CEO of chopper in Hudson River crash shares details about aircraft’s final moments
New details have emerged regarding the final moments of the helicopter that plunged into the Hudson River in Jersey City, New Jersey, on Thursday afternoon.
The pilot of the doomed aircraft reportedly radioed about needing to refuel minutes before the helicopter crashed into the chilly waters, according to New York Helicopter Tour CEO Michael Roth, whose company operated the helicopter.
“[The pilot] called in that he was landing and that he needed fuel, and it should have taken him about three minutes to arrive, but 20 minutes later, he didn’t arrive,” Roth told The Telegraph.
All six people on board – including five members of the same family – did not survive.
6 DEAD, INCLUDING 3 CHILDREN, AFTER HELICOPTER PLUMMETS IN HUDSON RIVER
“The only thing I know by watching a video of the helicopter falling down, that the main rotor blades weren’t on the helicopter,” Roth told the New York Post. “I haven’t seen anything like that in my 30 years being in business, in the helicopter business. The only thing I could guess – I got no clue – is that it either had a bird strike or the main rotor blades failed. I have no clue. I don’t know.”
The five passengers have been identified as Siemens executive Agustin Escobar, Mercé Camprubi Montal, an energy technology company global manager, and the couple’s three young children, according to The Associated Press.
The pilot’s identity had not been released as of Friday morning.
Photos posted on the helicopter operator’s website showed the family smiling inside the aircraft moments before it took off.
OHIO STATE HIGHWAY PATROL INVESTIGATING SMALL PLANE CRASH, PILOT DEAD
The flight departed a Downtown Manhattan heliport at approximately 3 p.m. and was in the air for about 18 minutes. Bystander footage of the crash shows the aircraft’s rotor detaching from the cabin as it rapidly falls through the air before hitting the water near Jersey City.
Authorities began receiving 911 calls regarding a helicopter crash in the Hudson River around 3:17 p.m., New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said during a news conference on Thursday. Eyewitnesses reported seeing the helicopter spinning uncontrollably before landing in the water.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams confirmed the family was visiting from Spain, adding it is “heartbreaking” that a family traveling to the city became victims of such a tragic accident.
PLANE CRASH NEAR MINNEAPOLIS SENDS HOME UP IN FLAMES WITH NO SURVIVORS ON BOARD
“We had over 65 million people that visited our city last year, and just think about it, you’re on a vacation, you’re with your family, you want to experience New York from the sky, and something like this happens. It’s heartbreaking to everyone,” Adams said, in part.
Emergency personnel arrived at the scene within minutes, including divers from the New York City Fire Department (FDNY) and New York City Police Department (NYPD). NYPD drivers pulled four people from the wreckage, while the FDNY recovered two additional people, according to Tisch.
First responders attempted lifesaving efforts on an adjoining pier, but four people were pronounced dead at the scene and the others were pronounced dead at local hospitals.
The water temperature in the Hudson River at the time of the crash was in the mid-40s, according to FOX Weather.
DELTA PLANE, AIR FORCE JET NEARLY CRASH IN ‘LOSS OF SEPARATION’ DURING ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY FLYOVER
“The Coast Guard and Army Corps, along with local partners, continue to support the NTSB in their ongoing investigation and debris recovery efforts,” the U.S. Coast Guard said in a statement.
The helicopter was salvaged hours later, according to the Army Corps of Engineers.
The incident occurred less than a mile from Manhattan and near the Holland Tunnel, where 15.8 million vehicles travel between New York City and New Jersey per year. Immediately following the crash, the Coast Guard implemented a safety zone around the Holland Tunnel and Hudson River, which remained in effect until 10 p.m. Thursday.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Roth and New York Helicopter Tours did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
The incident was the first helicopter crash the city has seen since 2019, after an aircraft struck the roof of a skyscraper, killing the pilot.
