Investigators search for clues to mid-air crash

Divers were today searching for clues to a mid-air crash between a light aircraft and a sightseeing helicopter carrying tourists over New York’s Hudson River in which nine people died.

Three bodies were recovered yesterday, hours after the midday collision sent hundreds who were out enjoying the weekend searching for cover from falling debris.

US National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Debbie Hersman told a news conference that a helicopter pilot on the ground at the heliport for Liberty Tours, which operated the doomed sightseeing craft, saw the plane approaching the helicopter and tried to alert the helicopter pilot.

“He radioed the accident helicopter and told him, ’One-lima-hotel. You have a fixed-wing behind you.’ There was no response from the pilot,”’ she said. Then, the pilot on the ground saw the plane’s right wing strike the helicopter and both aircraft “descended into the Hudson River”.

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.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the mid-air crash was “unsurvivable”.

The helicopter carried five Italian tourists and the plane had two passengers, including a child.

The river’s strong currents and poor visibility hampered divers’ efforts to recover the bodies. Hersman said challenging river conditions also prevented investigators from marking the location of the plane.

“I think they are coming back with some promising returns and they will continue to look” today, she said.

She said she did not know if there were black boxes or other recording devices on the two aircraft. Aircraft of their size are not required to have such equipment.

“Even if we do not recover any recording device .. the NTSB can still determine the cause of the accident,” Hersman said.

She said federal investigators did not know the altitude of the two craft, information it hoped to verify with air traffic control today.

The accident happened in a busy general aviation corridor over the river. Pilots have some freedom to pick their own route, as long as they stay under 1,000ft and don’t stray too close to Manhattan’s skyscrapers.

“We’ll be looking exactly at where these aircraft were located at the time of the collision,” Hersman said. “Visual flight rules prevail ... you are supposed to be alert and see and avoid other aircraft in the vicinity.”

The NTSB also appealed for the public’s help, asking anyone with photos or video of the collision to contact investigators.