Hudson River: Plane.Copter crash Kills 9

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-18-2000
Hudson River: Plane.Copter crash Kills 9
4
Sun, 08-09-2009 - 10:57am

Plane, copter collide over Hudson River, killing 9


Complete article see link.........


http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5g-N1jdmNROaFicg_FftcshGMgU1gD99UUDQG0


A sightseeing helicopter carrying five Italian tourists collided with a small plane above the Hudson River on Saturday, sending debris into the water and forcing people on New Jersey's waterfront to scamper for cover. Authorities believe all nine people aboard the two aircraft were killed.


The accident, which Mayor Michael Bloomberg called "not survivable," happened just after noon and was seen by hundreds and maybe even thousands of people out enjoying a crystal clear summer day.


The two aircraft went down just south of the stretch of river where a US Airways jet landed safely seven months ago. But this time, there was no miracle.


"This is not going to have a happy ending," Bloomberg said. He said, hours after the accident, that he thought it fair to say "this has changed from a rescue to a recovery mission."


Two bodies were recovered in the water, one floating free and one in the wreckage, and other bodies were spotted in the debris, the mayor said. The crash victims included five Italian tourists and a pilot on the helicopter and the three people on the plane, including a child, Bloomberg said.


Witnesses described the same scene: a low-flying plane smashing into the helicopter, and then wreckage scattering. The plane's wing was severed by the impact.


The plane, a Piper PA-32, was registered to LCA Partnership in Fort Washington, Pa., and had just taken off from Teterboro Airport in New Jersey for Ocean City, N.J., authorities said. The helicopter was a Eurocopter AS 350 owned by Liberty Tours, a sightseeing and charter company. It was struck by the plane shortly after lifting off from a heliport on Manhattan's West side.


At least some people saw the crash developing. Another Liberty Tours helicopter pilot on the ground at the heliport saw the plane approaching the helicopter and tried to radio an alert to the pilots, New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said. The warning either wasn't heard, or didn't happen in time.



On the Hoboken waterfront, people scattered as pieces of debris fell from the sky. A wheel from one of the aircraft lay on Hoboken's Sinatra Drive.


"We saw the helicopter propellers fly all over," said Katie Tanski, of Hoboken.


Afterward, much of the wreckage sank quickly into the river.


The cause of the crash wasn't immediately clear, but the National Transportation Safety Board was investigating, Bloomberg said.


The accident happened in a busy general aviation corridor over the river that is often filled with sightseeing craft on nice days.


Pilots have some freedom to pick their own route, as long as they stay under 1,000 feet and don't stray too close to Manhattan's skyscrapers. The skies over the river are often filled with pleasure craft, buzzing by for a view of the Statue of Liberty.


Accidents aren't frequent, but happen every few years. New York Yankees pitcher Cory Lidle and his flight instructor died when their plane hit a skyscraper while flying a popular sightseeing route in 2006.



The identities of the victims of Saturday's crash were not immediately released. Italian Foreign Ministry spokesman Maurizio Massari confirmed there were Italians aboard the helicopter and said the ministry was working to find out further details through diplomats and authorities in New York.


A person who answered the phone at a Liberty Tours office declined to comment on the accident, but said the company would be releasing a statement. The company runs sightseeing excursions around the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island and Manhattan at costs ranging from $130 to about $1,000.


Two years ago, a Liberty helicopter fell 500 feet from the sky during a sightseeing trip. The pilot was credited with safely landing the chopper in the Hudson and helping evacuate her seven passengers.


In 1997, a rotor on one of its sightseeing helicopters clipped a Manhattan building, forcing an emergency landing. No one was hurt.

Photobucket      The WeatherPixie 

 


Photobucket&nbs

iVillage Member
Registered: 05-23-2008
Mon, 08-10-2009 - 5:57pm

There have been a number of small planes that have crashed during the years.

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-18-2000
Fri, 08-14-2009 - 12:08pm

Update:


Flight controllers suspended over NY midair collision


Complete article see link........


http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hjbdJKID9pASlCmc8uRK8rQY9osw


An air traffic controller has been suspended, along with a supervisor, for chatting on the telephone during a fatal collision between a helicopter and a small airplane over New York last weekend, authorities said Friday.


"We learned that the controller handling the Piper flight was involved in apparently inappropriate conversations on the telephone at the time of the accident," the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) said in a statement.


The controller and the supervisor, who broke the rules by being absent from the building, have been placed on administrative leave, the statement said.


The FAA said it had "no reason to believe at this time that these actions contributed to the accident."


However, "this kind of conduct is unacceptable."

Photobucket

 


Photobucket&nbs

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-30-2002
Fri, 08-14-2009 - 12:30pm

Why don't they just admit he was yakking on his cell phone and be done with it? What has happened to our culture that people must have these things pinned to their heads? Even my own SO had a car accident this year because he was trying to make a phone call while driving. Why don't they just shape these phones like hypodermic syringes to give a decent representation of the addiction people really have to them? People are dying in train wrecks, car wrecks, now maybe plane crashes, because people can't stand to be alone with themselves for a work shift. What a pathetic statement about ourselves as humans. What is wrong with people that they must be connected to someone else constantly, sometimes at the cost of peoples lives? Can't anybody get from clock in to break time without "reaching out and touching someone" electronically?


Sad and scary, that other peoples lives depend on people being able to put down their God D#$@ phone and do their freekin job!!!!



iVillage Member
Registered: 03-18-2000
Fri, 08-14-2009 - 1:13pm

I agree it's an addiction.


I rarely use my cell don't like to be that connected to everyone. In fact I don't enjoy talking on the phone very much.


DH recently visited his family in Utah. Lots of neices with

 


Photobucket&nbs