A seaplane went down in New York City’s East River near the Throgs Neck Bridge, and the pilot who survived had nearly died in a crash at the same location six years earlier.

Story Snapshot

• A seaplane landed hard in the East River near Throgs Neck Bridge in Queens just before 9:30 a.m. Both the pilot and passenger were rescued unharmed.
• The New York City Fire Department (FDNY) launched a major water rescue response and pulled both people to safety on a fire boat.
• The pilot, Queens restaurant owner Joe Oppedisano, was seriously injured in a plane crash near the same bridge in 2020.
• The cause of the incident remains under investigation. No findings have been released by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) or the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).

What Happened on the East River

The FDNY responded to a small plane down in the water near Throgs Neck Bridge and Whitestone, Queens, just before 9:30 a.m. on Saturday. Firefighters pulled two people — the pilot and one passenger — onto an FDNY boat. Neither person was injured. The New York City Office of Emergency Management was also on the scene. After the rescue, crews towed the plane out of the water and brought it to Whitestone, close to where it went down.

Eyewitness Elijah Westbrook told CBS News he saw a small boat reach the two people shortly after the plane hit the water. Skies were clear at the time. Other witnesses on shore reported visible damage to the plane, including a broken window and what appeared to be propeller damage. Those accounts have not yet been matched to any official damage report.

A Pilot Who Has Been Here Before

The pilot was identified as Joe Oppedisano, a Queens-based restaurant owner. In 2020, Oppedisano was seriously injured in a plane crash near the same Throgs Neck Bridge. The New York Post reported that a large wave struck the seaplane during the incident, though that detail has not been confirmed by the FAA or NTSB. The exact cause remains under investigation, and no agency has released even a preliminary finding.

The question of what caused the plane to go down matters more than it might seem. Seaplane accidents are more dangerous than most people realize. Between 2008 and 2022, there were 406 seaplane accidents in the United States — 77 of them fatal. Research on water-landing accidents going back to 1982 found that pilot technique or judgment played a role in 72% of cases studied. That does not mean Oppedisano made an error. It means investigators will look hard at every factor — waves, wind, the approach, and the aircraft itself.

Why the Outcome Was Fortunate

Both people walked away, but the data shows that outcome is far from guaranteed. In seaplane accidents that end in the water, drowning — not the impact — is the leading cause of death. Studies of Canadian seaplane crashes found that over half of those who died drowned while trapped in the cabin, and more than 50% of downed seaplanes inverted after hitting the water. The fact that Oppedisano and his passenger got out quickly and were rescued by a nearby boat almost certainly made the difference.

Seaplane with passengers on board makes hard landing in East River, NYC fire department says pic.twitter.com/PsJjveNJYc

— Dyonne (@kgpnet) July 6, 2026

The FDNY and local emergency crews responded fast and did their jobs well. That part of the story is straightforward. What remains open is the “why” — and that answer will come from the NTSB investigation, not from social media posts or early news reports. Until then, what’s known is simple: two people went into the East River on a seaplane and came out alive. In incidents like this one, that is not always how it ends.

Sources:

youtube.com, instagram.com, particle.news, commons.erau.edu, hakaimagazine.com