2009 — Aug 8, Private Plane/Helicopter Collision, Hudson River, near Hoboken, NJ-9

–9  Gendar, et al. “Hudson River Crash…‘Inevitable’ Colleague of Helicopter Pilot…” 8-10-2009.

–9  NTSB. AAR. Midair Collision Over Hudson River…Near Hoboken [NJ], August 8, 2009.

 

Narrative Information

 

Gendar: “A close colleague of the pilot of the doomed tourist helicopter says it can be dicey in the skies over the Hudson River – and Saturday’s disaster that killed nine was “inevitable.”  “We were borderline surprised that it took so long for a crash like this to happen,” said Ben Lane, 34, who frantically radioed his pilot pal Jeremy Clarke that a plane was bearing down on him… experts said Lane is right, and that the Federal Aviation Administration has failed to make the city skies safe.  “The FAA is going to come under a lot of fire for not managing the situation above the Hudson better,” said ex-National Transportation Safety Board investigator Greg Feith.

 

“The agency is “playing the odds” by letting local low-flying air traffic fly so close to small planes passing through New York’s air space.  “The issue is these weekend warriors,” Lane said. “I don’t care if they are life-long pilots, 90% of the time they don’t make a radio call.”

 

“He said his fellow chopper pilots try to remain safe by staying in constant radio contact. “The professional pilots down here who fly all the time, we do a borderline excessive amount of radio calls,” he said.  “We know how busy it is, so we all kind of look after each other on the river.”

 

“Sadly, that got-your-back teamwork wasn’t enough to save Clarke, 32, and the five Italian tourists he was ferrying.  Clarke had just lifted off when Lane – while refueling his chopper at the W. 30th St. heliport used by Liberty Helicopters – saw the plane that would strike the helicopter like a torpedo barreling down the Hudson. “Jeremy, Jeremy, you have an airplane on your right side!” Lane yelled into the radio, but it was too late. “I don’t think the plane took any evasive action. I don’t think the pilot ever saw Jeremy,” Lane said. “Jeremy never replied back to me,” he recalled….”The plane looked like a cruise missile hitting a target, straight into him,” Lane said.

“The right wing came off the airplane and did an uncontrolled free fall from there. For Jeremy, the blades came off the helicopter, and it did a free fall. “I immediately took off from the deck and flew over the debris looking for survivors. There was no one in the water”.”  (Gendar, et al. “Hudson River Crash…‘Inevitable’ Colleague of Helicopter Pilot…” 10Aug09)

 

NTSB: “This accident summary report discusses the August 8, 2009, accident involving a Piper PA-32R-300 airplane, N71MC, and a Eurocopter AS350BA helicopter, N401LH, operated by Liberty Helicopters, which collided over the Hudson River near Hoboken, New Jersey. The pilot and two passengers aboard the airplane and the pilot and five passengers aboard the helicopter were killed, and both aircraft received substantial damage from the impact. The airplane flight was operating under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 91, and the helicopter flight was operating under the provisions of 14 CFR Parts 135 and 136. No flight plans were filed or were required for either flight, and visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident. The safety issues discussed in this report address changes within the recently designated special flight rules area (SFRA) surrounding the Hudson River corridor, vertical separation among aircraft operating in the Hudson River SFRA, the see-and-avoid concept, and helicopter electronic traffic advisory systems. Five new safety recommendations to the Federal Aviation Administration are included in the report.”

 

“Executive Summary

 

“On August 8, 2009, at 1153:14 eastern daylight time, a Piper PA-32R-300 airplane, N71MC, and a Eurocopter AS350BA helicopter, N401LH, operated by Liberty Helicopters, collided over the Hudson River near Hoboken, New Jersey. The pilot and two passengers aboard the airplane and the pilot and five passengers aboard the helicopter were killed, and both aircraft received substantial damage from the impact. The airplane flight was operating under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 91, and the helicopter flight was operating under the provisions of 14 CFR Parts 135 and 136. No flight plans were filed or were required for either flight, and visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident.

 

“The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of this accident was (1) the inherent limitations of the see-and-avoid concept, which made it difficult for the airplane pilot to see the helicopter until the final seconds before the collision, and (2) the Teterboro Airport local controller’s nonpertinent telephone conversation, which distracted him from his air traffic control (ATC) duties, including correcting the airplane pilot’s read back of the Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) tower frequency and the timely transfer of communications for the accident airplane to the EWR tower. Contributing to this accident were (1) both pilots’ ineffective use of available electronic traffic information to maintain awareness of nearby aircraft, (2) inadequate Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) procedures for transfer of communications among ATC facilities near the Hudson River Class B exclusion area, and (3) FAA regulations that did not provide adequate vertical separation for aircraft operating in the Hudson River Class B exclusion area.

 

“Previous safety recommendations issued to the FAA addressed standard operating procedures for the Hudson River Class B exclusion area, ATC performance deficiencies, the designation of a special flight rules area (SFRA) for the Hudson River Class B exclusion area and surrounding areas, and standard operating procedures within and training for SFRAs. The safety issues discussed in this report address changes within the recently designated SFRA surrounding the Hudson River corridor, vertical separation among aircraft operating in the Hudson River SFRA, the see-and-avoid concept, and helicopter electronic traffic advisory systems. Five new safety recommendations to the FAA are included in the report.” [p. v.] (NTSB AAR. Midair Collision Over Hudson River, Piper PA-32R-300…and Eurocopter…Near Hoboken, New Jersey, August 8, 2009. Adopted 9-14-2010.)

 

Sources

 

Gendar, Alison, et al. “Hudson River Crash…‘Inevitable’ Colleague of Helicopter Pilot Says.” NY Daily News, 8-10-2009. Accessed at: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2009/08/10/2009-08-10_air_disaster_was_inevitable_.html

 

National Transportation Safety Board. Aircraft Accident Summary Report. Midair Collision Over Hudson River, Piper PA-32R-300, N71MC and Eurocopter AS350BA, N401LH, Near Hoboken, New Jersey, August 8, 2009 (NTSB/AAR-10/05). Washington, DC: NTSB, adopted 9-14-2010, 54 pages. Accessed 6-23-2015 at: http://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/AccidentReports/Reports/AAR1005.pdf