Pilot dies as copter crashes on NYC building
NEW YORK — A helicopter crash-landed on the roof of a rain-shrouded midtown Manhattan skyscraper Monday, killing the pilot and briefly triggering memories of 9/11, though it appeared to be an accident.
The crash near Times Square and Trump Tower shook the 750-foot AXA Equitable building, sparked a fire on the roof and forced office workers to flee on elevators and down stairs, witnesses and officials said.
The pilot was believed to be the only one aboard, and there were no other reports of injuries, authorities said.
It was not immediately clear what caused the crash, or why the Agusta A109E was flying in a driving downpour with low cloud cover and in the tightly controlled airspace of midtown Manhattan. A flight restriction in effect since President Donald Trump took office bans aircraft from flying below 3,000 feet within a 1-mile radius of Trump Tower, which is less than a halfmile from the crash site.
The helicopter went down about 11 minutes after taking off from a heliport along the East River, a little more than a mile away. Police Commissioner James O’Neill said it might have been returning to its home airport in Linden, N.J.
The crash happened shortly before 2 p.m., when clouds obscured the roof of the building. Rescue vehicles swarmed to the scene a few blocks from Rockefeller Center.
“If you’re a New Yorker, you have a level of PTSD, right, from 9/11,” said Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who spoke to reporters at the scene. “And I remember that morning all too well. So as soon as you hear an aircraft hit a building, I think my mind goes where every New Yorker’s mind goes.”
Videos posted by onlookers showed emergency vehicles in the street, but no obvious damage to the skyscraper. The fire department later tweeted a photo of the helicopter’s wreckage.
The Federal Aviation Administration said the National Transportation Safety Board would oversee an investigation.
The city allows helicopters to take off and land from three heliports, one each on the East and West sides and in downtown Manhattan. All of the facilities border rivers.