Fatal Hudson River heli crash adds to aviation liability incidents

By Michael Jones

April 11 - (The Insurer) - Aviation insurers face another potential liability loss after a Bell 206 tourist helicopter plummeted into New York City's Hudson River on Thursday.

The tourist helicopter, operated by New York Helicopter Tours, crashed into the river killing all six people on board, including a Spanish family with three children and the pilot, according to Mayor Eric Adams.

Among those killed was Agustin Escobar, CEO of Rail Infrastructure at Siemens Mobility, the train transportation arm of German technology company Siemens.

Two senior aviation market sources said that the incident would likely be a notable, but not significant, liability event for the market.

Two senior aviation underwriting source said that if liability fell on the operator, it is likely to have a liability sub-limit of under $20 million. In this event, one aviation underwriting source said it would likely be close to a full-limit loss.

This limit would be higher in the event that liability fell on the manufacturer, these sources said.

The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the incident, with the NTSB leading the investigation.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the Federal Aviation Administration was also launching a Safety Review Team on Thursday evening.

The market has seen multiple significant liability loss events since December 29, 2024 , which included the Delta Air Lines crash in Toronto, the American Airlines disaster and the Jeju Air crash.