“Our hearts go out to the families of those who were onboard,” Adams said. “It’s almost reminiscent of the plane going down here on the Hudson River. Thank God we didn’t lose any lives back then. It’s still fresh and still new, the investigation is ongoing, and … the family members, we lift them up in prayer.”
President Trump to undergo first physical exam of his second term
President Donald Trump is heading to get his annual physical Friday after declaring earlier this week that he’s “never felt better.”
The 78-year-old announced the medical appointment on his Truth Social account, writing, “I am pleased to report that my long-scheduled Annual Physical Examination will be done at Walter Reed Army Medical Center on Friday of this week.
“I have never felt better, but nevertheless, these things must be done!” Trump added.
The physical, which will take place early Friday afternoon in Bethesda, Maryland, comes less than a year after Trump survived an assassination attempt in Pennsylvania while on the campaign trail.
TRUMP DEMANDS DO-OR-DIE NUCLEAR TALKS WITH IRAN – WHO HAS THE LEVERAGE?
At the time, Trump released a letter from his former physician Ronny Jackson, who wrote that “it is an absolute miracle he wasn’t killed.”
“The bullet passed, coming less than a quarter of an inch from entering his head, and struck the top of his right ear,” Jackson added.
Months later, in November, Florida neurosurgeon Dr. Brett Osborn told Fox News Digital that Trump remained in good health.
TRUMP THREATENS TARIFFS AND SANCTIONS ON MEXICO FOR ‘STEALING’ WATER FROM TEXAS FARMERS
“The fact that he attended 120 events in seven months, often multiple rallies in a single day in different states, is proof-positive that Trump has a tremendous amount of stamina, mentally and physically,” Osborn noted.
But Democrats have disputed Trump’s health in the past, and members of the medical community have demanded Trump release his medical records. In an open letter from Oct. 13, over 230 doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals asked for a record release.
The physical on Friday will be the first one of Trump’s second term in office.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
In 2020, during his first administration, Trump was treated for COVID-19 at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center.
‘Mr Wonderful’ goes off on China’s tariff tactics: ‘Enough is enough’
With China hiking its trade war stakes with the U.S., “Shark Tank” star and entrepreneur Kevin O’Leary is calling for the adversary’s assets to be delisted from markets.
“My estimation, as of this morning, somewhere between $500 to $700 billion worth of market capitalization that should be delisted, taken off the exchanges, add further pressure on the Chinese to come to the table,” O’Leary said on “Mornings with Maria” Friday.
“And I speak on behalf of every American investor. Enough is enough,” he added. “And I don’t know why this is going on. I’m only asking the new [SEC] chair: uphold the law, just uphold the law.”
Early Friday, China announced that it will raise tariffs on American imports from 84% to 125%. The move represents the latest escalation of an ongoing trade war between the U.S. and China, which is led by the Chinese Communist Party.
AUSTRALIA REFUSES TO ‘JOIN HANDS’ WITH CHINA TO FIGHT U.S. TARIFFS
China indicated that it made the move in response to the U.S. raising tariffs, but also claimed it does not plan to retaliate against any potential additional U.S. tariff increases.
O’Leary criticized China for “never” abiding by the rules and regulations since joining the World Trade Organization in 2000, and suggested that they get a taste of their own medicine.
“I’m an investor. I take companies public on NASDAQ and the New York Stock Exchange. I pay millions of dollars each year in compliance. I have no choice but to be compliant and transparent and abide by [Generally Accepted Accounting Principles]. And right beside me, issuing shares without any guidance at all, are Chinese companies,” O’Leary started.
“I’m competing for that dollar. I’m investing in our markets and being compliant, and my Chinese competitor, same bank I’m using, is going to institutions the same day on a road show and raising money for what’s called a shadow share,” he expanded. “It’s not even a real share. They don’t even have any rights. And they’re taking my dollar.”
“So I’m putting up my hand saying, wait a minute, just follow the law. Delist these companies, make them be compliant like I am.”
