A Tailwind Air Cessna 208 Caravan seaplane registered N802TW has made an emergency landing in New York’s East River around 10 hours ago after multiple failed takeoff attempts. The plane was leaving SkyPort Marina at East 23rd Street, en route to East Hampton Airport. Three struts connecting the fuselage of the aircraft to the left pontoon were damaged on the third takeoff attempt leaving only the right pontoon held in place.
“It just happened really quick, they tried to take off,” Lawrence told News 4 New York. “They went up in the air a little bit, came down, pulled up, tried to go up in the air. When it came down, the flotation came off. It felt like taking off, calm for a second, get nervous, come down — boom,” he said.
The aircraft aborted takeoff and made a hard but safe landing with 10 people onboard. Three minutes after the crash at 5:30pm, FDNY Marine units secured the aircraft as NYPD Harbor units rescued the 10 passengers who were wearing life jackets. The NTSB is now investigating the incident.
“The passengers and crew were safe and normal operations have resumed” Tailwind Air wrote in a statement.
This onboard footage was filmed by television producer Bill Lawrence: