"Tragedy on the Hudson" Helicopter/Plane collide in NYC. Nine feared dead. - Polidicks

Just happened after noon EDT, a small plane hit the back of the helicopter and both plunged into the Hudson near the site of the famed "Miracle on the Hudson" seven months ago. Bloomberg stated in a press conference that no one could have survived the incident. [QUOTE=CNN] New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the operation of searching for those aboard a small plane and helicopter that collided Saturday over the Hudson River has become a recovery mission. He said two bodies had been recovered, but it was unclear whether the second one was from the crash, which authorities "do not feel was survivable." Two passengers, including a child, and a pilot were believed to have been aboard the single-engine Piper PA-32 when it collided with the copter around noon between New York and Hoboken, New Jersey, Bloomberg said. Earlier, the Coast Guard reported it had rescued one person from the river. Five Italian tourists and a pilot were believed to be aboard the helicopter, which was operated by Liberty Helicopter Sightseeing Tours, Bloomberg said. The travelers filled out a flight plan indicating they were flying from Teterboro Airport in New Jersey to Ocean City, New Jersey, the Federal Aviation Administration said. Five Italian tourists and a pilot were believed to be aboard the helicopter, which was operated by Liberty Helicopter Sightseeing Tours, Bloomberg said. No immediate information was available on the person rescued by the New York City Fire Department. People at the scene said nothing could be seen floating on the water. Witness Arnold Stevens said after the plane had a wing sheared off, it began "corkscrewing" into the water. The helicopter "dropped like a rock" after the collision, which happened about noon. [/QUOTE] Source: :foxnews: and [url]http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/08/08/hudson.helicopter.crash/index.html[/url] All I can say is, why did that plane pilot not pay more attention to traffic. It's like driving a car, if you hit others, you're gonna kill or maim someone. [b]EDIT:[/b] Authorities are confirming that everyone in the aircraft died and that there's debris washing up on shores along the river.

Damn, so that's why there's a bunch of cops out on the west side...

How the fuck do you not notice you're about to hit a helicopter?

[QUOTE=FunnyBunny;16566072]How the fuck do you not notice you're about to hit a helicopter?[/QUOTE] Maybe they crossed paths rather than one just flying head first into the other.. You have to remember planes are travelling rather fast so things can creep up on your real quick :)

This is why flying cars will never be a reality.

Oh god that's horrible.

[QUOTE=Kilgore 2nd;16566150]Maybe they crossed paths rather than one just flying head first into the other.. You have to remember planes are travelling rather fast so things can creep up on your real quick :)[/QUOTE] Add to that the fact that the helicopter had a backdrop of buildings behind it, so unless it was painted in a rainbow color scheme, it was probably camouflaged.

I thought that helicopters are restricted to flying in plane flight paths??? Or was this some [I]robot mistake.[/I]

Lol irony Anyways...yeah how the fuck do you not see a helicopter?

[QUOTE=Valdor;16566276]I thought that helicopters are restricted to flying in plane flight paths??? Or was this some [I]robot mistake.[/I][/QUOTE] The plane may have been diverted off of it's normal flight for some unknown reason. [QUOTE=InsanePyro;16566325]Lol irony Anyways...yeah how the fuck do you not see a helicopter?[/QUOTE] It's very easy to miss if you're flying in a plane, and if he lowered his altitude without noticing the Heli below the plane then he wouldn't have even seen it. Also, planes can't exactly turn on a dime, so the Heli may have flown in front of him and he was going to fast to steer around it in time.

:foxnews: said that the aircraft were low enough so they did not need a flight path as they were sightseeing aircraft. This part of the airspace is very crowded and it's not regulated as much as higher up.

planes sure like crashing into the hudson river

[QUOTE=bobste;16566448]planes sure like crashing into the hudson river[/QUOTE] Considering what gets dumped into that river, I'd be asking the pilot to please crash on land.

[QUOTE=PartyPancake;16566344] It's very easy to miss if you're flying in a plane, and if he lowered his altitude without noticing the Heli below the plane then he wouldn't have even seen it. Also, planes can't exactly turn on a dime, so the Heli may have flown in front of him and he was going to fast to steer around it in time.[/QUOTE] Actually your average small plane can turn pretty damn fast. I know from experience. Still, if the chopper pushed his collective down too fast, it could happen.

terrorists.

[QUOTE=Roborodent;16566482]Actually your average small plane can turn pretty damn fast. I know from experience. Still, if the chopper pushed his collective down too fast, it could happen.[/QUOTE] Even if they can turn fast, the Helicopter could have pulled right in front of the plane without noticing. They could have been only a few meters away when they noticed each other, by that time there's really no way to stop the crash.