GET FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO BY CLICKING HERE
China’s latest retaliation announcement comes as President Donald Trump slapped a 125% tariff on the top Asian exporter.
In response, the Chinese finance ministry said: “The US’s imposition of abnormally high tariffs on China seriously violates international economic and trade rules, and also violates basic economic laws and common sense. It is a completely unilateral bullying and coercive practice… Given that at the current tariff level, there is no market acceptance for U.S. goods exported to China, if the U.S. continues to impose additional tariffs on Chinese goods exported to the U.S., China will ignore it.”
READ MORE FROM FOX BUSINESS
Dem lawyer who settled suit with MSNBC parent scolds Maddow
EXCLUSIVE– Attorney Stacey Evans, an elected Democrat who regularly watches MSNBC, said in an interview Thursday that Rachel Maddow’s treatment of her client in the “uterus collector” case was “preposterous” and “disappointing.”
NBCUniversal, the parent company of NBC News and MSNBC, last week formally settled a $30 million lawsuit filed by Evans’ client, Georgia gynecologist Dr. Mahendra Amin, who was the subject of a report claiming he performed unnecessary hysterectomies at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) center.
An NBC News article in September 2020 which cited a whistleblower’s claim that Amin was performing unneeded hysterectomies while providing medical care to women detained at the Irwin County Detention Center started the saga, and MSNBC quickly followed with a series of on-air reports.
Nicolle Wallace’s “Deadline: White House,” “All In with Chris Hayes” and “The Rachel Maddow Show” all ran with a disparaging “uterus collector” label for Amin, but Evans feels the network’s biggest star is the one who really took things too far.
NBC DEFAMATION SETTLEMENT WITH GEORGIA DOCTOR FINALIZED IN COURT FOLLOWING MSNBC’S ‘UTERUS COLLECTOR’ COVERAGE
“It was Rachel Maddow who tried to tie Dr. Amin as the next chapter in the continuing saga, essentially, of mistreatment of immigrants by the Donald Trump administration. And she opened that block by talking about child separation policies and this former Trump administrator who had been tracking women’s menstrual cycles — just some really sick stuff — and then to say that Dr. Amin was the next chapter in this saga, it was preposterous the way she did it,” Evans told Fox News Digital.
“It was disappointing, and she is a very smart, very hardworking journalist — no dispute,” she continued. “It’s disappointing that any media would be so reckless.”
In addition to being a practicing attorney, Evans is currently a State Representative for House District 57, which includes portions of Atlanta. She lost the 2018 Georgia Democratic gubernatorial nomination to Stacey Abrams.
Evans, who called MSNBC a “default” channel for Democrats like herself, said she watches the news with a “higher degree of skepticism” than most Americans because she has seen behind the curtain through various defamation cases throughout her legal career.
“What they did was so egregious, in my opinion, in continuing to go with these statements that he was a uterus collector, that he had performed mass hysterectomies when they had in their hands — all the data they could muster was two hysterectomies, and they knew that,” Evans said.
“They know that ICE had also found those two in their records and said that they had found them to be medically necessary through their internal procedures,” she continued. “Classic example of following sensationalism as opposed to facts.”
JUDGE SAYS MADDOW, OTHER MSNBC HOSTS MADE ‘VERIFIABLY FALSE’ STATEMENTS ABOUT DOCTOR SUING FOR DEFAMATION
Evans, who represented Amin along with co-counsel Scott Grubman, believes MSNBC’s anti-Trump coverage leading up to the 2020 presidential election played a role in the network’s conduct and eagerness to tie Amin to Trump immigration policy.
“For example, Rachel Maddow, when she’s in her planning meeting with her team, she’s saying, ‘If it’s true, we should go with it, but I don’t want to assume it’s true,’” Evans said, noting that Maddow was “expressing some doubt” according to documents revealed in discovery.
