HU Reacts: Florida and New York Plane Crashes

By: Amirah Woodruff

There have been more than a hundred aviation incidents since this year started. This increase in accidents has started to scare people off from this once popular method of traveling resulting in a drop on ticket sales according to some air carriers. 

Two more accidents have recently been added to the list. A family outing quickly turned into a tragedy when a Bell 206 helicopter plummeted into the Hudson River on Thursday. Inside the helicopter sat the pilot and a family of five from Spain including three children and their parents–Siemens executives. Agustin Escobar and his wife Mercè Camprubí Montal. Their children were ages 4, 8 and 10. 

According to CNN, life saving measures were undertaken on the vessels on the scene. Unfortunately, four victims were pronounced dead on the scene and two others were taken to a local hospital where they sadly both succumbed to their injuries. 

The helicopter belonging to the tour company New York Helicopters took off from Lower Manhattan around 3 p.m. on Thursday. The New York Helicopter CEO, Michael Roth, told CBS News that New York investigators have not told him anything regarding the cause of the crash, 

"I don't know anything how this went down. The only thing I can tell you, we are devastated. My wife hasn't stopped crying since this afternoon," he said. "We're a small company. I'm a father and a grandfather, and we're just devastated. We have no clue what happened."

The incident is still being investigated. 

Another recent plane crash left three victims dead and one seriously injured. A 17 year-old girl, Brooke Stark of Delray Beach lost her life alongside her father Stephen Stark, 54, and her grandfather Robert Stark, 81 of Boca Raton. 

Brooke was an active and heavily involved senior at Atlantic High School where she served as her school’s National Honors Society President and was a cheerleader. She was considering attending Florida State University for college so her and her family were taking a trip to visit the school for the weekend. 

Many of the Starks’ family and friends have taken to social media and described them as “beautiful souls.” Brooke’s cheerleading team, the Boca Raton Hurricane All Stars referred to Brooke as a “beacon of light,” in an Instagram post on Saturday. 

According to Kurt Gibson, a National Transportation Safety Board investigator, the airplane departed from Boca Raton Airport at about 10 a.m. and was only flying for approximately 10 minutes before it hit the ground. Several videos of the plane erupting into flames can be seen all over social media. The plane crashed onto Military Trail where it impacted one nearby driver forcing the driver, Pablo Tafur to swerve into a tree only suffering minor injuries. 

HU Student, Quinston Leather, a second year Aviation Flight Education major wanted to alleviate the fears of the public. 

“I think they should understand that just like cars, aviation crashes happen as well. The media just picks and chooses when they want to shed light on certain crashes. On top of that, most causes of crashes are human error not the plane itself,” Leathers explained.

Those close to the Starks have emphasized that the father and the grandfather were experienced and certified pilots. The NTSB is further investigating the crash. 

“The accidents don’t change how I feel about flying. Regardless of the crashes I still want to be a pilot,” Leather says.