Pilot of doomed Hudson River helicopter ID’d as Navy SEAL veteran who had posted chilling video month before death

The pilot of the doomed helicopter that crashed into the Hudson River was a Navy SEAL veteran — and posted chilling video of himself last month proudly flying in the same type of chopper over Lower Manhattan.

“When it all comes together…,” Sean Johnson, 36, wrote next to the now-eerie Facebook footage, which showed him in a Bell 206 helicopter March 2

Friends congratulated him in their comments, with one telling him he was “living the dream” and another praising his accomplishments over the past year.

Johnson had worked in television and as a bodyguard to celebrities before recently moved to New York City to continue his aviation career, Gothamist reported, citing his wife.

He was operating a doomed Bell 206 on Thursday as part of a sightseeing tour for a family of five from Barcelona.

While in the Navy, he served as a SEAL and a gunner’s mate responsible for operating, maintaining and repairing weapons systems.

But he “always wanted to fly,” his wife Kathryn Johnson told Gothamist.

“ I’m just at loss for words,” she said. “I don’t even know what happened.”

Johnson said she and her husband had been separated for the last few months but were still close and even spoke the day before the tragic accident.

Her husband did not mention Thursday’s flight plans to his wife in the call, and she heard the heartbreaking news from a former colleague of his, she said.

https://nypost.com/2025/04/11/us-news/hudson-river-helicopter-pilot-idd-as-veteran-sean-johnson/