Bird strike may have caused New York sightseeing helicopter crash, says NTSB
Investigators discovered the remains of several large birds in the mangled wreckage of a sightseeing helicopter that crash-landed in New York’s Hudson River last year, according to documents released Thursday by the National Transportation Safety Board.
The crash, which killed all six people aboard, played out on the afternoon of April 10, 2025, over the Hudson between Manhattan and Jersey City, New Jersey. Video of the accident showed the cabin of the doomed Bell 206 plunging from the sky, separated from both its main and tail rotors, which splashed down near the fuselage.
The NTSB enlisted specialists from the Smithsonian Institution’s Feather Identification Lab at the National Museum of Natural History. They identified multiple species of birds. The evidence suggests the helicopter flew into a flock of birds prior to the crash.
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Josh Einiger is the senior transportation reporter for MS NOW based in New York.
