The pilot of the helicopter that went down in New York City’s Hudson River Thursday was a former Navy SEAL who dreamed of flying … so says his wife, about 24 hours after the crash.

Kathryn Johnson confirmed to Gothamist that her husband, Seankese Johnson — who went by Sean — was flying the Bell 206 helicopter when its rotor blades flew off, and it spun out of the sky … crashing into the water below and killing all six people aboard.

Sean had recently moved to New York City to continue his pilot career … and, Kathryn says she’s at a loss for words about the crash — adding it’s a very difficult time for her.

Diddy is taking a page from O.J. Simpson’s playbook and assembling a dream team of lawyers to defend him at his upcoming trial … but don’t ask Mark Geragos about making the cut and taking the reins.

In the latest episode of the “2 Angry Men” podcast Harvey Levin asks Mark about a fact we’ve known about for weeks … that Geragos is going to have a significant role in Diddy’s case when it goes to trial next month in New York.

Mark does everything he can to deflect … changing the subject, bantering with Harvey and then shifting the focus to turn this into competition of who has more people over to their homes.

Spoiler … it’s Mark by a landslide, and Harvey’s got an admission of guilt when it comes to peeing in some bushes.

But the big story here is we’ve learned Mark is going to tackle the Diddy case and defend him in court … we’ve known about this for three weeks and just brought it up to Mark now, and ya gotta see how he deflects.

Mark joined the podcast after scoring a legal win in court on behalf of the Menendez Brothers … and while he tells us he’s been busy working for Erik and Lyle, we know Geragos can multi task with the best of them.

Beyoncé coming face-to-face with a drugged-up guy wearing a penis mask must’ve been a crazy-ass fever dream — the Diddy accuser who claimed Bey and Jay-Z saw him at a “freak off” has changed his mind.

Manzaro Joseph, who sued Diddy earlier this month, just filed an amended lawsuit — and while he’s still going after Diddy in court, he’s very noticeably dropped the Carters from his narrative.

In the new docs, Joseph makes ZERO mention of Jay or Beyoncé — and as far as we can tell, that’s the only change he’s made to the lawsuit. TMZ broke the story … Joseph originally claimed the couple saw him in one helluva state during a 2015 birthday party in Miami for Diddy’s son, King Combs.

Joseph alleged Diddy drugged him and paraded him around the party while forcing him to wear an X-rated mask … and when Jay and Beyoncé saw him, she said, “Why is this half-naked white man with a c**k mask standing here in front of me?”

There’s a reason that story does not appear in the new version of the lawsuit. Sources with direct knowledge tell TMZ … Jay-Z’s attorney, Alex Spiro, warned Joseph’s attorney about making false allegations in the lawsuit — after proving to him Jay and Bey were nowhere near Miami at the time of the alleged incident.

This is the second time Jay’s been vindicated in a lawsuit involving Diddy. Remember, the Jane Doe who accused the moguls of raping her back in 2000, dismissed her lawsuit last month.