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Helicopter Lands In River After Losing Engine Power

By Dan Evon
Published on: 01:16 PST, Jul 1, 2013

A helicopter made an emergency landing in the Hudson River last night after it lost power shortly after takeoff.

The charter helicopter was taking a family of four on a sightseeing tour of New York City. The aircraft took off from the Wall Street Heliport but lost power after a few minutes in the air. The pilot then had to make an emergency landing in the Hudson River.

The Wall Street Journal reports that pilot Michael Campbell, 22 years old,was flying at 1,500 feet at about 120 mph when the engines shut down.

Campbell said: “I told them we were going down and to just relax … I was just doing my job. It was a mechanical error in flight, and I just did what I had to do.”

Deputy Fire Chief Thomas McKavanaugh said that the pilot was able to use the helicopter’s pontoons to keep the aircraft afloat. No one was injured in the crash.

McKavanaugh said: “The pilot did a terrific job considering he’d lost his engine power.”

The Telegraph reports that the Bell 206 helicopter was registered to New York Helicopter. The company offers 25-minute tours of NYC for about $300. The company has not commented on the incident yet.

Here’s a video of a successful helicopter tour.

Campbell, who got his pilot’s license in 2010, said: “Most people go through their whole career without an emergency landing. The helicopter is in one piece, and that’s all you can hope for.”

 

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