A shocking development in the Hudson River crash investigation has unearthed that the helicopter was on its eighth flight of the day when it disintegrated mid-air.
The doomed vessel was also running without a flight recorder, according to officials, when it took the six victims on their final flight.
Agustin Escobar, a Siemens executive, his wife Mercè Camprubí Montal, along with their three children, aged four, five, and 11, perished alongside the pilot, Sean Johnson, in the tragic incident.
The family had booked the helicopter tour to celebrate the birthday of one of the three kids who died.
The bereft brother of the Mercè visited the site of the tragedy on Saturday to pay his respects.
The helicopter was a Bell 206 L-4, owned and operated by tour company New York Helicopters for sightseeing trips of the city.
The National Transport Safety Board revealed on Saturday night that the helicopter had completed seven tour flights that Thursday before it picked up the Escobar-Camprubí family.
Officials said it was not equipped with any flight recording device, and than no video or camera recorders have been recovered.
Neither has the the helicopter’s onboard audio recording been obtained.
Much of the chassis of the helicopter was recovered from the water – including the cockpit and cabin, part of the tail and stabilizer fins.
The rotor blades – which detached from the helicopter in the air – have not been found.
All the pieces of the wreckage are being transported to NTSB labs for analysis as part of the investigation into the cause of the disintegration.
The NTSB also revealed that the last thorough inspection of the helicopter had been on March 1.
There are fears that a key “Jesus nut” may have been faulty – causing the rotor blades to fly off
The chopper featured in the tour company’s safety inspection video, it has also emerged.
The video is embedded into the company’s home page under a section titled “Why Choose Us”.
Joan Camprubí Montal, the brother of Mercè Camprubí, the mum of the dead family, flew from Spain to New York City to honour his lost loved ones and identify their bodies.
At a news conference on Saturday, Joan gave his thanks for the support he had received in the wake of the disaster.
He spoke, with a trembling voice, the names of the five members of his sister’s family: Agustín Escobar, Mercè Camprubí Montal, Victor, Mercedes and Augustine
The bereft brother then continued in his native Spanish.
He said: “We will never forget you. We will keep your smile alive every day of our lives, and I believe that’s the best legacy we can give you.
“This is a really difficult situation, but we are overwhelmed by the massive condolences we’ve received.
“They left together. They left without suffering, and they left with a smile on their faces, and that is important for us.
“As a family we want to honour their happiness and their smile forever. We want to move the bodies, as soon as possible, back home with all the family to rest in peace together.”
“We will never forget you. We will keep your smile alive every day of our lives, and I believe that’s the best legacy we can give you.”
In a deeply-touching gesture, he then cast a bunch of flowers out into the Hudson water, according to NBC, which just two days earlier claimed the lives of his relatives.
NYC Mayor Eric Adams also laid flowers to remember Sean Johnson, the 36-year-old pilot who died in the catastrophe.
The Mayor said: “We mourn the lives of Agustín, Mercè and their three beautiful children, Victor, Mercedes and Augustine. Our hearts our broken.”
He continued: “You have 8.5 million New Yorkers who want to say to the family members and to the wider Spanish community that we are here with you.
“And this symbolic gesture is our way of knowing and acknowledging that our words cannot bring back their family members, but it is our way of saying as New Yorkers, we stand united with this family during this moment of grief, and their grief is our grief.”
The pilot has been identified as a Navy Seal veteran.
Just two weeks ago, pilot Johnson posted a now-devastating video of himself piloting a helicopter over NYC with the caption: “When it all comes together”.
He had just moved to New York City to pursue his dream of being a pilot weeks before tragedy struck, his family told Gothamist.
In an emotional interview, his wife Kathryn Johnson said, “I’m just at a loss for words. I don’t even know what happened. It’s just hard right now.”
Meanwhile, the Spanish family had landed in the city from Barcelona just hours before the crash.
