NYC Helicopter Crash
Agustin Escobar, a Siemens executive from Barcelona, Spain, his wife Merce Camprubi Montal, and their children, ages 4, 8, and 10, were killed in the crash. Photo from just before the flight
Let’s talk about the dramatic and tragic helicopter crash in NYC yesterday. A Bell 206 (a venerable, long-serving airframe in both military and civil applications) appears to have broke apart over the Hudson River while flying what seems like a routine tourist flight.
Juan Browne (aka Blancolirio) over on YouTube has a video on it that goes into some detail on available information:
The pilot has been identified by news sources as Sean Johnson. Media is reporting that Johnson had radioed that he was out of gas, but it’s clear from the video that he didn’t simply run out of fuel.
Newsies are also reporting that Johnson was a former Navy SEAL. Our sources in the Navy SEAL community say that he was a rating (gunner’s mate) in a SEAL supporting command. While not a special operator, our sources indicate that he was very well liked/regarded by those in the teams.
Category: Breaking News, Navy, SEALs, Veterans in the news
How very tragic the loss of an entire family and young man embarking on an exciting career. I saw a YT video where they suspect the main four blade rotor came loose and severed the tail section, and then the main rotor blades completely separated from the aircraft. It was not recoverable, and the only thing they could do at that point is pray.
I don’t know who said he was SEAL, but is was probably a reporter. If he was attached to Teams/SPECOPS unit, I can see where a reporter would just assume he was SEAL. I’d hate to see his memory tarnished for false claims by a reporter’s mistake
At least one outlet claimed his wife said he was an ex-SEAL. Probably said something like “flew with SEALs” and it was misconstrued.
“Low on fuel” does not mean “totally out, bone dry”. But in today’s media…
Lots of widget and fiddly bit pieces and parts on a whirly bird that can break. The one (1) part you DON’T want to break is the one(s?) holding the rotor blades together. Is that the one they used to call the “Jesus” nut? Maybe our very own Claw Daddy can chime in and gives us some insight. He worked on them things “back in the day” IIRC. Anytime one is flying around there is 100 things that can happen…and 96 of them things can be a problem.
Sympathies to the families of all of the victims. Sad ending to what should have been a fun vacation.
Lose a rotor blade in flight and it is game over. I was in a Huey that was shot up by the enemy. Our main rotor blades had about five bullet holes from AK fire but they stayed intact. The bullets that hit the radio console killed our comms. That was the only system taken out by the ground fire.
We were at anchor off of one of the Carribian islands which were used for the Marine BLT’s trainig and on a Sunday morning the Huey’s were coming back from the excersize and one of the helos lost power and landed in the drink on the side of the ship a few feet away. the helo floated long enough for all of the Marines and crew to jump out but 2 Marines inside must have inflated their vests and had trouble with the safety straps and didn’t make it out and one Marine had the 60MM morter plate on his back which wasn’t released and he went straight down as he jumped out. UDT arrived for the recovery on the sunken helo. The ones that made it out were brought pulled up on fire hose that was thrown out of our port side hanger bay. Next day was the funeral. Very sad. Watched another one go down a mile or 2 on one of our Amphib ships while we were steaming. Helo was coming in to the aft landing pad and all of a sudden, we watched it go down into the drink. I don’t remember the results on that one due to the gone by years. I still vividly remember ours though.
RIP to all on the fated helo.
Forgot to add that 60 years ago with US Troops invading the Dominican Republic on April 27th of 1965, A Marine Huey took a round from rebel shooting and went through the Co-Pilots seat and through his thigh.
That sounds like quite a bit of pucker factor..
Very much so, since I watched AK rounds come through the floor around my feet. About two minutes earlier I was sitting about 18 inches to the left on that canvass bench seat across the back of the cargo bay. After the Huey was hit with about 20 plus rounds of full auto fire, I noticed there were two bullet holes where my ass was located just before I got up to look out the windscreen to see where we were going to land on the LZ secured by a rifle company. Had I not sat back down in the middle of that seat instead of to the left 18 inches, we would likely not be having this colloquy.
Yep, the Bell 206 (OH-58 Kiowa Jet Ranger) has a Nut, Special, Main Rotor Retaining. The Part Number for the item is 206-011-007-3.
The reasoning for just the Part Number is the NSN has been deleted from the current inventory. But Good Luck if somebody else wants to try and track down what the NSN was. /s/
Got It. There was a misprint in the -23P Manual.
The NSN for the Mast Retaining Nut, Special on a Bell206/OH-58 is/was 5310-00-168-7319.
J nut is different on a 206A1 -206B 206B3 and 206L– also different on a D and KW all upgrades from an alpha chuck. Although no longer listed as an NSN… still available from bell in either miami or Piney Flats.
Jesus nut is no joke among helicopter aviators. My first unit was an Air Cav squadron in Korea. We were drinking around the burn barrel one Friday evening and some of the guys who’d been in another unit together 10 years before told about a failure they’d witnessed there: AH-1 Cobra, unit was out flying around about 5,000 feet. Nut fails, rotor detaches. Engine’s still turning, they have power. Pilot and front-seater are transmitting all the way down– praying and “tell my wife I love her,” over the radio– all the way down, 30 seconds, to a 45- 50G impact crash. Everyone was horrified and guys, even combat veterans, who weren’t there cried. Maybe it was the alcohol, but I don’t think so.
bit of a stretch here– rotor comes off aircraft will start a spin as tail rotor is still turning and aircraft flips upside down due to weight of engine and tranny on top…. upside down and in a spin neck gonna be broke pretty quick in this scenario front seater radio button on floor and back seater cyclic not doing anything…. death grip on all controls makes a radio call pretty tough.
