Seaplane makes crash landing in New York’s East River, officials say
By Sneha Dhandapani, CNN
The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating after a seaplane with eight people onboard made a hard landing in the East River between Brooklyn and Manhattan on Sunday, causing “substantial damage” to the aircraft, a spokesperson tells CNN.
The New York Fire Department received a call at 12:01 p.m. about the aircraft in the river north of the Williamsburg Bridge.
A 16-year-old passenger, Khloe Todd, was recording video when the Kodiak 100 seaplane came in for a landing. The footage shows the plane bumping the water three times, before tilting sharply to the left as warnings in the plane’s cockpit sound and passengers gasp.
“Mayday, mayday, mayday,” the pilot says into a radio.
“What happened?” a passenger asks.
“Pontoon broke,” the pilot replies. “Put your PFDs (personal flotation devices) on, ok?”
Other video from outside the plane appears to show it skipping across the surface three times. On the third impact, the struts supporting the left float appear to collapse. The plane then decelerates abruptly, throwing up a large plume of water before coming to rest in the river.
The rough landing caused a strut to snap, according to the Federal Aviation Administration, which will investigate the incident along with the NTSB.
“How many people you got?” an officer with the New York City Police Department’s harbor unit asked in body camera video shot as the rescue boat approached the downed plane.
“You are doing great. Watch your head… You are doing really good,” he said, helping the passengers into the patrol boat.
All eight people on the plane were rescued. Two sustained minor injuries and declined medical attention at the scene, the FDNY said.
The plane took off from East Hampton Airport at 11:24 a.m., according to open-source flight tracking data. It flew across Long Island before descending along the East River to prepare to land at a seaplane base in Manhattan.
Air traffic control audio from ATC.com captured the moments emergency crews responded.
“Mayday, mayday, mayday,” the pilot of a different plane reported. “We have a plane down in the water.”
A nearby police helicopter responded and immediately had the downed aircraft in sight.
“It looks like the pilot is OK,” the NYPD pilot radioed, according to air traffic control audio from ATC.com.
“There (are) passengers on board,” the pilot of the other plane warned.
The Kodiak 100 seaplane was built last year, according to FAA ownership records. The plane’s owner is not publicly listed.
This story has been updated with additional information.
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CNN’s Pete Muntean, Aaron Cooper and Sarah Dewberry contributed to this report.
