A helicopter that plunged into the Hudson River in New York City earlier this week, killing all six people aboard, had experienced a mechanical issue last fall, according to data from the Federal Aviation Administration.
The aircraft, a Bell206L-4 LongRanger IV aircraft, owned by New York Helicopter, had to be repaired after an issue with its transmission assembly, reports The New York Post Saturday. The chopper, built in 2004, had logged 12,728 hours of flight time when it went into repairs.
Records show that the helicopter was issued an airworthiness certificate in 2016, which was to remain valid through 2029.
An investigation is continuing to determine what caused the helicopter to drop out of the sky and fall into the river, killing a Spanish family of five who were in the air for a sightseeing tour and the aircraft’s pilot.
The probe is examining the experience of the pilot, who has been identified as Sean Johnson, 36, a Navy SEAL veteran who recently moved to New York City. It will also examine the wreckage of the helicopter and the company running the sightseeing tours.
The maintenance work on the helicopter will also be examined, as will two recent safety directives the FAA has issued on the Bell 260L model aircraft.
The crash also killed Agustin Escobar, his wife, Mercè Camprubí Montal, and their three young children, Augustin, 10, Mercedes, 8, and Victor, 4.
The FAA issued its first directive on the Bell 260L in December 2022, calling for the inspection and potential replacement of the helicopter’s main rotor blades for “delamination,” an issue which causes internal layers of the blade to separate because of material fatigue or other defects.
Another directive, in May 2023, required that tail rotor shafts be tested and potentially replaced on eight helicopter models, including the Bell 260L. The FAA issued the alert after a joint failure caused a helicopter to lose a tail-rotor drive.
National Transportation Safety Board Chair Jennifer Homendy said Friday that the rotors from the helicopter that crashed in New York City are still missing. New York Police Department divers are also still looking in the Hudson River for other pieces of the helicopter.
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