NTSB Report Confirms Bird Strike Caused 2025 Hudson River Helicopter Crash

The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board released its final report on the July 2025 helicopter crash into the Hudson River. The document identified a bird strike as the cause after investigators recovered remains of several geese from the rotor blades.

The helicopter carried Agustín Escobar, head of Siemens' Spanish division, his wife, their three children and the pilot. The family had boarded minutes earlier for a sightseeing flight and posed for a photograph shortly before takeoff, according to the report. Four people died at the scene and two others later in hospital, police said.

The NTSB issued the findings more than a year after the accident, providing the first official account of the sequence that brought the aircraft down. Euronews reported that the children were aged eleven, seven and four. Officials noted that while bird strikes occur regularly in aviation, collisions with large flocking birds such as geese can produce severe damage.