[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.

[Vendome]

Outlaw helicopters...

[Osage Orange]

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.

Helicopters are "vessels"?

[jebeier]

I worked for an outfit that uses helicopters for water sampling and other environmental testing. Before anybody flies on that helicopter, they must take and pass Ditch and Dive Training. This is a hands on class where you are strapped into a helicopter mock-up and crashed with great force into a swimming pool. In order to pass the class you have to unbuckle, open the door, and get out within a certain amount of time. If you are unable to get out, there is a rescue diver on the apparatus to stuff a regulator into your mouth and haul you out of the water.

I have known several people who took the training, and they all said that they were shocked with the severity and violence of the impact, and it took a few seconds to collect themselves to exit the helicopter. They also said that without advance training and a firmly fastened seat-belt, there is no way they were going to get out of that apparatus without help.

We did wind up dropping a helicopter into the water a few years ago, and all of our trained crewmen got out safely, so we know the training works.

I dare say the pilot of this chopper had received similar training at some point. Obviously, the passengers had not.

[SamAdams76]

There is something unnatural about helicopters that makes me never want to be in one. I flew in them a few times when I was in the Marines and it was always a white knuckle experience - doesn't help when they had the door wide open during flight and when the helicopter just hovers in the same spot high above the ground, I get sick to my stomach.

Just seems not right flying that way.

I get nervous whenever I see Trump flying in them but I guess those helicopters are extra safe with lots of redundancies.

[EinNYC]

TWO confirmed DEAD, 3 in critical condition.

[fieldmarshaldj]

RIP to the victims.

[Not A Snowbird]

My helicopter pilot husband just said there was nothing the pilot could have done.

He flies this same aircraft type. They call it “the squirrel” for a reason.

[BobL]

If you’ve every dealt with NY tourists, it’s pretty obvious that they never had a chance. Most likely they were spending their time in there trying to figure out who to complain to, rather than trying to unbuckle their seat belts.

[Wuli]

Years ago on a few business trips I drove to Newark airport where I took a helicopter trip to JFK. The helicopter trip included a drop off/pick up stop in Manhattan on the East River before heading to JFK. I usually made a return trip on the helicopter back to Newark when I returned to NY. Great - fantastic birds eye views of NY Harbor, Statue of Liberty and lower Manhattan; particularly great at night. Glad my pilots and their helicopters were always in top shape.