An small US plane collided with a sightseeing helicopter carrying Italian tourists over the Hudson River on Saturday. Authorities believe all nine people in the two aircraft were killed. The collision, which Mayor Michael Bloomberg said was “not survivable,” happened just after noon and was seen by thousands of people enjoying a crystal clear summer day from the New York and New Jersey sides of the river.
“There was a loud pop, almost like a car backfire,” he said. “The helicopter dropped like a rock.” said a eye witness.
The plane, a Piper PA-32, was registered to LCA Partnership in Fort Washington, Pa. The helicopter was a Eurocopter AS 350 owned by Liberty Tours, a sightseeing and charter company. It was struck by the plane shortly after lifting off from a heliport on Manhattan’s West side. On the Hoboken, N.J., waterfront, people scattered as pieces of debris fell from the sky. A wheel from one of the aircraft lay on Hoboken’s Sinatra Drive.
“We saw the helicopter propellers fly all over,” Hoboken resident Katie Tanski said.
The accident happened in a busy general aviation corridor over the river that is often filled with sightseeing craft on nice days. Pilots have some freedom to pick their own route, as long as they stay under 1,000 feet and don’t stray too close to Manhattan’s skyscrapers. The skies over the river are often filled with pleasure craft, buzzing by for a view of the Statue of Liberty. The identities of the victims of Saturday’s crash were not immediately released. Italian Foreign Ministry spokesman Maurizio Massari confirmed there were Italians aboard the helicopter and said the ministry was working to find out further details through diplomats and authorities in New York.
