Transcript: Mayor Adams Appears Live on PIX 11's "PIX 11 Morning News"

April 11, 2025

Dan Mannarino: Welcome back, everybody. We are continuing our coverage of the tragic helicopter crash that claimed the lives of six people, including three children, on the Hudson River. 

Kala Rama: The crash involved a Bell 206 helicopter operated by a local tour company and has left both the city and a family overseas devastated. As investigators work to determine what caused the crash, city leaders are facing growing questions about the safety of tourist helicopter operations in our skies. 

Mannarino: Joining us now live is New York City Mayor Eric Adams and Fire Commissioner Robert Tucker. It's great to have both of you here on such an important morning. And obviously our hearts go out to the family here and the pilot's family as well.  

And I want to ask you first and foremost about the details of what went wrong. I know the NTSB is leading the charge here, but are there any further developments on what exactly went wrong in the moments before this crash? 

Mayor Eric Adams: Not of our knowledge. And as you indicated, the NTSB, they are leading this investigation and they are good at what they do. They are going to look at every aspect of it, maintenance records, pilot's records, what happens with mechanics here, the helicopters out of the water. They will conduct this investigation.  

Our role is to give a supporting role. Our first respondents, what video is there to assist in this investigation. 

Rama: There are so many thoughts floating around of what happened right before this crash. Rumors of the pilot saying he had to refuel. Do we know of any technical difficulties before this crash that you can confirm this morning? 

Mayor Adams: No. And you always have, you know, you'll have something like this that when something of this magnitude happens where you lose six individuals, there's so much, so many rumors, so many miscommunications.  

That's why it's so important to allow the investigators to do their job. They know how to handle this. And our role is to make sure that safety is paramount. And whenever we have air travel, that it is done according to all the rules and regulations and the maintenance of these instruments and flying instruments that we use in our cities. 

Mannarino: You know, there's been this talk now, and it's not new talk, Mr. Mayor. You know this. This renewed interest once again, and should these flights be over the Hudson in the first place, these tourism helicopters, so on and so forth, and if it's too crowded of an airspace, is there something in your view that should be done to make these safer? 

Mayor Adams: Well, think about this for a moment, Dan. We had over 30,000 flights from that place of origin, a downtown heliport, 30,000. When you do an analysis of talking about safety modes of transportation, of having 30,000 flights without an incident, it's an indicator that we ensure that these devices are inspected, that the pilots have rigorous training, and it is part of our transportation ecosystem and financial ecosystem.  

65 million tourists came to the city last year. Seeing our city from the skyline is one of the attractions. What we must focus on is safety, and that's what I believe the fire commissioner trained his personnel so they can respond appropriately to incidents like this. 

Mannarino: Yeah, and fire commissioner, I want to get your take on that response yesterday, because it was quick and it was swift, but can you talk about what exactly those first responders were up against, right? There was some rain, there were some tide issues along the Hudson River as well, but they still were able to get there very, very quickly, and were just devastated that they couldn't do more. Can you talk to us a little bit about that? 

Fire Commissioner Robert Tucker: Sure. I mean, you know, the FDNY is an all-hazards public safety agency. We train for all types of occurrences. Yesterday is something that we have training for. We train routinely, alone and with our partners at the NYPD, and our partners on the other side of the Hudson River.  

We have a fire boathouse almost directly across from where this incident took place. We were able to launch our boats very quickly. There were numerous calls that a helicopter had crashed. We were in the water very quickly to begin to make rescues.  

We brought those victims onto the Jersey side. The Jersey City Fire Department was there to assist us, and the PD was there very quickly with a lot of support, and we were working in a well-choreographed but trained event that we know and are used to. 

Mannarino: With being sensitive to the loss of life here, was everybody still in that helicopter? 

Fire Commissioner Tucker: You know, the answer is that when we arrived, the helicopter was still on the surface but turned over, and it was not hard to get to once we arrived there. The weather was terrible. There were some tide issues, but the fact is that when we got close to the helicopter, we were able to begin rescue operations almost immediately. 

Rama: Can you confirm that there was any kind of pilot communication before the pilot started to break apart midair? 

Fire Commissioner Tucker: I'm going to let the federal authorities, particularly the NTSB, comment on all of that. Suffice it to say that we are here to support our federal partners in figuring out exactly how this tragedy occurred. 

Mannarino: Mr. Mayor, I know you were talking about making sure that all these things are safe, right? And that is what this family kind of thought when they came here from Spain.  

Can you talk to us a little bit about more of the human component here and the element of what you know about this family that was here? We're reading reports this morning that they were here for the birthday of one of their children. What can you tell us about the family? 

Mayor Adams: Well, I think that any of us who are parents, you know, that we want to protect our children and to hear that this family lost not only a husband and wife, but children as well, and as well as the pilot, it's impactful. And it's not only impactful to those who are here locally, but even internationally.  

I spoke with the counsel general yesterday to show the support, and it's also traumatic for those first responders to be there to see the bodies removed from the water, to see children involved. And they just don't go, that's not the end of their day. They have other responses that they must do.  

So this is a traumatic moment for the city. And I saw with the ferry service helping out, everyday New York is helping out. We come together during these moments, and I think that that is what's great about the people of this city. 

Mannarino: Mr. Mayor, fire commissioner, I appreciate your time this morning to update New Yorkers on exactly what's playing out, and I'm sure that the safety component, Mr. Mayor, that you touched upon is going to be talked about in quite some time in the future, and some tighter regulations here. But I appreciate you both. 

Mayor Adams: Thank you.