Aircraft down in Hudson being reported

[Matt Molnar]

Now another coment I have been wanting to post. I was home at the time of the accident last Saturday and recieved a text something had happened only mins after the accident occured. What surprised me was that 1 hour after the accident only NY1 and FOX New Chanell where broadcasting live coverage. None of the other local stations or CNN had coverage. To me it seemed like a big enough story to warrent local live coverage by the big local news players, especially in light of the constant headline coverage it is still getting now almost a week later.

I was wondering that myself. After laying off a bunch of people, combined with it happening on a Saturday afternoon in August when everyone is at the beach, I'm guessing the only people in the newsrooms were interns.

[Gerard]

>Now another coment I have been wanting to post. I was home at the time of the accident last Saturday and recieved a text something had happened only mins after the accident occured. What surprised me was that 1 hour after the accident only NY1 and FOX New Chanell where broadcasting live coverage. None of the other local stations or CNN had coverage. To me it seemed like a big enough story to warrent local live coverage by the big local news players, especially in light of the constant headline coverage it is still getting now almost a week later. >

I had just gotten out of the dentist when I heard about this on, of all stations, WCBS-FM. I switched to 1010 WINS and when I
walked (ran?) into the house the only station at 1PM with major coverage was FOX News.

[NIKV69]

I have to tell you even though I am a fan of FOX I always thought in the past their breaking news coverage sucked compared to MSNBC and CNN and always tuned in to them for major events instead of FOX. When it comes to Aviation incidents, car chases etc MSNBC and CNN were much better. I see that changing lately mostly I think due to the Obama factor and more so lately the health care debacle and Pelosi saying the most stupidest things which I feel CNN is trying to be apoligists for but FOX def was on top of this event. As far as Ratings FOX wins that hands down and doubt that will ever change so I wish they would improve their breaking news coverage.

[Tom_Turner]

The bulletin sure does seem to read that way.....

UPDATE

1. NBC reporting that controller's phone call may not have been as innocuous as previously reported...distraction might have prevented him from warning Piper pilot of an alert from Newark re: heavy Hudson traffic.

[NIKV69]

re: heavy Hudson traffic.

Wouldn't a pilot see this flying VFR? This is going to get ugly between the ATC union and NTSB.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090817/ap_ ... _collision

[Matt Molnar]

NTSB has amended its report...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Federal safety officials investigating a midair collision over the Hudson River changed their account of the accident on a key point Monday, saying an air tour helicopter struck by a small plane wasn't initially visible on radar to an air traffic controller handling the plane.

The National Transportation Safety Board had previously said the controller failed to warn the plane's pilot of the potential for a collision with several aircraft in its path, including the helicopter, before handing off responsibility for the plane to another airport.

Nine people—three aboard the plane and five Italian tourists and a pilot aboard the helicopter—were killed in the Aug. 8 accident over a busy area of the river between New York and New Jersey.

The board now says in a statement released Monday that while the controller at Teterboro Airport in New Jersey failed to warn of several aircraft in the path of the single-engine Piper, the tour helicopter wasn't one of the aircraft on the controller's radar screen until seven seconds after the handoff to nearby Newark Liberty International Airport.

[emshighway]

The federal government is kicking the air traffic controller's union out of the investigation into the fatal midair collision over the Hudson.

The National Transportation Safety Board says the National Air Traffic Controllers Association has been improperly commenting about the investigation in the media. Normal procedure is for the NTSB to take the lead on media matters.

http://www.ny1.com/content/top_stories/ ... fault.aspx

[NIKV69]

Yep like I said it's gotten ugly and it's a shame but the ATC union is def circling the wagons here and the NTSB is playing hardball. It is far from over. IMO this controller really effed up but I can say he caused this. The timeline is tricky and he may not have seen that helo in time.

[LGA777]

Interesting read below, TEB Tower phone transcript highlights !

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32483581/ns/us_news-life

LGA777

[Matt Molnar]

Protip: Don't have idiotic conversations on recorded lines.

[Gerard]

That controller has more problems. I hear PETA is upset with him about the barbeque cat comment.

[moose135]

http://www.newsday.com/news/new-york/fe ... -1.1453036

Feds: Pilot in Hudson collision had wrong radio frequency
September 16, 2009 By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

The pilot of a plane involved in a mid-air collision over the Hudson River read back the wrong radio frequency to an air traffic controller but wasn’t corrected by the controller, a federal safety official said Wednesday.

National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Deborah Hersman told a congressional committee Wednesday that shortly after the single-engine Piper took off from Teterboro Airport in New Jersey, a Teterboro controller handed off the plane to nearby Newark Liberty International.

During the handoff, the controller instructed the Piper pilot to contact Newark and gave him the radio frequency. However, air traffic control recordings show the frequency the pilot read back was incorrect, Hersman said. There is no indication that any controller heard the incorrect readback or attempted to correct it, she said.

Less than a minute after the incorrect readback, the plane collided with an air tour helicopter, sending both aircraft hurtling into the river. All three people aboard the plane and a pilot and five Italian tourists aboard the helicopter were killed.

A preliminary review shows the pilot never contacted Newark controllers, Hersman told the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee at a hearing on the accident.

Those controllers saw on radar that the plane was heading toward the helicopter, which was just taking off on the New York side of the river. They called the Teterboro controller and asked him to redirect the plane. The Teterboro controller twice tried unsuccessfully to contact the plane. Hersman said investigators are reviewing recordings for other air traffic frequencies in an effort to discover whether the pilot was trying to contact Newark on the incorrect frequency.

[PhilDernerJr]

This was only noticed now?

[mmedford]

This was only noticed now?

Hmm, wouldn't the NTSB power up the comm radios and check what freqs were dialed in?

[moose135]

This was only noticed now?

It was made public Wednesday during the hearing, they didn't say when they listened to the tapes and determined it.