Hudson river helicopter crash: Five theories of what could have caused tragedy - from birds to low fuel

the crash of a helicopter into the Hudson river in New York City, US, is ongoing. Officials will consider a range of possibilities in search of answers that left all six people onboard dead.

Divers used sonar on Friday to search for key pieces ofwhich broke apart in mid-air, leading to the deaths of Siemens executive Agustín Escobar, his wife and three children as well as pilot Seankese Johnson, a 36-year-old US Navy veteran.

The main and rear rotors, main transmission, roof structure and tail structure were still missing a day after Thursday’s crash, National Transportation Safety Board chairwoman Jennifer Homendy said. Witnesses said they saw the main rotor detach and spin away, and bystander videos showed parts of the aircraft tumbling through the air.

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The helicopter, a Bell 206 LongRanger IV, was built in 2004. According to FAA records, it had a maintenance issue last September involving its transmission assembly. An entry in the agency’s Service Difficulty Reporting System shows the transmission assembly had metal in oil, a sign of wear and a bearing in the transmission was found to be flaking. So what will investigators be looking at?

1. ‘Mechanical failure’

Aviation lawyer and former US Marine Corps helicopter pilot Justin Green, told Metro that video footage of the crash suggested a "catastrophic mechanical failure”.

A crucial aircraft component known as the "Jesus nut" may have been missing or faulty during the Hudson River helicopter crash that killed six people, aviation analyst Julian Bray warned. The nut - a crucial component that secures the rotor blades to the mast - may have failed mid-flight, Bray suggested.

The expert said this may have caused the helicopter's blades to detach while still still spinning mid-air and possibly slicing through the aircraft before it plummeted into the water. Mr Bray said: “What appears to have happened with this particular helicopter is that the rotor, the main rotor… had detached, because in one video we see the blades spinning away from the helicopter.

2. Jerking joystick

Dave Fishwick, the Burnley businessman known for his ‘Bank of Dave’, gave his theory on the crash. Sitting in a helicopter, Fishwick said in a TikTok video that the tail rotor could have been cut off through a sudden back and forth joystick motion,

“I’m not sure if that actually happened,” said Fishwick. “I’m sure it was something to do with the main rotor disc not holding the helicopter where it should be.”

3. Birds

Investigators are also looking into reports of flocks of birds being spotted close to the crash site. Ms Homendy said the NTSB is “aware” of the reports and it had been discussed.

“It's something we are looking into,” she said. “What I would say to the public is that if something struck you as different or made you pause, or it crossed your mind that you might want to share with our investigators, there is no downside in sharing that information with us."

4. Low on fuel

The helicopter was reportedly low on fuel when it crashed. Michael Roth, the chief executive of New York Helicopter Tours, said to the Telegraph that pilot Johnson “called in that he was landing and that he needed fuel”. “It should have taken him about three minutes to arrive, said Roth. “But 20 minutes later, he didn’t arrive. Roth also said he was unsure why the helicopter came down.

5. Excessive manoeuvring

Former military aviator Jim Brauchle told the Mail he believes the “ two main causes of this phenomenon are mechanical failure or excessive manoeuvring”. He also called for a “full investigation” into the event. “From the footage, it appears that the main rotor struck the body of the helicopter, cutting off the tail of the helicopter, which created an unrecoverable event,” he said.

The helicopter crashed around 3:15pm on Thursday, about 15 minutes after departing from a lower Manhattan heliport. It flew up the west side of Manhattan, turned around near the George Washington Bridge and was heading south when it plummeted upside down into a shallow stretch of the river near Jersey City, New Jersey.

Just before take-off, Agustin Escobar, his wife Merce Camprubi Montal and their three children — Victor, four, , eight, and Agustin, 10 — smiled in front of the helicopter in souvenir photos posted to the tour operator’s website. Mr Escobar, a 49-year-old executive with the German conglomerate Siemens, had extended a business trip to the US to sightsee in New York City and celebrate Mercedes’s ninth birthday, which would have been Friday, and his wife’s upcoming 40th birthday. She was an executive at Siemens Energy, a company that had been a part of the conglomerate before being spun off as a separate entity.