The Charter company in a fatal helicopter accident had previous mechanical failures

The company that managed the helicopter who crashed into the Hudson river on Thursday, killing all six people on board, has a long history of flying excursions around New York City, some of whom are not ended as expected.

The company, New York Helicopter Charter, had one of its air accidents while she was around 20 feet from the ground after take -off in Northern New Jersey in 2015. Two years earlier, another of its helicopters had been forced to make an emergency landing in the Hudson river near the west side of Manhattan after losing power during a vision tour for a family of four.

In the 2015 accident, the pilot reported that the helicopter began to escape control before putting it down for a “hard landing”. An investigation discovered that the plane had previously been involved in a hard landing in Chile in 2010 and that a driving tree that was “unjust” seemed to be a replacement part that was not suitable, according to a National Transportation Safety Board report.

The helicopter involved in that accident was a 206 bell model that the New York helicopter card was renting by Meridian Helicopters, a Louisiana company. Meridian also owns the helicopter who crashed into the Hudson Thursday, show the records.

In the 2013 accident, a family of four tourists from Sweden was making a tourist tour on Sunday morning in a 206 red bell that took off from an heliport near Wall Street. While the helicopter began to descend on the water, the pilot swelling the pontones that maintained the plane in a vertical position in the water. The passengers went to the hospital but nobody was seriously injured.

Michael Roth, CEO of New York Helicopter Charter, manages tourist flights inside and around the city for 30 years. Reached Thursday after the fatal accident, Mr. Roth confirmed that the helicopter who went down had been rented by his company by the Louisiana owner.

He said he couldn’t explain what had happened during the flight. “I have no information,” he said by phone from New Jersey. “They are not here.”

He added that as a father and grandfather, he was “devastated” by the tragic result.

The registers of the Court suggest that the New York helicopter card has recently faced financial difficulties. One of his helicopters was recovered in December after the company did not pay the lease, according to a case presented in January at the Federal Court of Manhattan by Ph Aviation, a company based in Louisiana who declared that it was due to $ 1.4 million. And New York Helicopter Charter presented bankruptcy application in 2019, stating that his activity had been damaged by changes in New York City policies on air traffic around the city.

Operators like New York Helicopter Charter have been limited for several years by an agreement that have entered into with the officials of the city among difficulties Noise complaints from their frequent and low flights on the city. To avoid being prohibited by the heliport owned by the city near Wall Street, the companies have agreed to stick to the prescribed routes and not to fly on Sunday.

This is a development story and will be updated.

Sheelagh McNeill AND Susan C. Beachy Research contribution. Christopher stomach Contributed relationships.