NY - Helicopter carrying Spanish tourists crashes into the Hudson River, all six killed, 10 Apr 2025

[Charlot123]

Yes. The textbook definition is “Metal fatigue is the progressive and localized structural damage that occurs when metal is subjected to loading and unloading, called cycles.” Basically, if the loads on the blade are above a certain threshold or the cycles continue beyond what is normally the life limit of a particular component, a crack may (and probably will IMO) start to form at the molecular level and grow until you have actual metal failure from the fatigue. And when that happens it’s not like a slow rip like a growing tear in a piece of fabric. Instead think of the breaking of a piece of glass over the edge of a sharp surface. (Fatigue crack growth followed by ductile overload separation.)

Components have life limits and there are margins built into fatigue life calculations so you can’t say the component may fail at “x” number of hours and if you don’t exceed that you’re golden. But how a helicopter is flown, the areas a pilot can control, can dramatically affect the loads over time the aircraft has to endure. Basically - weight, speed, and power. Exceeding max gross weight (not usually a factor in sightseeing flights, but we don’t know the history of the flying this craft has done), flying about VNE (never exceed speed, a "no no" from a Cessna 150 to a 777) and pulling too much manifold pressure (and combinations of those three) can increase the loads that reduce fatigue limits, and may result in early (premature) failure.

I won’t conjecture if metal fatigue played a part in this, just not enough information is known to the public, could be transmission and/or whole blade assembly issue. I wish I had more experience on RW crashes, but I hope this helps.

Thank you. It is interesting. By looking at his video, I feel that the mast was unstable but he said the tail was unstable, too.

Well, I had to take care of it. He was a tourist from a neighboring country and said he didn't know how to send it. But luckily, he at least cut the big video and made a separate one. It is the same helicopter.

I take it very close to heart, remembering how I recently bought a helicopter tour in another city for my son and husband. That city looks gorgeous at night. The tickets are expensive, too. So sad for the poor tourists, they wanted to celebrate the daughter's birthday. And the pilot, of course.

 

[BetteDavisEyes]

New York helicopter company shutting down following crash that killed 6

The pilot and a family of five visiting from Spain, including three children, were killed when the helicopter plunged into the river.

www.nbcnews.com

The company that operated the helicopter that crashed into the Hudson River in New York last week, killing all six people on board, will shut down immediately, the Federal Aviation Administration said late Sunday.

New York Helicopter Tours is "shutting down their operations immediately," the FAA said in a statement on X, adding that it would launch a review of the company's license and safety records.

The company is already subject to an investigation from the National Transportation Safety Board, which said Saturday that the helicopter was not fitted with any flight recorders or onboard cameras...