Aircraft down in Hudson being reported

[Futterman]

FOX has acquired photos of the actual crash. Not for the faint of heart: http://www.foxnews.com/slideshow/U.S...-river?slide=2

I'm also a little jealous of Miles O'Brien and his excellent article about the visceral reactions we're all expecting. Beware the Aviation Demagogues

Brian

[Gerard]

>I'm also a little jealous of Miles O'Brien and his excellent article about the visceral reactions we're all expecting. Beware the Aviation Demagogues<

Excellent article so on the money. Thanks.
Anyone have the over-under when Rep. Anthony Weiner conducts his first anti-aviation news conference?

[Delta777LR]

I took pictures of N401LH while I was by the park near the W. 30th St helliport back in May. Here,

[cancidas]

as saddened as i feel for the families of those that lost thier lives in this accident i can't help my feel wary over the days to come. phil, you said that we might see changes in the hudson river exclusion the way we did in the east river after the cory lidle accident. i expect to see our great and wise senator me. schumer use all his aviation experience and know-how to demand the closure of this exclusion once more... (we may even hear about small airplanes "packed" with explosives again.)

murphy has a law, it states that amateurs are dangerous, because professionals are the predicatable ones. when i was discussing this with a few CALSTAR pilots yesterday that is where our conversations ended up. as someone who flies the harbor daily, and the hudson river a few times a year i can safely say i've seen my share of strange maneuvers and even a few "what the &*$# is he doing?!" moments. there is a CTAF in place for a reason. i sure hope that both crews were on it and using the frequency to announce thier intentions. otherwise, we just have a very expensive reminder of how negligence can kill.

[Mateo]

Anyone have the over-under when Rep. Anthony Weiner conducts his first anti-aviation news conference?

He's not the Mayor-in-waiting anymore, so maybe he'll tone down the grandstanding, although I'm not optimistic. It's recess, so if we're lucky, he's on a Codel somewhere, safely away from any TV cameras.

[moose135]

The FAA has issued a TFR around the crash site, one mile radius, surface to 1,000 MSL, to keep unauthorized traffic away.

[PhilDernerJr]

FoxNews has a homepage photo of a bodybag being loaded up onto a boat. :(

[Planesntrains]

It was reported by CNN another deceased was recovered this afternoon. Not sure of time or location. This is such a sad mess. These things never have to happen. I'm sure it will open up a can of worms over the VFR Corridor also.

[moose135]

MSNBC is reporting that the Army Corps of Engineers recovered the wreckage of the helicopter from the river this morning, and NYPD reports that sonar has spotted the wreckage of the Piper, in two locations, near the site of the helicopter wreckage.

[Gerard]

The story of the Italian woman and her son "Just missing" be on that flight is media generated BS. Sure she had tickets but they were not for a specific time or aircraft. In fact the 5 tourists who died were family friends and wanted to fly together which, sadly, worked out as 401LH seats 5 plus pilot. Mom/son would have been on another ship.
Just so much bad reporting on so many levels.
And recently in the discussion about the two news copters that had a mid-air the topic of "situational awareness" was brought up. Be aware of what is happening around you.
Last year also in Arizona two EMS copters enroute to a hospital had a mid-air on a weather day like yesterday.
And how about the private pilot who got lost in JFK airspace a few weeks ago and buzzed by commercial aircraft. Now that could have been ugly.
Yesterdays incident sounds like a tragic case of a lack of situational awareness.
OK off my soapbox.

[cancidas]

And recently in the discussion about the two news copters that had a mid-air the topic of "situational awareness" was brought up. Be aware of what is happening around you.

situational awareness doesn't only apply to EMS and news helos. it's a lesson every single pilot should learn, the earlier the better. lose that, and lose your life as one of my IPs used to say.

[BigAppleCoder]

This is certainly a tragedy for the people on the two aircraft and I don't wish to dismiss the victims family's suffering. However, I'm unhappy to see that this accident has resulted in knee jerk reactions in calls for regulation of the VFR corridor over the Hudson River. The New York times quoted Sen. Schumer as saying the '"virtually unregulated” flight traffic over the Hudson a safety and security risk. Wherever the investigation leads, he said, “the F.A.A., along with the N.T.S.B. and other relevant agencies, must take a long look at toughening up flight restrictions and monitoring of the Hudson River airspace in order to avoid another tragedy.”'
I personally believe that some people who dislike the noise of the air traffic along the river will use this tragedy to the best of their ability to try to restrict the VFR corridor. I'm happy that Mayor Bloomberg is a private pilot himself as he seems to be the only elected official that is not calling for a knee jerk closure. But it's going to take a big effort on the part of general aviation supporters to stave off these attempts.

[USAF Pilot 07]

situational awareness doesn't only apply to EMS and news helos. it's a lesson every single pilot should learn, the earlier the better. lose that, and lose your life as one of my IPs used to say.

It's probably the most important skill as a pilot to develop and something that has been beaten into me from day 1 of flight school. Staying ahead of the jet by always thinking two steps ahead, listening to the radios, and having good CRM are critical to maintaining good SA. SA only increases as you fly more and become more proficient in your airframe, but a major part of it is keeping good SA on the guys around you; so that when some other dude loses it, you don't get into situations like this..

[NIKV69]

FoxNews has a homepage photo of a bodybag being loaded up onto a boat.

That is nothing, during the live coverage of the hours after the collision FOX was zoomed in on a boat and they loaded one of those rescue stretchers with a body on the boat. The head and upper torso were in in plain view for at least 7-10 seconds. I know the pitfalls of live coverage with no delay but jeez.

[fly.mcs]

Most of you probably saw the helicopter pilot's photo on FOX News last night. Here is a link to an article from The New Zealand Herald:

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/artic ... d=10589966

After watching the news, I am almost sure Mr. Clarke was the pilot of my Liberty Tours helicopter flight on 17 April 2009. Because I weighed the least of all passengers, I sat in the front with this gentleman. I recorded some video, and he appears in a few clips. It's truly sad.. will upload the video a bit later tonight and post a link.