“Eight minutes later, according to the sort of tick-tock internal minutes that they took, eight minutes later, she’s like, ‘Yeah, let’s go with it, and it’s going to be the A block,’” Evans said.
Evans said it was “frustrating to see how reckless” Maddow and her MSNBC colleagues were when spoiling the reputation of Amin, who is an immigrant himself.
MSNBC PARENT COMPANY NBCUNIVERSAL SETTLES ‘UTERUS COLLECTOR’ LAWSUIT AHEAD OF HIGH-STAKES TRIAL
“It’s very, very sad,” Evans said. “Seeing her go from skepticism about whether the story was true to making it her A-block and tying someone who was a private doctor, tying him to Trump administration policies, and using that as her A-block in eight minutes, at least that’s what it appeared to be on paper, was very, very, very disappointing.”
Judge Lisa Godbey Wood of the Southern District of Georgia previously ruled that a jury could reasonably find actual malice and the trial was set to begin April 22, in Waycross, Georgia. In light of the settlement agreement, the court canceled the scheduled trial.
Judge Wood also previously ruled that multiple statements were proven false, noting “undisputed evidence has established” that “there were no mass hysterectomies or high numbers of hysterectomies at the facility,” and “Dr. Amin performed only two hysterectomies on female detainees from the ICDC” and the doctor is not a “uterus collector.”
MSNBC did not immediately respond to a request for comment. NBCUniversal has not commented publicly on the settlement agreement.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
President Trump weighs in on debate over Daylight Saving Time
President Donald Trump is weighing in on a national debate, apparently calling on Congress to make Daylight Saving Time permanent.
“The House and Senate should push hard for more Daylight at the end of a day. Very popular and, most importantly, no more changing of the clocks, a big inconvenience and, for our government, A VERY COSTLY EVENT!!!” the president declared Friday morning in a post on Truth Social.
Senators debated the annual changes between Daylight Saving Time and Standard time during a hearing Thursday.
Dem rep admits she wishes she could reverse her vote on Laken Riley Act
Rep. Jahana Hayes, D-Conn., said on Thursday that she regretted voting for the Laken Riley Act earlier this year.
The congresswoman made the statement during a CNN town hall, telling anchor Kaitlan Collins that though she once supported the bill, she came to regret it after seeing immigrants being demonized by the Trump administration.
“As I’ve thought about it over the last couple of months, I probably would have voted differently. It’s a vote that I regret,” Hayes said.
ACCUSED MS-13 LEADER NABBED BY PATEL’S FBI TO REMAIN IN CUSTODY FOR NOW, JUDGE RULES
President Donald Trump signed the Laken Riley Act into law in January 2025. The new law requires federal immigration authorities to detain illegal immigrants charged or found guilty of theft-related crimes, as well as those accused of assaulting a police officer. It also would allow states to sue the Department of Homeland Security for harm caused to their citizens because of illegal immigration.
The law was named for Laken Riley, a nursing student who was killed by an illegal immigrant while jogging on the University of Georgia’s campus.
The law’s liberal critics say it undermines illegal immigrants’ “access to basic due process.” The American Immigration Council put out a statement in January, which read, “Under this law, they would be placed in indefinite detention if accused—not convicted—of low-level crimes like shoplifting. That could include children who are mistakenly arrested and accused of crimes they did not commit.”
CONGRESS SENDS LAKEN RILEY ACT TO TRUMP’S DESK AS FIRST BILL OF GOP’S WASHINGTON TAKEOVER
Collins asked Hayes about her support for the law as well as the law’s alleged threat to due process. The lawmaker responded that she’s concerned about legal migrants who are suffering because of it, and noted she only voted for it because of its protection for police officers.
“I understand how immigrants across this country, who are here legally and have followed the law, are being terrorized right now because they are unsure of what happens next,” she said. “I voted for that piece of legislation because of a very specific provision, and it was if it caused injury or death to a police officer, which was one small piece of it.”
