The Federal Aviation Administration ordered New York Helicopter Charter Inc. to cease operations while it conducts a review of the tour operator’s license and safety record following a deadly crash last week.
The regulator’s decision, announced on X, came just hours after US Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called on it to revoke the company’s license and expand safety inspections of other tour operators.
The New York senator criticized the company’s use of FAA Part 91 certification — a regulatory framework that permits sightseeing flights with fewer training, maintenance and oversight requirements than commercial operators must meet.
“This company was operating under the lowest bar of safety,” Schumer said Sunday in New York. “Every helicopter tour company in New York City is using this same model — and it’s killing people.”
The April 10 crash killed the pilot, a Navy veteran, and five passengers — including a Siemens AG executive, his wife and their three children ages 10, eight and four. The aircraft, a Bell 206 L-4, was on its eighth sightseeing flight of the day when it went down in the Hudson River near Jersey City.
Schumer called on the FAA to suspend the company’s operations pending the National Transportation Safety Board’s investigation. He also urged an increase in ramp inspections — surprise checks to ensure compliance with aviation safety standards — for all tour operators in the New York metro area.
“These inspections are like meat or food safety inspections,” Schumer said. “You show up unannounced and see what’s really going on.”
Read more: Helicopter in Hudson River Crash Lacked Recorder, NTSB Says
The helicopter lacked both a cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder, according to the NTSB. Divers continue to search for the main rotor and gearbox, which could help determine the cause of the crash. Some wreckage has been recovered and is being analyzed by investigators.
New York Helicopter has a troubled safety record. Two incidents involving the company in 2013 and 2015 were tied to maintenance failures. The company filed for bankruptcy in 2019 after restrictions on helicopter traffic were introduced.
Schumer said tour operators should face stricter regulations, including limits on aircraft age, greater pilot experience requirements and stronger financial standards to prevent cost-cutting on safety.
“Passengers deserve one level of safety — whether they’re flying across the country or around the Statue of Liberty,” he said.
Photo: The wreckage of a helicopter that crashed into the Hudson River is extracted from the water in Jersey City, New Jersey, US, on Thursday, April 10, 2025. A helicopter crashed into the Hudson River on Thursday, killing all six people on board, the latest in a string of incidents in the past few months that has rattled confidence in aviation safety.
Copyright 2025 Bloomberg.
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