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“When it all comes together,” the 36-year-old wrote on Facebook on March 27, alongside the clip showing him piloting a Bell 206.
On Thursday, April 10, that same type of helicopter went down in Hudson County, NJ, killing Johnson and the family of five on board: Siemens exec Agustin Escobar, his wife Merce Camprubi Montal, and their three children.
Johnson was identified by his wife Kathryn, who spoke with Gothamist.
A cause of the crash has not yet been identified. According to The Telegraph, the owner of the crashed helicopter, Michael Roth, 71, said the pilot called in saying he needed more fuel.
"He called in that he was landing and that he needed fuel, and it should have taken him about 3 minutes to arrive, but 20 minutes later, he didn’t arrive,” Roth told The Telegraph. "We’re all devastated."
The Bell 206 helicopter, operated by New York Helicopters, left from a Wall Street heliport just before 3 p.m., NBC News reports citing officials. NYC Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said that the aircraft lost control after turning around near the George Washington Bridge and flying south along the New Jersey shoreline, crashing in the water around 3:15 p.m.
The crash was seen off the coast of Hoboken, with multiple 911 calls coming in at 3:17 p.m., Tisch said.
Johnson had previously worked in television and as a bodyguard for the stars before taking to the skies. His Facebook profile shows he is from Chicago and lived in Virginia. His wife, Kathryn, told Gothamist that he always wanted to fly.
Friend and fellow SEAL Team member Remi Adeleke remembered Johnson on Instagram: "Sean stood out immediately—vibrant, humble, respectful, and hungry to learn. Every time I stepped into his workspace, we’d chop it up about life, the Teams, and his future. He’d always tell me he wanted to be a pilot someday. I’d remind him, 'Stay locked in. Do the work—and you’ll get there.'
"And he did."
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