Aviation experts have suggested the rotor of a sightseeing helicopter suffered “catastrophic failure” before it plunged into the Hudson River Thursday, killing a tech company CEO, his wife and three children, as well as the pilot.
Agustín Escobar, a top Siemens official in Spain, his wife, Merce Camprubi Montal, and their three children, aged 4, 5, and 11 years old, were sightseeing aboard a single-engine Bell 206 helicopter operated by New York Helicopter when the aircraft tumbled from the sky and crashed.
The cause remains under investigation by the FAA, however video from an eyewitness, obtained by USA TODAY, appeared to show the rotor detach from the helicopter, leading aviation experts to opine catastrophic failure to the main rotor, with questions swirling over the aircraft’s possible “Jesus nut,” a widely used term in aviation referring to a key part of the aircraft that could, if it fails, be deadly.
Here’s what to know about the Jesus nut:
What is a Jesus nut?
The Jesus nut is the main rotor holding nut, or pin, that holds the main rotor to the mast of some helicopters, according to science and tech website Technology.org.
The nut is a fist-sized steel part that, according to the website, was created during the Vietnam War. One such reference of the Jesus nut was in the book “Chickenhawk” by Robert Mason, a pilot in the Vietnam War who spoke of his fears of the Jesus nut detaching from a helicopter. He noted in his book of another pilot “banking very hard to the left,” leading him to fear the helicopter’s body would “disconnect from the rotos, that the Jesus nut would break.”
The term, more generally, can also be referred to any component that is a single point of failure and whose breakdown would be catastrophic, with many connecting the term to the “only thing left to do would be to pray for Jesus.” That belief was mentioned in the novel “Grunt Slang in Vietnam: Words of the War” by Gordon Rottman, a Green Beret in Vietnam who has written over 130 books.
Video of helicopter crash in NYC
An eyewitness captured video during the moment the helicopter fell to the water, appearing to twist rapidly as it did so. Moments after, a rotor is seen falling, detached from the aircraft. See the video, obtained by USA TODAY:
Lori Comstock is a New Jersey-based journalist with the Mid-Atlantic Connect Team.
