Boats Come To Aid Of Pilot, Passengers

It could have been far worse... but emergency pontoons kept a Eurocopter EC135 afloat after it experienced mechanical problems and landed in the Hudson River Saturday afternoon, cutting short a planned aerial tour of Manhattan.

The New York Times reports the helicopter's unidentified pilot executed a controlled landing in the river, between midtown Manhattan and Weehawken, NJ, just before 5:00 pm EDT. Two recreational boats came to the aid of those onboard.

Neither the pilot nor the seven passengers were seriously injured. The helicopter (type shown above) was eight minutes into a planned 10-minute tour.

Off-duty EMT Jose Mejia and his girlfriend were onboard the helo, celebrating their fourth anniversary as a couple. Mejia stated they heard a loud noise, similar to gunfire, as the helicopter made its way back to the West 30th Street heliport.

"Very, very, very loud, even with the earphones on," Mejia said of the sound. The
helicopter then started falling -- "like a bird out of the sky."

The pontoons deployed when the helo hit the water, Mejia said. "When those things inflated underneath the helicopter, that was the most reassuring feeling."

Mejia said the helicopter's pilot earned her pay throughout the ordeal, calming passengers and giving them emergency instructions. "The pilot really had no blame in this," he said. "She did an amazing job."

But, Mejia was also quick to lay blame for the incident. "[T}he company should really be maintaining these helicopters," Mejia said. "That’s really my main complaint."

The helicopter was operated by Liberty Helicopters, which has operated aerial tours around New York since 1990. Another Liberty helo was involved in a 1997 accident, when the aircraft impacted a building at the West 30th Street heliport. The eight people onboard received minor injuries.

FMI: www.faa.gov, http://libertyhelicopters.com/tours/