Results tagged “airtrafficcontroller”

The FAA has released the audio recording of a Teterboro air traffic controller's phone banter in the moments before a small plane and sightseeing helicopter collided over the Hudson River on August 8th. We look forward to hearing this moron's voice in our heads next time we fly:

The National Transportation Safety Board says that the air traffic controller on duty at Teterboro Airport during the crash between a small plane and sightseeing helicopter had a "light" workload and "nothing should have prevented him" from alerting the small plane's pilot about aircraft in his route. The crash, which killed nine people, occurred as the controller were on the telephone, joking about a dead cat. Additionally, the NTSB has made suggestions for air safety over the Hudson River, "including having helicopters and planes fly at separate altitudes" and that "pilots who are to fly in the Hudson River air corridor and around the Statue of Liberty complete a special training course."

The AP got hold of transcripts of Teterboro Airport's air traffic controller conversations on August 8—the day a small plane and sightseeing helicopter collided over the Hudson River—and found the controller in charge of guiding the small plane was joking was about barbecuing a cat. Before the small plane had taken off, the controller had called a woman in the airport's operations center about a dead cat that needed to be removed from the runway. The Daily News reports, "Two minutes after the [small plane], the controller called the woman back," saying, "We got plenty of gas in the grill? Fire up the cat." The woman replied, "Ooh, disgusting ... that thing was disgusting." The pair bantered about the cat some more "while the controller directed traffic. Seconds before the accident, the controller said, 'Damn' - and ended the call." The National Transportation Safety Board has said radar data showed many aircraft in the small plane's path, but the controller never alerted the plane's pilot, a claim the National Air Traffic Controllers Association disputes. The FAA, which suspended the controller and his supervisor, has said the conversation was inappropriate but probably did not cause the crash that left nine dead.

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.

Reacting to the FAA's revelation that an air traffic controller at Teterboro Airport was on a personal call while also handling the flight route of the small plane that crash into a helicopter last weekend, the National Air Traffic Controllers Union's Barrett Burns said, "For the FAA to sit there and allude or make accusations that the controller had anything to do with this accident is absolutely absurd and very insulting." The FAA suspended the controller, as well as his supervisor who left the room, though the agency also said, "We have no reason to believe at this time that these actions contributed to the accident." And now the National Transportation Safety Board says that the controller didn't warn the plane about another small aircraft before the crash: WCBS 2 reports, "The board said radar data show that there were several blips in the plane's path, including the helicopter. The board said it wasn't until controllers at nearby Newark airport alerted the Teterboro controller to the potential collision that he tried unsuccessfully to contact the pilot." The crash killed nine people, six in the helicopter and three on the plane.