New York .- The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board, which is investigating the helicopter crash that killed a Spanish family in New York in 2025, released a report on Thursday suggesting a bird strike as the cause of the tragedy.
The agency (NTSB) released the files of the ongoing investigation today, which contain a report from experts at the Smithsonian Institution’s ornithology laboratory regarding bird remains, specifically geese, found at the scene after the accident.
Experts, according to their examination of the samples, state that “a mixed flock of Brant and Canada geese struck the rotor blades and the horizontal stabilizer,” the document indicates.
The investigation into the helicopter crash in New York
The NTSB reminds that it has not yet determined the “probable cause” of the accident or the “contributing factors” to it, and will do so when it closes the investigation.
On April 10, 2025, the five members of the Escobar Camprubí family, two adults and three young children, died when the tourist helicopter they were traveling in crashed into the Hudson River just 16 minutes after takeoff. The aircraft’s pilot also passed away.
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The files released today also include three eyewitness statements that point to the presence of birds in the vicinity of the helicopter at least in the moments before it crashed into the river.
The witnesses’ account
One of the witnesses, who was running along the Hudson River on the Jersey City side, said she saw “a flock of about 20 very large, fat birds,” while another, from his apartment on the 20th floor also in that city, saw “hundreds of birds” in the area.
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Another document published by the NTSB indicates that from 2009 to 2025, the agency has investigated 18 helicopter accidents in which the probable cause was a bird strike, of which 3 were fatal and resulted in 14 deaths.
The deceased were the Spaniards Agustín Escobar Cañadas and Mercè Camprubí Montal, both Siemens executives; and their three children aged 10, 8, and 4, as well as the pilot, the American Seankese Johnson.
