Aerial tours often involve multitasking pilots, tricky aircraft and fewer regulations compared to planes. But helicopter tour experts say many safeguards help protect pilots and passengers.

The aircraft had flown tourists in New York City thousands of times before crashing Thursday with a Spanish family aboard.

Agustín Escobar and Mercè Camprubí Montal, both executives from Spain, died on Thursday in a crash near New York City along ...