19981203032859A

1997 Eurocopter EC-135-P1 helicopter crashed into the passsaic river 3 miles north of Newark arpt. (.19)on December 3, 1998, about 1740 eastern standard time, a Eurocopter EC-135-P1 helicopter, N44NY, operated by aerial films inc, was destroyed during a forced landing in the passaic river, Newark, new jersey. The certificated airline transport pilot and the camera operator received minor injuries. Night visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the aerial observation flight that originated from palisades general hospital heliport (07NJ), north bergen, new jersey, about 1645. No flight plan had been filed for the flight, which was conducted under 14 CFR part 91. N44NY was engaged in electronic news gathering (eng) for the local nbc television station, and used a radio call sign of chopper 4. The flight entered the Newark international airport (ewr), Newark, new jersey airspace north of the airport about 1736, and proceeded westbound. About 1738, the flight passed over the instrument landing system (ILS) localizer final approach course for runway 22L at Newark. About 1740, the pilot transmitted, "may day, may day, chopper 4 is." About 5 seconds later, the pilot transmit ted, "may day, may day, our engines are out, we're going down." This was acknowledged by the Newark air traffic control tower. About 1741, another eng helicopter that followed N44NY and recorded the forced landing on video, reported that N44NY was down in the river. The pilot of N44NY received a head injury and had no direct memory of the accident. The camera operator reported that while en route to a story, at an altitude of about 1,000 feet, the helicopter encountered a vertical oscillation which was stronger than anything he had previously felt in-flight. The pilot's attention was diverted to the two throttles that were located on the collective. The pilot also requested that the overhead spotlight be directed onto the throttles. The camera operator could see the pilot working with the throttles, but was not certain what was happening. About 2 minutes after the vertical oscillation, the pilot transmitted a may day call, after which the camera operator secured the onboard camera. A review of the video from the onboard gyro-stabilized camera revealed that the camera operator's voice was recorded along with a background noise from the helicopter transmission. The pilot's voice could occasionally be heard. The camera recorded the vertical oscillation as the helicopter neared the vicinity of the final approach course for runway 22L at Newark. About 30 seconds after the oscillation, the onboard camera recorded changes in transmission noise levels. The tone was heard to alternately increase and decrease in frequency. Just prior to the pilot's may day call, the frequency was at the lowest heard on the tape, and then started to increase, after which the video stopped. The onboard camera of another helicopter engaged in eng captured the final portion of the autorotation. The helicopter was observed in a descent with flames emitting intermittently from both engine exhausts. In addition, glowing objects were observed to originate in the vicinity of the left engine exhaust and fall toward the ground. The helicopter proceeded northbound along the passaic river, and landed in the river, after which both occupants exited the helicopter and swam to shore. Rescue vehicles were on scene within 2 minutes. Diver reported that the tail boom was completely separated from the fuselage prior to removal from the river. After removal, the helicopter was transpo ted to teterboro airport (teb), teterboro, new jersey for further examination. The fuselage floor was fractured between the middle and rear rows of seats. The engines, transmission, and aft fuselage were angled backward. The fuselage fuel tank mounted in the lower aft fuselage was not ruptured, and the paneling on the