Tour helicopter crashes into East River, pilot scrambles to safety [BREAKING STORY, 5 submerged]

NY Post ^ | March 11, 2018 | By Larry Celona, Tina Moore, Joe Marino and Max Jaeger

[Enchante]

A tourist helicopter plunged into the East River on Sunday night, leaving at least five people trapped inside the sinking vessel while the pilot scrambled to safety, police sources said.

The Eurocopter AS350 went down around 88th Street, near Gracie Mansion, at about 7:15 p.m., sources said.

The pilot was able to get out and climb aboard a raft — but five others remained trapped inside the upside-down helicopter, according to sources.

[Enchante]

Helicopter with 6 onboard (including pilot) crashed into NYC's East River tonight. Early reports indicate only the pilot may have emerged from the helicopter as it sank upside down in the river.

[Enchante]

Weird, I drove down the FDR just before this happened (but didn’t see anything).

[GrandJediMasterYoda]

Oh man, they’re dead. One taken to Bellevue, the pilot.

[GrandJediMasterYoda]

Sounds like the pilot pulled a Ted Kennedy.

[colorado tanker]

The East River is a lot deeper than the pond Teddy left Mary Jo in. I’m waiting on more facts before judging.

[Telepathic Intruder]

Not unless he was drunk. It’s sort of a myth anyway that the captain always goes down with the ship.

[Enchante]

Yeah, and watching the bit of video with the article I don’t think there’s anything he could have done. The chopper was turning over and sinking pretty fast. It’s probably remarkable that anyone got out.

[DesertRhino]

No, sounds like he was lucky to get out. Likely nothing he could do to help anyone else. He was probably just lucky enough that his familiarity with the aircraft let his hand find and easily operate the seatbelt, door handle, etc.

I’ve seen more than a few non-fliers fumble the seatbelts in an aircraft when all they needed to do was twist the buckle. And for mere mortals, diving underwater in freezing water to try to open a helo door and then unstrap people... lets just say, the average person will not get it done. Hands get numb and ineffective very very fast.

[Vendome]

Outlaw helicopters...

[Enchante]

I wouldn’t begin to say anything against the pilot without knowing all the details. Other articles say it was engine trouble, and the chopper turned over and sank pretty quickly (see video). I doubt he could have gotten anyone else out or he would have. Let’s see what facts emerge.

[ButThreeLeftsDo]

Fox reporting 2 dead, so far...

[old curmudgeon]

Helliflopper in that area should have had pontoons

[Enchante]

[UCANSEE2]

"I guess they won't be making a movie about this crash."

[Enchante]

[CGASMIA68]

What was he suppose to do ?

[CGASMIA68]

Amazing

[Enchante]

[dragnet2]

Not me. He touched down slow, at an angle and landed fairly gentle on the water. He could have told the passengers on the intercom they were going down in water and as soon as the aircraft is in the water and stopped, unbuckle and exit the helicopter....I dunno. Just speculating.