Hayes mentioned Collins’ point about due process concerns, saying they’d caused her to regret supporting it alongside the 47 other Democratic representatives who voted for it in Congress.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE COVERAGE OF MEDIA AND CULTURE
She added that she was more comfortable with the law in the beginning, as she thought the Trump administration would cooperate with Democratic lawmakers on immigration reform. However, she said she doubts that now.
CLICK TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
“But coming into this Congress, I trusted that this administration… if they wanted to have border security, they wanted to work with Democrats, that we could actually move forward,” she stated. “I’m not really sure of that, because I’ve seen the rhetoric that has come out and the attacks that have been targeted towards immigrants. So, I’m very cautious and careful when I’m negotiating my votes moving forward.”
Kamala Harris comes out swinging against Trump, Musk as she teases political future
Former Vice President Kamala Harris took to social media this month to cheer on the growing resistance by Democrats to President Donald Trump.
“Today in every state across our nation, Americans are standing up to the administration,” Harris wrote.
Also taking aim at Trump’s most visible advisor and the world’s richest person — Elon Musk — the former vice president emphasized that “the voices of working people will always be louder than the unelected billionaires.”
Harris, in a possible tease of potential future political plans, spotlighted on social media a clip from the closing line of a speech from earlier this month.
KAMALA HARRIS REVEALS HER TIMETABLE ON HER NEXT POLITICAL STEPS
Railing against moves by the Trump administration and vowing to remain active in the fight, Harris said, “I’ll see you out there. I’m not going anywhere.”
And earlier this year, Harris, in a video message to the Democratic National Committee as it huddled for its winter meeting, pledged to be with the party “every step of the way.”
But five months after losing the presidential election to Trump, Harris’ public appearances are still few and far between.
HEAD HERE FOR THE LATEST FOX NEWS REPORTING AND ANALYSIS REGARDING KAMALA HARRIS
And unlike her 2024 running mate — Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz — and other top Democrats, she has not appeared at rallies or town halls to directly address a Democratic Party base that is increasingly angry and energized over Trump’s sweeping and controversial upending of the federal government during the first three months of his second tour of duty in the White House.
Harris has also avoided doing any television interviews or taking part in any podcasts, ceding the spotlight to others in the party.
But her every public word is quickly dissected.
“I’m not here to say I told you so,” Harris said on April 3 in Dana Point, California, to a gathering of Black female business leaders, politicians and other prominent people, as she pointed to her warnings about Trump on the campaign trail last summer and autumn.
The clip, during which both Harris and the crowd cracked up, instantly went viral.
And there’s intense speculation over what may be Harris’ next political move.
Two potential options are launching a gubernatorial run next year in her home state of California, in the race to succeed term-limited Gov. Gavin Newsom, or seeking the presidency again in 2028.
Extremely early polls in the next Democratic Party presidential nomination race — which are heavily reliant on name recognition at this point — indicate that the former vice president holds a significant lead over other potential White House contenders.
TOP TRUMP ALLY TEASES BID FOR CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR IF HARRIS RUNS
It is very unlikely she could do both. Running and winning election in 2026 as governor of heavily blue California, the nation’s most populous state and home to the world’s fifth-largest economy, would likely take a 2028 White House run off the table, allies and political analysts have indicated.
Harris previously served as San Francisco district attorney and California attorney general, and represented the Golden State in the U.S. Senate before joining former President Joe Biden’s 2020 ticket and winning election as vice president.
A source in the former vice president’s political orbit confirmed to Fox News Digital last month that Harris has told allies she will decide by the end of summer on whether to launch a gubernatorial campaign. The news was first reported by Politico.
But other California Democrats aren’t waiting, as the gubernatorial field is growing.
Some of the candidates are criticizing Harris for waiting until the summer to decide. Among them are former Los Angeles Mayor Anotonio Villaraigosa.
