NTSB Says that Controller could not have prevented collision over Hudson
According to the NY Times today, the NSTB has clarified the issue regarding the Teterboro air traffic controllers that were suspended following the helicopter-fixed wing collision over the Hudson River on August 8th. A spokesperson for the NSTB stated that
it is counterproductive when an organization breaches the party agreement and publicly interprets or comments on factual information generated by that investigation. Our rules are set up precisely to avoid the prospect of each party offering their slant on the information.
The spokesperson also said that they believe that the facts show, that the Teterboro controller would not have been able to prevent the collision from occurring.
Read the full article here.
Don’t miss the City Council Hearing August 25, 2009 to discuss air traffic safety over New York City
Fellow New Yorkers: Please take the opportunity to have your voice heard, on the matter of air traffic over our city. The City Council will be holding a hearing to address this issue on August 25th. The details are as follows: Hearing date Aug. 25, 2pm, City Council, Council Chambers, City Hall, Committee on Transportation, subject-Oversight: What can be done to improve air traffic safety over New York City. Check City Council calendar for any change in date or time.
Please encourage people to come , spread the word and give testimony: 2-3 minutes, register 10 minutes prior to hearing, good to have written record of testimony to submit and copies to distribute. While okay to mention noise thrust of remarks should be about safety. If people cannot attend they should submit testimony and/or contact their city council member and the rest of the council with their views. It is essential that the City Council hear from lots of folks to counterbalance the influence of the industry which will be out in force.
Here is a link to the City Council Website.
Helicopter Collision over Hudson Captured on Video
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USA Today quotes Joy Held of the Helicopter Coalition of New York City
[Photo by: USA Today]
Click here for the full article.
Here are links to some other relevant news items.
- 2 Air Traffic Workers Suspended in Inquiry on Hudson River Crash
- Collision Bares Longtime Rift Over Air Safety
Debate over Hudson River Corridor continues
Photo: NY Times
The debate sparked by the fatal accident, involving a tourist helicopter, and a fixed wing plane, last Saturday continues this week. An editorial column in the NY Times, today, suggests that the National Transportation Safety Board be allowed to publish its conclusions, before the F.A.A. rushes into imposing any new regulation of the air space over the Hudson River. Read the full article here.
Other relevant articles in today’s news:
- Hudson Presents Obstacles to New Crash-Avoidance Technology
- Flying Over the Hudson, and Feeling Vulnerable
- Last Bodies Recovered From River After Crash
Latest developments regarding flight regulation debate
The following is report give by Joy Held of the Helicopter Noise Coalition of New York City, regarding the Press Conference held on Monday, August 10, 2009:
I attended today’s press conference and distributed 40-some copies of the HNC press release calling upon Mayor Bloomberg to re-institute the ban of tour helicopters from city heliports enacted by Mayor Guiliani as part of the 2000 NYC Heliport and Helicopter Master Plan (established and still in effect at the East 34th St. heliport and to have been phased in at West 30th St. and Downtown Manhattan (Wall St.) heliports )– a policy Bloomberg reversed. Guiliani banned helicopter air tours from city heliports to protect New Yorkers’ health and safety. HNC maintains that the economic benefits of helicopter air tours touted by Bloomberg and Stringer are exaggerated while the economic and social costs are ignored; that tourists will come to NYC regardless and that there are many other ways to tour NYC.
Today’s press release of the elected officials is entitled “Elected Officials Demand FAA End Wild West Approach to Hudson River Airspace” and is issued jointly by Congressman Jerrold Nadler; Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer; City Council Speaker Christine Quinn; State Senator Tom Duane; Assembly members Richard Gottfried, Deborah Glick and Linda Rosenthal; and Council member Gale Brewer. In attendance and speaking were officials Nadler, Stringer, Quinn, Duane, Gottfried, Brewer, and Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney. Officials called for: 1. regulating the Hudson River airspace under 1100 feet (where helicopters and fixed wing aircraft now fly by visual flight rules-”see and avoid”) 2. requiring two boxes in helicopters and fixed wing aircraft-transponders and radar establishing devices-so aircraft can communicate with each other and be tracked by air traffic control 3. a temporary ban/moratorium on air traffic in the Hudson River exclusionary zone (unregulated airspace) until the above mechanisms can be put into place 4. some officials called for a permanent ban of helicopter air tours from NYC airspace. In addition the City Council will hold a hearing regarding regulation of NYC airspace shortly. After the airplane crash of 1999 into a building near the East River, the FAA banned fixed wing aircraft from the unregulated airspace over the East River-it was suggested that this ban be extended to helicopters.
I met with Congresswoman Maloney after the press conference. In addition to writing the FAA to advocate regulating all NYC unregulated airspace (Hudson and East River and southern Manhattan under 1100 feet) she will also write to Mayor Bloomberg urging him to reinstate the mayoral ban on helicopter tours from city heliports and to the City Council requesting legislation to make the ban permanent. Considering that NYC has the highest nonmilitary helicopter traffic in the world and that 50% of that traffic is tours, a ban from city heliports
would make a tremendous difference although we will not be safe until helicopter air tours are banned from our airspace as well (air tours could fly the same routes but be based elsewhere such as New Jersey). I also spoke to a reporter at the New York Times who made the point that the economic benefits touted by the mayor and borough president don’t amount to much given the magnitude of the NYC economy.Those wishing to protest the air tours should contact electeds at all levels-City Council, Borough President, Mayor, State Assembly and Senate, US House of Representative and Senate, as well as local and city newspapers.
Listed below are links to several relevant New York Times Articles:
- Appealing for Safer Skies Above New York City
- Police Divers Work Blind in Search for Bodies
- Collision Revives Debate Over Whether Copter Tours Are Worth the Cost
- Officials Demand Tighter Control, or Even a Ban, of Hudson Air Traffic
City officials may finally ban tourist flights
Tourist Helicopter taking off at West 30th Street Heliport (Photo by: J. Breinholt)
In the wake of the fatal crash, last Saturday over the Hudson River, City officials met today at a press conference to discuss possible actions. Bloomberg held fast to his position that the City needed the revenue generated by the flights and that imposing regulations (like tower control of flights) on Hudson River Corridor flight would be too costly and impractical. But other city officials had a different approach. According to Gothamist:
At the heliport press conference, other officials—including Representatives Jerrold Nadler and Carolyn Maloney, Manhattan borough president Scott Stringer, and City Council members Christine Quinn and Gale Brewer—demanded an immediate end to “the Wild West approach to Hudson River airspace.” Brewer, who has been trying to limit tourism helicopters for some time now, said, “These flights are loud, low and dangerous, hovering over tall residential buildings, parks and playgrounds.” And according to Nadler, “It is unconscionable that the F.A.A. permits unregulated flights in a crowded airspace in a major metropolitan are.”
It will be very interesting to see what the coming weeks will bring. As advocates of banning tourist flights, it is probably wise to strike while the iron is hot. Be sure to contact your City Council Rep. regarding this issue, to let them know where you stand.
Single Engine Plane and Tour Helicopter Collide over Hudson
Nine are dead after a collision between a tourist helicopter leaving the 30th Street Heliport Collided with a single engine fixed wing plane flying low, in the Hudson River corridor. Witnesses say that the helicopter was headed southbound and that the plane appeared to strike the helicopter from the rear and side. According to the Mayor Bloomberg, the helicopter was carrying Italian tourists and the fixed wing had taken off from Tereboro. Maybe this is a signal that more regulation is required in the Hudson River cooridor. More Details.
(photo: Getty Images)