That sucks. Thankfully it wasn't a large commercial jet.

my uncle knew the pilot of the helicopter his nickname was kiwi and he was from new zealand

[QUOTE=PartyPancake;16566344] It's very easy to miss if you're flying in a plane, and if he lowered his altitude without noticing the Heli below the plane then he wouldn't have even seen it. Also, planes can't exactly turn on a dime, so the Heli may have flown in front of him and he was going to fast to steer around it in time.[/QUOTE] Pull up or down? Just don't hit the other fucking aircraft And I why were they this close in the first place?

That's awful. That pilot probably should've been paying more attention, but it's easy to miss other airborne objects while flying. On a road, you know that all potential obstacles will be on a level plane with you, whether it be in front, to the sides, or behind your vehicle. In an airborne vehicle, it's not so simple. Obstacles can be anywhere in relation to your vehicle, even above and below. Your field of vision is also [I]far[/I] larger than in a land-based vehicle. You're looking at the entire horizon, a 180 degree panoramic view of everything from the ground up between your airplane and the edge of the world. Take it from me, it's not easy to spot a small aircraft such as a Cessna in flight, and even more difficult to spot a stationary or slowly moving vehicle such as a helicopter as they'll blend right into the background if they're below the horizon line. This is why constant communication between all aircraft in the area is so damn important. You need to regularly update every nearby aircraft with your location, altitude, and heading every so often so that they know exactly where to look for you. If there was no communication between the helicopter pilot and the plane pilot, then neither of them knew where the other one was, and even if the pilot of the plane knew that a helicopter was in the area, with no indication of where to look a small, stationary aircraft like that might as well have been invisible. All it takes for a midair collision is for the pilot to go over his checklist or to reference his terminal chart to ensure he's headed the right direction. With a five or six second distraction like that, what was an invisible speck on the horizon can quickly become a dangerous obstacle that's right up in your face when you're traveling at 150mph. Though we have no real way of knowing exactly what happened, I'd say it's a fairly safe bet that there was a lack of communication between the pilots. Perhaps the helicopter pilot was updating his location regularly and the plane pilot wasn't listening, or was transmitting a message at the same time and so couldn't hear him. Or perhaps the helicopter just wasn't letting people know where he was. Regardless of whose fault this is, it's an easier mistake to make than you might think. I've come within two thousand feet of another aircraft before being able to spot it, even knowing which direction to look. If instead of looking for the other aircraft I checked my map to check his location based on his nearest landmark, then I could have easily gotten dangerously close without even realizing it. The sky's big and mostly empty, but don't let that fool you into thinking a midair collision is a black and white case of stupidity. Even with proper communication and a detailed knowledge of the area, the unexpected can always throw something into your gears that can lead to deadly consequences. [QUOTE=InsanePyro;16567987]Pull up or down? Just don't hit the other fucking aircraft And I why were they this close in the first place?[/QUOTE] Standard protocol is for both aircraft to turn to the right if they're in danger of a head on collision, but as with any unexpected occurrence during flight you must be flexible. My instructor was telling me a story of how he was flying a few years ago when a midair collision almost happened between him and another Cessna, because they had been focused on the runway and were flying opposite traffic patterns; one for the East-West runway, the other for the West-East runway. It's an uncontrolled airport, meaning there's no air traffic controller and that radio announcements aren't enforced. The other pilot had been operating without announcing his position, and my CFI couldn't see him against the background. They spotted each other at the last minute and both turned left, missing each other narrowly. If either one of them had turned right, as they were supposed to, then they would've collided.

There has got to be a video there are hundreds of cameras on rooftops pointing at that river and tour helicopters often fly low.

GoE America GoE [highlight](User was permabanned for this post ("Alt of a permabanned user." - ventilated))[/highlight]

They pulled another body out, making it three bodies thay they found, 2 adults, 1 child. :ohdear:

Well yeah, there were 2 adults and 1 child in the plane, i'm not sure what you expected to wash up?

[QUOTE=Godwin;16572208]Well yeah, there were 2 adults and 1 child in the plane, i'm not sure what you expected to wash up?[/QUOTE] The dive teams pulled the 2 adult bodies from the helicopter wreckage the child from the plane wreckage. The other bodies are still underwater somewhere.

[QUOTE=Watevaman;16566180]Add to that the fact that the helicopter had a backdrop of buildings behind it, so unless it was painted in a rainbow color scheme, it was probably camouflaged.[/QUOTE] Planes don't fly at building height unless they are taking off or landing. Even at that, they only spend about 10 seconds at building height before they gain enough altitude to be above them. To hit a helicopter you would have to be on the same level as it, and if you are on the same level and above buildings then there would be no building backdrop behind the chopper. Unless some dipshit painted it blue.

Horrible...

The Hudson River is a cursed place, any plane that flies over it dies horribly.

[QUOTE=Battlefrank1111;16573718]The Hudson River is a cursed place, any plane that flies over it dies horribly.[/QUOTE] I didnt know inanimate objects could die.

This kinda reminds of that airbus plane that ditched in the hudson because of a bird strike, everyone survived though @ TOPIC How could the pilot not notice a chopper coming right at him?