On the eve of her ninth birthday, a young girl sat proudly in the cockpit of a helicopter, beaming at the camera, eagerly anticipating takeoff and a tour over the famous New York City skyline on Thursday with her parents and younger siblings. However, disaster struck just 16 minutes later when the helicopter crashed into the Hudson River at 3:15 p.m. yesterday, killing the eight-year-old who had traveled to the Big Apple from Spain with her family.