Helicopter Crash on Roof of New York City Building Kills Pilot
The accident unsettled many, but Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said there was no indication that it was linked to terrorism.
For hours on Monday, fog surrounded the skyscrapers in Midtown Manhattan, hiding the upper floors behind a gauzy, grayish curtain.
About the time that the late-lunch crowd would have been signaling for the check, there were noises that seemed out of place, even in noisy New York City: the disturbing roar of an aircraft flying low, followed by what some assumed was an explosion.
A helicopter had crashed onto the roof of an office building on Seventh Avenue and burst into flames.
Only a pilot was aboard the doomed aircraft. He was killed, and investigators were trying to determine if he had been trying to make an emergency landing.
Alerts spread on cellphones as a smoky plume streamed through the fog. New Yorkers, unnerved, wondered whether the crash had been deliberate. It rekindled memories of a far different day — Sept. 11, 2001, when jetliners commandeered by terrorists destroyed the twin towers of the World Trade Center.
The memories of 9/11 were compounded as the building was evacuated. Employees streamed down staircases as firefighters rushed in, heading to the roof.
But Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, who arrived quickly at the scene, said there was no indication of terrorism.
Mr. Cuomo acknowledged that the initial reports had jarred nerves. “If you’re a New Yorker, you have a level of PTSD, right, from 9/11,” he said. “I remember that morning all too well.”
But in contrast to that bright, clear day, the weather was dismal on Monday. The visibility was little more than a mile, and the cloud ceiling was low. Police Commissioner James P. O’Neill said the helicopter had been flying through restricted airspace. Mayor Bill de Blasio said investigators would have to establish whether the helicopter had been in contact with air traffic controllers at La Guardia Airport.
After an early review of evidence, investigators believe that the pilot had been stuck on the ground at the 34th Street heliport along the East River because of poor weather, but saw an opening and headed for his base in New Jersey by traveling south along the river, according to a senior city official who was briefed on the preliminary findings but not authorized to discuss them publicly.
At the time, the cloud ceiling was about 700 feet.
Shortly after taking off, however, the pilot changed course, apparently intending to go back to the heliport. Instead, the helicopter rose into the clouds and flew at high speed into the roof of the Midtown building. The height of the roof was roughly the same as the cloud ceiling.
The pilot was not qualified to fly using only instruments, the official said, cautioning that the investigation was still at an early stage.
There apparently were no radio communications between the pilot and any air traffic control towers in the vicinity, the official said.
The crash was the second involving a helicopter in less than a month and the latest of several fatal incidents in and around New York City in the past 20 years. It revived longstanding calls for greater restrictions on helicopters flying over such a densely populated region.
Mr. Blasio told reporters at the scene of the crash that it was an “absolutely stunning, shocking incident.”
The impact jolted the building at 787 Seventh Avenue, between 51st and 52nd Streets. One worker on the seventh floor said it “felt like a small earthquake.” Andrew Heath, 37, working on the fifth floor, said what he heard “sounded like a manhole cover had exploded.”
The accident happened only 11 minutes after the helicopter took off from the heliport. The helicopter’s home base was an airport in Linden, N.J., where Paul Dudley, the airport manager, identified the pilot as Tim McCormack. He said Mr. McCormack worked for American Continental Properties, a real estate concern that said he had flown for the company for five years.
John Kjekstad, the president of Helicopter Flight Services, one of the biggest charter operators in the New York area, said he had briefly employed Mr. McCormack several years ago. He remembered Mr. McCormack as a “nice, normal guy” who once had to contend with a bird crashing through the windshield on a flight over Manhattan with several passengers aboard.
“He calmed the passengers down and did a great job landing,” Mr. Kjekstad said.
Mr. McCormack was also the chief of the volunteer fire squad in East Clinton, N.Y., in Dutchess County, according to his Facebook page, which was filled with photos showing him flying above familiar landmarks like the Statue of Liberty.
Fire Commissioner Daniel A. Nigro said firefighters, who arrived in little more than four minutes, put the fire out as the building below, which houses the offices of several financial firms, was being evacuated.
Melissa DeRosa, Mr. Cuomo’s top aide, said on Twitter that President Trump called the governor to ask about the accident “and to offer any assistance needed.”
There were several reports of a helicopter flying erratically near the East River not long before the crash. The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the accident.
Wendy Slater, 46, was walking her pit bull, Ewing, on the East River near 20th Street when she heard the sound of a low-flying helicopter.
“It was flying really low, going up and diving down, flying sideways,” she said. “I just thought he was going to crash right there in the river, but then he went north.”
The crash recalled an accident in 2006, when a single-engine plane carrying the Yankees pitcher Cory Lidle smashed into a 42-story apartment building on the Upper East Side, killing Mr. Lidle and his flight instructor. That accident sent debris tumbling to the sidewalk and started a fire that destroyed several apartments.
But it was the memory of the Sept. 11 attacks that flashed through the minds of people in Le Bernardin, the three-star Michelin restaurant at the bottom of the building. The lunchtime crowd, eating lobster and drinking Champagne, was jolted by the noise. “It goes through everyone’s mind,” said Jenaro Mendoza, a waiter, recalling the terrorist attacks. Added a colleague, Antony Cordero, “You never know what it is, if it’s terrorism.”
At table after table, cellphones started flashing alerts about a plane crash. Before long the chef, Eric Ripert, emerged from the kitchen and asked everyone to leave.
Upstairs in the building are several law firms, including Sidley Austin and Willkie Farr & Gallagher, and some operations of financial services firms, like BNP Paribas, UBS and Citibank, as well as an office of CalPERS, the California Public Employees’ Retirement System.
787 7th ave, #midtown NYC. We’re 1 block south. 20 mins ago there was a loud sound like a too-low #helicopter & I looked up and saw sheet of flame on roof and then smoke. News reports saying helicopter/small plane crash onto roof which would be consistent with what I heard/saw.
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