NYC Hudson River helicopter crash was birthday event for family, as pilot radioed he ‘needed fuel’

The Spanish family killed in a horrific helicopter crash into the Hudson River had hired the high-flying sightseeing tour as part of a birthday celebration, officials said Friday as the helicopter owner told reporters the pilot was low on fuel moments before the tragedy occurred.

Tourists Agustin Escobar, the CEO of technology giant Siemens Spain, his wife Merce Camprubi Montal, and their three young children were all killed in the crash along with the pilot.

The family had come to New York City to celebrate the birthday of one of their children, Mayor Adams said Friday.

“We know the ages of the young people involved — 4, 8 and 10 — and unfortunately the 8-year-old it was his birthday today, so this was probably part of a normal tourist attraction of seeing the city from the skyline, but just a real unfortunate situation,” Adams said on Fox 5’s “Good Day New York.”

Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop wrote on X that Camprubi Montal was also celebrating her 40th birthday this week.

Escobar was in New York City on business and had his family fly to the Big Apple so they could “extend the trip a couple days in NYC,” the Jersey City mayor said.

“The brother in law is flying in this AM and we are working with [the medical examiner] to expedite release of the family to fly back to Spain,” Fulop said. “Take a moment today and think about this family and your family. These situations are always very difficult and sad.”

The 36-year-old pilot had radioed moments before plummeting into the water that he was desperately low on fuel and was heading back to the helipad, New York Helicopter CEO Michael Roth told The Telegraph.

The pilot made the radio transmission just before the 3:15 p.m. crash on the New Jersey side of the river. The helicopter took off from the Downtown Manhattan Heliport in lower Manhattan just before 3 p.m.

“He [the pilot] called in that he was landing and that he needed fuel, and it should have taken him about three minutes to arrive, but 20 minutes later, he didn’t arrive,” Roth told The Telegraph. “I got a call from my manager and my downtown heliport and she said she heard there was a crash, and then my phone blew up from everybody. Then one of my pilots flew over the Hudson and saw the helicopter upside down.”

“The death of the child, of any human being, is a monumental disaster,” Roth told The Telegraph. “We’re all devastated. Every employee in our company is devastated. My wife has not stopped crying.”

When reached by the Daily News late Thursday, Roth refused to comment on the crash.

“I’m not going to say anything,” he said before hanging up on a reporter.

The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board have launched investigations into the crash, Mayor Adams said. An NTSB briefing on the investigation was expected Friday.

The copter in the fatal crash first headed up the Hudson River to the George Washington Bridge, where it turned around and then headed back south, flying along the New Jersey side of the river before suddenly dropping upside-down into the river near Hoboken, Mayor Adams and Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said Thursday.

The flight lasted less than 18 minutes, officials said.

New York Helicopter filed for bankruptcy in 2019, claiming it had hundreds of thousands in debts. A large portion of the debts, about $114,000, were for “repair services.”

The company has mixed reviews on Yelp, with at least one customer complaining that the company didn’t do proper safety checks before takeoff. Other customers said employees were rude and charged unexpected fees.

“Extreme negligence of security protocols that must be associated with a helicopter ride,” said customer Kumar Sourabh, who visited the Big Apple from California. “I have been in a helicopter ride before and had a 180 degree opposite experience. There was no briefing provided on security measures. As soon as the aircraft landed, and without any notice or instructions, as the helicopter blades were running on full sound, the owner rushed to us and started to pull us down.”

A Bell 206 helicopter owned by New York Helicopter crashed into the Hudson River in June 2013.

The helicopter lost power, and the pilot made an emergency landing. No injuries were reported, and the NTSB found that a maintenance flub and an engine lubrication anomaly led to the power cutoff.

Thursday’s crash was the first for a helicopter in the city since one hit the roof of a skyscraper in 2019, killing the pilot.

At least 38 people have died in helicopter accidents in New York City since 1977. A collision between a plane and a tourist helicopter over the Hudson in 2009 killed nine people, and five died in 2018 when a charter helicopter offering “open door” flights went down into the East River.

After Thursday’s crash, Fulop called for an end of sightseeing helicopter tours over the Hudson River.

“This has been an issue we have pushed at the federal level for a decade with no response,” he wrote on X. “This is not the first crash that has happened and the reality is that the airspace here is too crowded above a densely populated area to allow this.

“These tourist helicopters should not be allowed and hopefully this terrible tragedy brings some change so that it will never happen again to any other family,” he wrote.

On Friday Mayor Adams disagreed with Fulop’s assessment, saying on 1010 Wins that the sightseeing tours are part of the “attractiveness” of the city.

On NY 1, Adams did leave the door open for tighter restrictions on non-emergency helicopter traffic.

“I remember in 1977 when the helicopter crashed into the PanAm Building, we made adjustments and modifications, you can always adjust and modify based on these circumstances,” he said. “There were 17 crashes over the approximately 40 years. Those are numbers that you have to look at when you make these adjustments.”

With News Wire Services

This is a continuing story. Check back for updates.

Originally Published: April 11, 2025 at 10:00 AM EDT