A Queens restaurant owner ditched his seaplane into New York City’s East River on Saturday morning — and walked away without a scratch, six years after nearly dying in a crash at the same bridge.

Story Snapshot

• Pilot Joe Oppedisano and one passenger were rescued unharmed after their seaplane went down near Throgs Neck Bridge in Queens just before 9:30 a.m.
• The New York City Fire Department launched a full marine response within minutes and pulled both people from the water onto a rescue boat.
• Oppedisano was seriously injured in a separate plane crash near the same bridge back in 2020, making this his second major incident in the same stretch of water.
• The cause is under investigation, but eyewitnesses reported the plane was struck by a large wave on landing.

What Happened Near Throgs Neck Bridge

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

Eyewitness Elijah Westbrook told CBS New York he saw a small boat pull the two survivors from the water under clear skies. Other witnesses near the scene described visible damage to the plane, including a broken window and what one described as a “propeller slap.” Those details are anecdotal for now. The National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration have not released any preliminary findings, so the exact cause of the crash remains officially unknown.

The Pilot Has Been Here Before

The pilot, Joe Oppedisano, is a Queens restaurant owner and entrepreneur. He is not new to close calls on the water. In 2020, Oppedisano was seriously injured in a plane crash near the same Throgs Neck Bridge. That history makes Saturday’s incident hard to ignore. Two major incidents, same pilot, same bridge, six years apart. The New York Post reported that witnesses described a large wave striking the seaplane during landing, which may have caused the plane to take on water. That account has not been confirmed by investigators.

Why Seaplane Landings Go Wrong

Water landings are among the most technically demanding things a pilot can do. Research covering seaplane accidents from 1982 to 2021 found that pilot technique or judgment played a role in 72% of accidents studied. The top risk factors included rough water, improper landing procedures, and misjudging wind and wave conditions. A large wave hitting a plane mid-landing fits squarely into that pattern. The East River is not a calm lake. It has boat traffic, wakes, tidal currents, and unpredictable chop — all of which make it an unforgiving place to put a small plane down.

🛬 East River Seaplane Update (NYC)

FDNY & NYPD Harbor units race to the scene and rescue all 8-10 people aboard a Kodiak 100 seaplane after it hard-lands in the East River near East 23rd St.

The aircraft from East Hampton partially submerges on impact.

Two suffer minor… pic.twitter.com/OekKeltHHm

— Public News X (@PublicNewsX) July 6, 2026

The survival data is sobering, even when outcomes look good on the surface. A study of Canadian seaplane accidents from 1995 to 2019 found that drowning trapped inside the cabin was the leading cause of death, accounting for 54% of fatalities. More than half of seaplanes in those accidents flipped upside down. Oppedisano and his passenger got out fast and got lucky. In many seaplane accidents, occupants have less than 15 seconds of warning before impact. Both people aboard walked away unharmed Saturday, which puts this squarely in the category of best-case outcomes.

What We Still Don’t Know

The aircraft’s registration number and operator details were not released in initial reports. No official damage assessment has been published. The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board have stayed quiet, which is normal this early in an investigation but leaves a lot of open questions. Was this a controlled water landing that a wave turned catastrophic? Was it something mechanical? Pilot misjudgment? The “large wave” explanation is plausible given the research on rough-water landings, but it is the pilot’s account, not an official finding. The full picture will take time.

Sources:

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