All joy on Instagram just before fatal crash
Eerie video footage taken inside the helicopter that crashed into the East River on Sunday captured its five passengers grinning as the chopper took off — in what would be their final moments alive.
Trevor Cadigan, an up-and-coming journalist who had just moved to Manhattan from Texas for his big break, flashes a smile as he records the Instagram video — while longtime pal Brian McDaniel, a Dallas firefighter visiting his buddy, gives an enthusiastic thumbs-up.
Smiling broadly alongside the two 26-year-olds were three other young people whose lives would soon be cut short: city residents Daniel Thompson, a choir leader, and Tristan Hill, a sightseeing- tour company worker who was months away from marrying the love of his life, as well as Argentine tourist Carla Vallejos Blanco.
Cadigan managed to upload the video just before the craft plunged from the sky.
The photo-snapping twilight tour of New York was supposed to be the highlight of McDaniel’s trip to catch up with his high-school buddy, friends said Monday.
“[McDaniel] was in New York with Trevor. He wanted to sightsee and check out the city — that’s why he was on the helicopter,” said pal Michael La Mastre, 26, through tears.
Cadigan, a budding video journalist, had moved to the city only a few months ago to begin a career at Business Insider, while McDaniel stayed in Dallas, where he had been working with the Dallas Fire-Rescue Department for about two years.
La Mastre said he believes that McDaniel spent his final moments doing what he did best.
“The first thing I thought when I heard about the crash was that he probably tried to help everyone around him first,” La Mastre said “He was trained on what to do in emergencies, and he would have stayed calm.”
“His line of work could be gruesome. But he always wanted to be the first one into the [burning] building.”
Both men’s parents flew into New York on Monday to identify the bodies.
The parents grieved together outside the city Medical Examiner’s Office in Manhattan as Cadigan’s dad thanked first responders.
“I really appreciate everything they’ve done for us and for
Trevor,” a distraught Jerry Cadigan told The Post.
Jerry Cadigan is a longtime employee and production manager at ABC’s Dallas affiliate, WFAA, and Trevor appeared to be following in his father’s footsteps.
He had been an intern at the station, and in October began working on Business Insider’s online TV show “The Bottom Line.”
Hill, 30, had moved to the city in October to work as director of operations at sightseeing company Sightsy.
He was looking forward to marrying his fiancée, Eda Ozmen, 27, on May 27 — and the couple, who had known each other since high school, had just enjoyed a romantic date the night before the crash, the couple’s would-be bridesmaid told The Post.
“The night before Tristan died, they had gone to [the Broadway musical] ‘Frozen,’ ” a tearful Micheon Cahill, 29, said.
“They were supposed to get mmarried in two months.”
A bereft Ozmen could only muster the strength to send a statement through her friend.
“Tell them how much I love him and how loved he is,” she said via text message.
Hill, a former college-basketball pplayer, had previously used his special skills working for the Westchester Knicks, the farm team for the New York Knicks, and as the director of a basketball camp that raised funds for a Boys and Girls Club in Reno, Nev.
“He was an incredible human being,” his brother Brendan Hill said.
“He always took time to listen to what you had to say. He was just a very good man.”
The other New Yorker on board was Daniel Thompson, 34.
He was mourned by members of the Young New Yorkers’ Chorus, singing since 2008 and where he served as president of the board of directors.
“A fantastic person,” said Kelly Shoemaker, managing director of the choir. “He was a baritone and stepped forward in a leadership role. Quite a loss.”
Blanco, 28, the fifth passenger, had a degree in advertising and was visiting the city with a friend, who became very worried when she didn’t return from the helicopter trip, according to the Argentine newspaper Clarín.
“The friend worried because they had arranged to meet at the Rockefeller Center. He contacted us because she did not respond,” Vice Consul Eduardo Almirantearena said.