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What Investigators Found
The National Transportation Safety Board investigated the accident.
In July 2026, the NTSB released investigative information indicating that the helicopter had struck multiple large birds before the crash. Investigators said a bird strike was likely involved, although the information released at that time was not the final report establishing the probable cause.
The investigation helped provide additional information about what happened during the final part of the flight.
A Lasting Memory
The photograph of the smiling child inside the helicopter remains a powerful image because it captures an ordinary moment before an extraordinary tragedy.
She was not posing for a photograph knowing what would happen next.
She was simply enjoying a family vacation and looking forward to seeing New York from the sky.
For her family and friends, that image represents something much more important than the accident itself.
It represents a happy moment shared together.
The Hudson River crash claimed six lives, but the people who knew the family have continued to remember them not only for how they died, but for the lives they lived, the family they shared, and the memories they left behind.