A key piece of evidence in the investigation into last week’s helicopter crash in the Hudson River was recovered Monday, with divers dredging up the aircraft rotor. Rotors are critical for generating lift in helicopters and performing other essential functions, so an assessment could yield cruc ial insight into what went wrong on Thursday’s flight. It comes a day after word came New York Helicopter Tours, the operator of the chopper, would shut down operations. A day ago, the Federal Aviation Administration announced that New York Helicopter Tours, which operated the chopper in the deadly crash, would cease operations immediately. “Additionally, the FAA will be launching an immediate review of the tour operator’s license and safety record,” the FAA statement read, in part. FAA Statement⁰⁰New York Helicopter Tours — the company involved in the deadly crash on the Hudson earlier this week — is shutting down their operations immediately.⁰ ⁰We will continue to support @NTSB’s investigation. Additionally, the FAA will be launching an immediate…— The FAA ✈️ (@FAANews) April 14, 2025 Earlier Sunday, New York Sen. Chuck Schumer called on federal authorities to revoke the company’s permits, and specifically said the FAA should ramp up safety inspections for other helicopter tour companies, accusing them of “cutting corners and putting profits over people.” The victims included passengers Agustin Escobar, 49, his wife, Mercè Camprubí Montal, 39, and their three children, Victor, 4, Mercedes, 8, and Agustin, 10. The pilot was Seankese Johnson, 36, a U.S. Navy veteran who received his commercial pilot’s license in 2023. “One of the things we can do to honor those lives and try to save others is to make sure it doesn’t happen again,” Schumer said. “We know there is one thing for sure about New York City’s helicopter tour companies: they have a deadly track record.” In the last two decades, five helicopters on commercial sightseeing flights have fallen into the Hudson and East rivers as a result of mechanical failures, pilot errors or collisions, killing 20 people. The president of New York Helicopter Tours, Michael Roth, did not respond to phone and email inquiries. The company said in a statement published on its website that it was cooperating with authorities in the investigation. In response to Schumer’s calls for more oversight, an industry group, Eastern Region Helicopter Council, said Manhattan’s sightseeing choppers “already operate under the most stringent of regulations.” “We stand ready to work with leaders on finding ways to ensure the safety and preservation of our businesses and aviation community,” the group said. Critics of the industry have long sought to limit or entirely ban nonessential helicopter flights from taking off above the city, though they have had limited success. After New York City capped the number of flights that could take off from Manhattan heliports at 30,000 annually in 2016, many companies moved operations to New Jersey. Two years later, in 2018, five people died when a helicopter offering “open door” flights crashed in the East River after a passenger’s restraint tether snagged on a fuel switch, stopping the engine. The cause of Thursday’s crash is not yet determined. According to Schumer, rescue divers were continuing to search for the helicopter’s main rotor and assembly gear box, which would give clues about what happened. ...read more read less