NTSB, Controllers Union Offer Differing Views Of Crash

In a report about last weekend's tragic collision between a small plane and sightseeing helicopter over the Hudson River, the National Transportation Safety Board says radar data shows other aircraft, including the chopper, in the plane's path before the crash—but the Teterboro Airport controller failed to alert the plane's pilot about them. The NTSB's report says the controller made a phone call (apparently about a dead cat on a runway) after clearing the small plane for takeoff and remained on the phone while still instructing the plane. And it was a controller at Newark Airport that alerted a possible collision: The Post explains that Newark's controller "called Teterboro to ask that [small plane pilot] Altman adjust his course, the NTSB said. At that moment -- as the Teterboro controller juggled the personal call and the Newark controller -- Altman radioed in to say he was switching frequencies to Newark as ordered. The Teterboro controller then tried twice, unsuccessfully, to reach Altman and alert him to the impending disaster." However, the National Air Traffic Controllers Association says, "[The controller] was out of communication with the guy by the time the helicopter ever popped up on anybody's radar scope." The Teterboro controller and his supervisor have been suspended.