{"id":865454,"date":"2026-06-13T22:47:14","date_gmt":"2026-06-13T22:47:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/865454\/"},"modified":"2026-06-13T22:47:14","modified_gmt":"2026-06-13T22:47:14","slug":"nyc-pilot-passenger-rescued-after-wave-slams-seaplane-near-throggs-neck-bridge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/865454\/","title":{"rendered":"NYC pilot, passenger rescued after wave slams seaplane near Throggs Neck Bridge"},"content":{"rendered":"

A seaplane pilot and his passenger had to be rescued from the East River Saturday in Queens after their craft briefly took off \u2014 but then crashed after it was struck by a wave which cracked the windshield, the pilot and authorities said.<\/p>\n

The aircraft was near Riverside Drive and 158th St. in Whitestone, near the Throggs Neck Bridge, when the incident happened around 9:20 a.m., an FDNY spokesman said. <\/p>\n

A private boater who was nearby rescued the two people, who were not seriously hurt, from the plane, officials said.<\/p>\n

Giuseppe Oppedisano, 67, told The Post a wave clipped his wing before the crash Saturday. Brigitte Stelzer for NY Post<\/p>\n

\u201cI was taking off and I hit a big wave and the windshield cracked\u00a0open \u2026 and it took on water,\u201d pilot Giuseppe Oppedisano,\u00a0who had a white bandage wrapped around his elbow, told The Post.\u00a0\u201cThat\u2019s it. Everything is fine.\u201d<\/p>\n

Oppedisano, 67, owns the popular Il Bacco restaurant in Little Neck, Queens, and is the same pilot who was at the controls in October 2020<\/a> during a fatal crash that killed a woman and left three others hurt.<\/p>\n

During that crash six years ago, witnesses said the plane was traveling fast along the water when it hit a pier, cracking the plane in two, according to officials.<\/p>\n

A\u00a0National Transportation Safety Board investigation listed<\/a>\u00a0poor pilot judgment as the cause of the tragedy. <\/p>\n

Oppedisano was left in critical condition<\/a> after that crash and had to undergo 10 surgeries.<\/p>\n

The restaurant owner was involved in a fatal crash in 2020. Brigitte Stelzer for NY Post<\/p>\n

He lives near the spot where his plane crashed and keeps the craft in a hangar behind his Riverside Drive mansion, officials\u00a0previously said.<\/p>\n

His airplane was towed back to shore and then taken to his home.<\/p>\n

Oppedisano later said he was on his way to have lunch with a friend on Block Island when the incident happened.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe window is broken so I just got out,\u201d he recalled later at his home. \u201cI have a life jacket on and I called 911 and they came right away.\u201d<\/p>\n

A\u00a0National Transportation Safety Board investigation listed\u00a0poor pilot judgment as the cause of the 2020 fatal crash. Brigitte Stelzer for NY Post<\/p>\n

He suffered \u201ca little scratch on my arm\u201d from the broken glass, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course, I\u2019m still going to be flying,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was a freak accident,\u201d he said. \u201cThe last one was a freak accident, too, because as I am landing in the water a boat jumped in front of me.\u201d<\/p>\n

He explained the Cessna he was flying when the fatal crash happened was heavier and would have blown up if he hit the boat.<\/p>\n

His seaplane was towed from the site but he\u2019s planning to purchase a new one.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve got to get another plane,\u201d he said. \u201cThat one is gone. There\u2019s a lot of damage.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A seaplane pilot and his passenger had to be rescued from the East River Saturday in Queens after…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":865455,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,6525,5248,405,403,5226,5225,5228,5227,5257,518,352721,67,586,132,5230,68,1154,2969],"class_list":["post-865454","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-america","tag-fdny","tag-metro","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-newyork","tag-newyorkcity","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nypd","tag-plane-crashes","tag-throgs-neck-bridge","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-us-news","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116745237064632112","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/865454","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=865454"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/865454\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/865455"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=865454"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=865454"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=865454"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}