The helicopter has been a fixture in New York City for decades.

In 1945, Fiorello La Guardia, the city’s favorite son, became the first American mayor to ride in one. Four years later, the city opened its first commercial heliport, with gee-whiz fascination that likened the bladed aircraft to an “infuriated palm tree.”

But for many New Yorkers, the fanfare has long since faded.

On Thursday, a family of five and their pilot died when their helicopter slammed into the Hudson River. Sean Duffy, the U.S. secretary of transportation, said on social media that his department has begun an investigation into the cause of the crash.

At least 32 people have died in helicopter accidents in New York City since 1977, according to The Associated Press. Thursday’s crash was the deadliest since at least 2018, when a sightseeing helicopter without doors fell into the East River, flipped over, and five people drowned.

An invention once synonymous with military might, then with the wonder of the city skyline, the helicopter is now regarded by many as an urban nuisance, or an outright threat. For some, the latest deadly episode is a reminder — like the fatal rooftop crash in 2019, or the crash over the East River in 2011, or a midair collision in 2009 — that there are hundreds of the crafts in the air every week, and restrictions on the industry have been limited.

From 2002 to 2013, there was a helicopter accident or fatality in the New York City metropolitan region about once every other year, said Andrew Rosenthal, the board president at Stop the Chop NY-NJ, a nonprofit group started in 2014 to end nonessential helicopter traffic.

“If we had a roller coaster that killed people every two years, on average,” he said, “how many decades would it continue to operate?”