The National Transportation Safety Board said Thursday it found evidence of a bird strike before a tourist helicopter plummeted upside down into New York City’s Hudson River in April 2025, killing all six people on board.
The accident killed a Spanish family of five, including Agustin Escobar, CEO of Rail Infrastructure at Siemens Mobility, the train transportation arm of Germany-based technology company Siemens (SIEGn.DE) . The NTSB said it had validated evidence of a bird strike on the Bell 206L-4 tourist helicopter.
The airspace around Manhattan is crowded with helicopters offering tourists a bird’s-eye view of the sights, with at least two dozen operators listed on tour website Viator. Many operators also offer helicopter shuttle services to the area’s airports.
The flight was the eighth tourist flight of the day, heading from the Statue of Liberty to the George Washington Bridge, which was followed by a turn south to fly above the Hudson River.