Maybe; it was certainly drama worthy of Hollywood. Multiple dudes said they heard over the radio (I know, they all could got together beforehand and could’ve gone light on the booze to pull one on everybody else). But their buddies didn’t have parachutes and 30sec is long time when that nut breaks– the point got across to all there.
Thanks for all the additional insight, 58 Driver. My experience with whirlybirds was very limited waaaay back yonder, to a few rides in Hueys. Speaking of a bit of a stretch…ran into this last night over at WRSA. Does make one go…Hmmm
I do remember one of the whirlybird mechanics tell me back then that it was very easy to sabotage one and it would be hard to tell if it was just a failure of a fiddly bit…or deliberate.
And by a Hollywood style miracle the saboteurs knew which helicopter the family would be on, on what day, and at what time, and were able to send a black ops team in to set it up.
Yep…like I said…a bit of a stretch.
Very sad all around. I’ll wait on the NTSB to do their voodoo, but I’d be really interested in the bird’s maintenance records. Transmissions don’t normally grenade without a cause.
I understand that the helo landed in 5 feet of water on the Jersey side and would those helos float in water if the water was deeper. 2 victims were rushed to the hospital but didn’t make it. So it looks like on impact, 2 victims were inittaly able to survive on the impact. Any feedback on my comment Ed.
An entire family on one of the kids birthday. One pilot just earning a living. Terrible loss. Must have been a horrible feeling those last seconds. God bless them all.
I saw a surveillance video of the entire crash. From failure to impact was 6 seconds. Not even enough time to say a prayer.
Only enough time to realize that you had reached your final day.
I was witness to a C-47 crash 3 APR 69 in Sembach Germany. The aircraft was overhead our antenna farm on a
routine training flight when whatever connects the top of the
rudder became uncunted. It was flopping left/right, still
attached at the bottom. The aircraft went into a death spiral
and first on the scene, nothing could be done to help.
Captain Randolph Cramer instructor pilot, Major Paul Jones,
and flight mechanic SSgt Donald Bissell rest in peace guys.
.
Knife 13 (H-53) during the rescue of the Kohtang Operation in 1975 went down due to a rotor bearing in the tail. 23 lost.
My aunts brother flew in Vietnam and started a crop dusting operation after service using helos. While making a turn his load shifted and he flipped over and crashed. 1 lost.
Our local Flight rescue service was testing the helo out and did a lift up to 100’, lost power. Lost 1.
I personally think the helos are unsafe. Although my friend who has around 6,000 hrs flying rotary and fixed wing for the Army had no problem flying them. Retired now.
I’m am deeply saddened by this accident and this families loss and loss of the pilot. Really heart breaking to hear when fun turns to tragedy. May God give them and their families comfort.
What is the name of part of the helicopter that connects the engine with the rotor shaft? I’m thinking in terms of like how a torque converter in the bell housing of a motor vehicle that connects the crankshaft with the transmission.
At some point there will be an assembly that connects the tail rotor with the shaft for the main rotor, maybe it’s the transmission.
That’s where the mechanical failure will likely have occurred. From the videos, it appears that the transmission is still attached to the main rotor shaft and that the tail rotor shaft also separated.
In the video you can see the cabin make a 90 degree turn, counter clockwise, as though the cabin was torqued opposite to the direction of the rotor blade–which is the entire purpose of having a tail boom and rotor, to prevent that.
There would have been nothing that the pilot could have done.
Is there some way that a turbine engine can be “seized” as is possible with a reciprocating engine?
engine to main drive shaft(or if upgraded K flex) to transmission up to mast and then to rotor head. gearbox has a freewheel unit and clutch on the bottom end and then a rear drive shaft to the tail rotor gearbox
Thanks. Is that a 90 degree hypoid gear type of a differential, from the engine to the main shaft?
no straight shot from engine gearbox to the tranny
206L is a 2 bladed rotor- one picture shows the blades mast and transmission all connected… wasnt a j nut issue
I doubt a grenaded transmission is the culprit. That would have stopped the blade and induced counter rotation to the airframe. The video doesn’t show any twisting or rotation of the cabin on it’s way down other than being upside down.
My thought at looking at the video is that there was an issue with the mounting hardware of the engine / transmission that caused a separation of that unit. The separation pulled on the drive for the tail rotor causing the tail assy to separate. In short, all the running gear that kept it in the air left the airframe due to the lift it was generating flipping the cabin on it’s back in the process. That explains the continued “flying” of the main rotor.
It’s going to be interesting to see the final conclusions of the investigation.
That kind of come apart should leave a ton of evidence. Unfortunately a lot of it went into the river. Whatever happened, I hope it never happens again.
more video is surfacing — looks like a full nose right deflection after seemingly the tailboom separates
Premilinary expert opinion says they were f*cked– main rotor and tailboom separate, adios!
https://www.yahoo.com/news/aviation-experts-doomed-helicopter-fatal-222544764.html
No flight recorder and on eighth (8th) flight on the day ssys NTSB:
https://www.yahoo.com/news/helicopter-crashes-york-citys-hudson-203946756.html