Chuck Schumer calls on tour company to halt flights as NTSB investigates crash that killed all six people on board
The helicopter that crashed into New York City’s Hudson River on Thursday – killing all six on board, including three children – lacked flight recorders, said the US’s National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).
It was also on its eighth tour flight of the day, having already completed seven, according to federal investigators.
No video or camera recorders have been recovered from the Bell 206 helicopter, the NTSB said in an update late on Saturday – and none of the equipment on it had recorded information that would help the investigation.
Was it supposed to have them? The article doesn’t say it was, so I take it this is normal, in which case it’s not really newsworthy.
I guess it will take time to do a proper investigation of the materials like the blades to see if there was a failure there, and where. Someone by now has seen something though and has a theory, they just can’t talk yet. There was low fuel mentioned, but running out of fuel doesn’t separate rotors from the hub.
The rotor didn’t separate from the hub, the transmission and mast and rotor separated from the helicopter, suddenly and seemingly without warning based on the available video.
The helicopter that crashed into New York City’s Hudson River lacked a teleportation machine, endless pool and petting farm.
Funny thing is, these days, everyone has a phone, and many cars have dashcams.
Wouldn’t a commercial helicopter have a dashcam with audio recording at a minimum these days?
Does the FAA allow consumer dashcams? I honestly don’t know. Just about everything in a Certified Aircraft needs to be certified on it’s own.
General Aviation aircraft aren’t required to have flight recorders, AFAIK and I’m certain that if the helicopter was manufactured without one it’s not required to upgrade to one even if new helicopters need them.