“The challenges facing California are too great for us to wait for a candidate who wants to come in late in the game,” Villaraigosa, who launched his 2026 campaign last summer, recently told the Los Angeles Times. “California is not a steppingstone to higher office.”
“This will not be a coronation,” he said in his interview. Pointing to Harris’ three-and-a-half-month-long presidential campaign — she succeeded Biden as the party’s nominee after he dropped his bid last July — Villaraigosa said, “You can’t run at the end of the rainbow. We saw a 100-day campaign. Look what that brought us.”
Two other Democrats running for California governor — former Rep. Katie Porter and former Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra — made similar arguments.
But polls indicate Harris would be the clear front-runner if she entered the 2026 race in California, and other candidates already in the field have indicated they would defer to the former vice president if she ends up running.
One of those candidates who would likely drop their bid is California Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis, a close friend and ally of the former vice president.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Harris has reportedly received encouragement from top Democrats to run for California governor. Among them is former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, a former DNC chair, according to a report from The New York Times.
Harris also received some unexpected encouragement — and a bit of advice — from her 2024 opponent.
“Let her run,” Trump said in a recent podcast interview. “One thing she’s going to do, she’s got to start doing interviews.”
Biden-era order on gun control could face chopping block after GOP demands
FIRST ON FOX: A group of House Republicans is asking Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to crack down on any remaining gun control efforts within his department, which they argue is in “direct violation of federal law.”
“We write to you today to urge you to protect the Second Amendment from attacks by a partisan and weaponized Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and National Institutes of Health (NIH)—which became a dangerous threat to gun ownership under the Biden Administration,” the letter led by Rep. Diana Harshbarger, R-Tenn., read.
Harshbarger’s letter also demanded that Kennedy reverse a Biden-era policy declaring gun violence a “public health crisis.”
“Treating firearm-related violent crime as a public health issue may start with a study about gun control but ends with tyranny,” it said.
NRA LEGISLATIVE EXPERT SAYS GUN RIGHTS COULD SEE ‘MOST MONUMENTAL’ WIN IN CONGRESS SINCE 2005
Congress banned federal funding from being used to advocate for gun control in a 1996 spending bill, a measure called the Dickey Amendment. A 2018 spending bill softened that language somewhat, allowing for the CDC to research the causes of gun violence.
But the letter, which was signed by 15 House GOP lawmakers total, argued that the Biden administration went beyond what was allowable.
“[T]he Biden White House and gun control advocates censored self-defense statistics from the CDC website, statistics that would have helped explain the importance of the Second Amendment to our citizens,” they wrote.
“Meanwhile, the Biden Administration also weaponized millions of dollars of research funding appropriated by Congress in good faith for ‘Firearm Injury and Mortality Prevention Research’ to promote gun control.”
The letter went on to point out several initiatives on gun control by the Biden administration’s Health Department, including $428,000 to study “episodic crime reports” and depictions of violence that lead to victim blaming and “racist stereotypes.”
It also highlighted $1.1 million to examine ties between “lawful gun ownership and risk,” and hundreds of thousands of dollars targeting gun confiscation and other firearm policies in states like Michigan and California.
“Congress intended for the CDC and NIH to conduct research on medical procedures, practices, treatments, medicines, and therapies related to firearm injuries and recovery,” the lawmakers wrote. “Instead, this funding has been weaponized to promote and advocate gun control in direct violation of federal law.”
SUPREME COURT UPHOLDS BIDEN ADMIN ‘GHOST GUN’ REGULATION
They urged Kennedy to end any remaining funding that could be in violation of the Dickey Amendment and restore “censored” statistics on self-defense on the CDC website.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
The lawmakers also asked for a series of new studies, including on the effects of gun-free zones, the effects of a lack of widespread sound suppression technology, and “the current media coverage practices concerning mass public shootings, which a growing body of evidence suggests may increase the likelihood of future mass public murders.”
Fox News Digital reached out to the Health and Human Services Department (HHS) for a response.