The busy airspace surrounding Manhattan has been the site of several recent aeronautical accidents.Įarlier this year, a US Airways plane with 155 people on board ditched into the Hudson after apparently striking birds upon takeoff from New York's LaGuardia Airport, officials said.Ĭapt. Arnold Stevens, who saw the collision from the W Hotel in Hoboken, said the helicopter "dropped like a rock," while one of the plane's wings was sheared off and it began "corkscrewing" into the water, he said. Other witnesses reported seeing debris flying from the helicopter as it slammed into the water. The witness, another Liberty pilot who was refueling at a nearby heliport, said he tried to warn the helicopter pilot but got no response. Witness accounts and still photographs already provided "good information" to investigators, she said.Ī witness told investigators he saw the airplane approach the helicopter from behind, and the plane's right wing make "contact with the helicopter," Hersman said. Investigators will focus on radio communications along the congested air corridor at the time of the crash and examine any pictures or video contributed by the public, Hersman told CNN earlier. "At this time, their priority is to help with the family of their pilot, and of course the families that were involved in the accident." "Right now, the company is focusing its efforts on cooperating with the NTSB and giving as much information as it can," Horowitz said. Marcia Horowitz, a spokeswoman for the tour operator, said Liberty executives "are cooperating fully" with investigators. In 2001, a Liberty pilot made an "improper decision" to continue flying in poor weather at night, causing the helicopter to hit trees, according to the NTSB. Previous accidents included a 2007 case in which a helicopter crash-landed in the Hudson from a height of 500 feet, but without injuring passengers a 2008 incident in which one helicopter taking off clipped another on the ground a 2008 incident in which a pilot caused "substantial damage" to a helicopter while landing during an instructional session. Hersman said the NTSB has recorded eight accidents and one "incident" involving Liberty, but Saturday's crash was the first to involve fatalities. The plane took off from a Philadelphia-area airfield Saturday morning, landed at New Jersey's Teterboro Airport and was bound for Ocean City, New Jersey, with three people aboard - the owner and pilot, Steven Altman, 60, of Ambler, Pennsylvania his brother, Daniel Altman, 49, of Dresher, Pennsylvania and Daniel Altman's son Douglas, 16.Ĭontrollers lost contact with the plane at 11:53 a.m., when it was at an altitude of about 1,100 feet, Hersman said. His passengers were Michele Norelli, 51 Fabio Gallazzi, 49 Filippo Norelli, 16 Giacomo Gallazzi, 15 and Tiziana Pedroni, 44, all of Bologna, Italy. He had worked for the operator, Liberty Helicopter Sightseeing Tours, for about a year and a half and had 2,700 helicopter flight hours, Hersman said. New York police identified the pilot of the helicopter as Jeremy Clark, 32.
The helicopter was taking the five Italians on a 12-minute sightseeing tour around New York and had taken off from a heliport in midtown Manhattan shortly before the crash, she said. Most of the Eurocopter AS350 had been lifted out of the Hudson on Sunday and taken to a pier in Hoboken, New Jersey, across the river from Manhattan, for examination, Hersman said. Nothing has been ruled out at this point in time," she said. Investigators are trying to establish the facts of the crash but won't determine the probable cause for some time, Hersman said. Neither aircraft was required to carry electronic "black boxes" that record cockpit voices and flight data on larger planes, but electronic navigational devices on board might retain some information that could help the probe, Hersman said. Seven bodies had been pulled out of the river by Sunday afternoon, Hersman said.Īuthorities believe none of the nine people aboard the two aircraft survived the crash. Nine people, including five Italian tourists, were aboard the two aircraft when they collided over the river shortly before noon Saturday. The search stopped as a storm approached Sunday evening and will resume Monday morning, police said. New York police said they believed side-scan sonar pointed them to the wreckage of the Piper Saratoga PA-32 just north of where the helicopter went down, but Deborah Hersman, chairwoman of the National Transportation Safety Board, said swift current and low visibility were hindering divers.
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