Chopper Company Gives Deals For Doors-Off Flights On Which 5 Died

NEW YORK, NY — New York Sen. Chuck Schumer is calling on a helicopter tour company that operated a flight where five people died after crashing into the East River to suspend its flights while a federal investigation into the crash remains ongoing.

Schumer criticized the company, Fly NYON, for promoting doors-off or open-door tours at discounts of up to 40 percent during the month of October. Five passengers riding on an open-door helicopter chartered by Fly NYON died in March after the aircraft plunged into the East River off of East 86th Street.

"For FlyNYON to offer a forty percent discount on a doors-off flight when we still don’t know 100% what went wrong during the East River chopper crash should be alarming to the feds and fliers alike," Schumer said in a statement.

"Moreover, the aggressive marketing campaign that uses social media and geo-tracking to hype up the flights and court consumers doesn’t seem to alert potential customers to the current investigation or the risks involved."

The Senate Minority Leader said during a press conference that the helicopter company marketed its 40 percent discount on its Facebook and Instagram pages and instructed customers to use the code "OKTOBERFEST" to cash in on the deal. The advertising materials do not warn customers that the open-door flights are still under federal investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board and Federal Aviation Adminsitration, Schumer said.

Schumer went a step further, and said his office was able to book one of the tours without the company providing any notice of the federal investigation.

Six people were on board the March 11 Fly NYON tour that went down in the East River. The pilot was able to free himself from the aircraft, but five passengers had to be removed by FDNY and NYPD divers, Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro said at the time.

The helicopter used on March 11 was owned and operated by the company Liberty Helicopters, but was chartered by Fly NYON for the tour, a spokesperson for the company said. Fly NYON now only uses its own fleet of helicopters for doors-off flights, the spokesperson said.

The five passengers were secured into their seats by harnesses and had to be cut out of the aircraft, officials said. A privately operated tug boat was the first on the scene to help, O'Neill said. The Federal Aviation Administration has since banned the use of similar harnesses, which may have prvented passengers from exiting the aircraft as it sunk into the river.

The NTSB is still investigating what led to the fatal crash. After inspecting the aircraft, investigators concluded that there were no signs of oil or fuel leaks, according to the NTSB report. The helicopter's fuel shutoff lever was found in the open position, but investigators did not conclude that was the reason for the crash.

The victims of the crash were identified as Tristian Hill and Daniel Thompson of New York; Brian McDaniel and Trevor Cadigan of Texas; and Carla Vallejos Blanco of Argentina, the Police Department said.

Lead image: The Army Corps of Engineers took the helicopter away from the East River after it was pulled from the water. Photo courtesy of the National Transportation Safety Board via Twitter