Sean Johnson “always wanted to fly,” his wife said

The wife of the pilot who was flying the helicopter that crashed into the Hudson River is sharing details about the former Navy SEAL veteran.

I’m just at a loss for words. I don’t even know what happened,” Kathryn Johnson told Gothamistabout the accident that killed her husband, Sean Johnson, and a family of five that was visiting New York City on Thursday, April 10.

The city is shaken after numerous people witnessed the aviation accident on the New Jersey side of the river around 3:15 p.m. local time. Agustín Escobar, chief executive of Siemens’ rail infrastructure division in Spain, his wife Merce Camprubi Montal and their three young children all died.

The family was visiting from Spain and was celebrating Merce’s birthday before the tragedy occurred. The cause of the crash is still under investigation, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) confirmed in a press conference on Friday, April 11.

As the investigation continues, friends and families of those who died are trying to grapple with the news.

Johnson had recently moved to New York City to continue his career as a pilot, Gothamist reported. While Sean and Kathyrn had been separated for the last few months, they were still close and had last spoken to each other the day before the crash, she told the outlet. Kathryn learned about her husband’s death from one of his colleagues.