Helicopter pilot reports losing engine power and crash lands on pier outside New York City

By Aaron Cooper, CNN

(CNN) — The Federal Aviation Administration will investigate after a helicopter pilot reported losing engine power and made an emergency landing on a pier, just outside of New York City.

The Bell 206, operated by sightseeing helicopter company FlyNYON, took off from Kearny, New Jersey, and was over the water headed in the direction of Brooklyn when the pilot reported a problem.

“Mayday, Mayday, Mayday. We have low RPMs, we need to land outside the airport,” they radioed in audio recorded by ATC.com. “We have an engine out… we’re going to land at Bayonne piers.”

The helicopter landed on a road just beyond cargo shipping containers, video from CNN affiliate WABC showed. The tail of the helicopter was ripped off and hanging from a nearby fence.

Two people were onboard conducting a maintenance flight, the air traffic control audio indicated. Both were OK, according to the radio calls.

FlyNYON did not immediately respond to CNN’s request for comment.

“At FlyNYON, your safety is our number one priority,” the company says on its website. “The NYON Team combines over three generations of aviation experience and 50,000+ flight hours.”

Helicopters can use their blades to slow a descent even if they lose engine power, through a process called autorotation, but some crashes have still proved fatal.

Last year a tourist helicopter, operated by a different company, plunged into the Hudson River killing a family of five and the pilot. In that case, investigators determined the aircraft hit a flock of birds.

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