The crash was reported at 3:17 p.m. on the Jersey City side of the Hudson.
Agustin Escobar, a Siemens executive from Barcelona, Spain, his wife Merce Camprubi Montal, and their children, ages 4, 5, and 11, were killed in the crash, law enforcement sources told ABC News.
The pilot, who was 36, was also killed, making a total six people.
NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said the helicopter was operated by New York Helicopters.
The FAA believes the helicopter is a Bell 206 and appears to have taken off from the Downtown Manhattan Heliport at 2:59 p.m. It went up to the George Washington Bridge before turning back south along the Jersey side of the river.
It went off radar at 3:25 p.m.
Following the flight path of helicopter that crashed into Hudson River
Video shared with Eyewitness News appeared to show pieces of the helicopter break apart and crash into the water. Officials say the helicopter hit the water inverted, without a tail rotor or a main rotor blade.
Video shows helicopter that crashed into Hudson River
For witnesses, it turned out to be a memory full of horror.
"I watched it fall out of the sky! I heard five or six loud noises that sounded almost like gunshots in the sky and saw pieces fall off, then watched it fall into the river," said Dani Horbiak, who saw the crash from her apartment window.
"It sounded like a sonic boom on my right and so I look up and literally I see a helicopter splitting in two with the rotor flying off and this guy was going straight into the water and nothing came up afterwards," said a witness named Max.
Witnesses describe Hudson River helicopter crash
Officials say the entire flight lasted all of 15 minutes, before witnesses say it took an upside-down nosedive.
"It just kind of fell apart and it was the most terrifying thing that we ever witnessed," Rajany said.
"I heard some crackling, looked up and then just saw a plane falling apart," said witness Bruce Wall. "And then maybe 15 feet in the air after the tail came off, broke off, and then the plane just sort of tumbled into the water with the propeller still in the air."
FDNY and NYPD divers were in the water almost immediately and assisted in the recovery.
Four of the victims were declared dead at the scene and two victims were sent to local hospitals where they were pronounced dead.
Jersey City Medical Center, where the passengers were transported after the crash, tried as hard as they could, Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop said.
"Our hearts go out to the family and those on board," Mayor Eric Adams said.
A crane vessel hoisted the crumpled wreckage of the helicopter out of the Hudson and onto a barge Thursday night.
Fulop said the main body of the aircraft has been recovered and is in the Army Corps of Engineers facility on Chapel Avenue, however major parts of the aircraft have still not been recovered. He says dive operations by the NYPD and NJSP will resume Friday morning.
Police fished out chunks of jagged metal that washed up to the Jersey City shore, along with a life preserver, a seat and the personal effects of a family of five.
The Spanish Consulate of New York City is now in touch with authorities to gather and confirm information and identification of the people involved in the helicopter crash, according to the communications team at the Spanish Foreign Ministry.
The Jersey City Police Department is taking the lead on the investigation since the helicopter crashed on the Jersey City side of the river, Fulop said.
Fulop said tours in the area are constant and fall within a busy and heavily trafficked area. He hopes this will increase the dialogue to decrease traffic.
"Hopefully this brings some more attention to it, that the fact beyond just noise, you have real safety concerns," Fulop said.
Jersey City mayor discusses deadly helicopter crash
The FAA says they are temporarily halting all operations around the Hudson River crash site.
The NTSB is launching a go-team to investigate the crash, and is expected to arrive on Thursday night.
They will have to piece together what went wrong, and what caused the rotors to break apart, dooming the 21-year-old helicopter and the six people aboard.
At least 32 people have died in helicopter crashes in NYC since 1977 -- most recently in 2019 when a helicopter used for executive travel hit the roof of Manhattan skyscraper in restricted airspace and the pilot was killed.
What went wrong before helicopter crashed into Hudson River
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