Helicopter, small plane collide, crash in Hudson River; Mayor Bloomberg: All 9 onboard presumed deadBY Rich Schapiro, Wil Cruz, Alison Gendar and Larry Mcshane
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
Updated Saturday, August 8th 2009, 2:58 PM
Watts/News
Coast guard, FDNY and police vessels comb the Hudson River after a helicopter and small plane collided, then crashed near Hoboken Saturday. All nine onboard the two aircraft are presumed dead.
Witnesses tweet their accounts of crash
Nine people were presumed dead Saturday after a small plane collided with a tourist helicopter over the Hudson River, sending both aircrafts spiraling into the murky waters.
The dead included five Italian tourists taking a helicopter tour above Manhattan, both pilots and two passengers on the single-engine plane - including a child, Mayor Bloomberg said.
Two bodies were recovered in the hours after the noon crash on a clear, sunny day where witnesses on both sides of the Hudson watched the midair collision in disbelief.
The accident, which witnesses said sheared off one of the plane's wings and dropped the helicopter like a stone from the sky, was "not survivable," a somber Bloomberg told a Manhattan news conference.
"This is not going to have a happy ending," the mayor said.
It was the city's worst air disaster since American Airlines Flight 587 went down in November 2001, killing 265 people.
One victim's body was found in the water off 14th St. following the crash, police sources said. The second was recovered from a piece of wreckage found in the river, Bloomberg said.
Coast Guard ships, police divers and helicopters joined in the desperate but ultimately fruitless hunt for survivors from the two downed aircraft. Police said visibility was about two feet in the 30-foot water.
There were five Italian tourists and a pilot on the Eurocopter AS 530, operated by Liberty Helicopters, sources said. The pilot and two passengers - one a child - were aboard the Piper PA-32 plane.
"I heard a noise, looked up, and seen a small plane and a helicopter just going down," recounted eyewitness Richard Martyn, who watched the crash from a West Side bike path.
"It was like a muffled boom," he said. "I'm still shaking."
The single-engine plane was registered to a Pennsylvania company and departed from Teterboro Airport, a police source said. It was reportedly heading to Ocean City, N.J.
The tower at Newark Airport reporting losing contact with the plane at noon over the Hudson, said Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Arlene Salac.
Witnesses said the plane's left wing clipped the chopper's rotor, sending both aircraft plunging into the Hudson.
Eyewitness Scott Reynolds, 42, said the helicopter seemed to explode after the collision above the New Jersey side of the river.
"There was a white puff," said the Florida tourist. "It looked like the rotors just exploded, like something hit him."
Vern Brownell, a private pilot from Hoboken, N.J., said there was a huge bang - "like a cannon" - before the helicopter and the plane dropped like stones into the river.
"I looked over and saw two aircrafts falling from the sky," he said.
The single-engine plane "lost its wing" in the crash, he said, before spiraling into the water.
Rescue ships responded quickly to the crash site, where rescue efforts were hampered by spilled fuel oil that turned the river even murkier.
The chopper's propeller separated from its body as the helicopter plunged into the water, according to one witness.
"I just looked up, and I saw parts of the propeller in the air," said eyewitness Alanna Duffy, 29. "They were mangled."
Ambulances, fire trucks and police vehicles sped to the scene just south of 14th St. near Pier 54.
http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2009/08/08/2009-08-08_helicopter_crash_near_new_jersey_.html
