Godspeed Amigo.”
It’s clear how much Sean meant to the people around him.
A witness described the terrifying crash as it happened
Someone named Max was nearby and saw it all go down.
He told ABC News: “It sounded like a sonic boom so I look up and literally I saw helicopter splitting in 2, with the rotor flying off in the sky it was going so fast and it just went straight into the water.
“Nothing came up afterwards it must have just sunk and that was it, and then I just waited here and like five minutes later we started seeing the police and stuff come. I’ve never seen anything like that in my life.”
You can imagine how intense that must’ve been to witness in real time.
The witness thought it was just city noise at first
Max kept talking about what he saw.
He added, “For me I just thought it was going to be like city noise, like a crash or like maybe like a jet going overhead — I know that’s probably not common.
“But yeah, just like a big bang on my right and then like a whoop whoop [making a helicopter noise] as you see the propeller like flying off like up way higher than the the helicopter and just land straight in the water.
“I’m not like [sure], maybe the tail separated? But I think definitely the rotor separated and the body went straight into the water, so some something must have happened with the rotor and it just flipped right off.”
It’s a lot to take in.
Federal authorities are now investigating the incident
Right now, the National Transportation Safety Board is stepping in to investigate what exactly happened.
Hopefully, they can figure it out soon and bring some answers.
