New York helicopter crash tour company to close

The tour company whose sightseeing helicopter crashed in New York – leaving six people dead – is shutting down operations immediately, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has said.

The pilot and a family of five Spanish tourists, including three children, were killed in the crash in the Hudson River last Thursday.

The move came hours after New York senator Chuck Schumer had called on federal authorities to revoke the operating permits of New York Helicopter Tours.

Mr Schumer said: “One of the things we can do to honour those lives and try to save others is to make sure it doesn’t happen again.

“We know there is one thing for sure about New York City’s helicopter tour companies – they have a deadly track record.”

Passengers Agustin Escobar, 49, his wife Merce Camprubi Montal, 39, and their three children, Victor, four, Mercedes, eight, and Agustin, 10, died in Thursday’s crash.

The pilot, Seankese Johnson, 36, a US Navy veteran who received his commercial pilot’s licence in 2023, also died.

The FAA has said it will be reviewing the company’s operating licence and safety record.

The company has said it will work with the authorities during the investigation.

The crash has renewed safety concerns about New York’s commercial sightseeing flights.

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In the last two decades, five helicopters have fallen into the Hudson and East rivers as a result of mechanical failures, pilot errors or collisions, killing 20 people.