Results tagged “hudsonriver”

Tomorrow night the Hudson River Quadricentennial Celebration year closes out with the addition of New York City’s Lighted Boat Parade. The sparkling aquatic march will make its way down the Hudson, around the tip of Manhattan and up to the Brooklyn Bridge.

The new FAA rules regarding air traffic over the Hudson River go into effect Thursday, separating pilots into three altitude corridors: in the lower two (below 1,300 feet), local commuter planes and sightseeing helicopters would still rely on the "see and avoid" method, but would also be required to tune their radio to a frequency of 123.05; announce their location, description and route; and obey a speed limit of 140 knots or less. Longer flights under the jurisdiction of air traffic controllers will fly above 1,300 feet. But critics say the rules don't go far enough to prevent another crash like the August 8th collision between a small plane and a sightseeing helicopter that claimed nine lives.

From NotifyNYC: "There is a military exercise occurring this afternoon over the Hudson River. Expect low flying helicopters."

With all the hubbub about Captain Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger making his long-awaited return to the skies after his miraculous splash landing of Flight 1549 by flying from Laguardia to Charlotte, North Carolina this afternoon, it turns out that Sully had to get to NYC some how. And that was by flying Flight 1050 from Charlotte to LGA at 7:55 a.m! The Daily News had a reporter and photographer onboard for the scoop.

Captain Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger, who captured the hearts of many when he safely landed US Airways Flight 1549 in the Hudson River, says that he's ready to fly planes once again. He said yesterday, in a statement from US Airways, "The months since January 15 have been very full, and my family and I have had some unforgettable experiences. However, I have missed working with my colleagues at US Airways and I am eager to get back in the cockpit with my fellow pilots in the months ahead. In my new role, I will continue to be the same kind of advocate for aviation safety that I have been for several decades."

On an old steam-propelled, decommissioned U.S. Coast Guard vessel docked at Pier 40 on the Hudson, 2009’s most exhilarating theatrical achievement (thus far) can still be experienced, and it doesn’t cost a dime. Called The Confidence Man and inspired by Herman Melville’s 1857 novel of the same name, this enthralling production is the work of Woodshed Collective, a company that specializes in immersive, site-specific performance. Last year they filled the vast, empty McCarren Park pool with their acclaimed play-with-music Twelve Ophelias, and their new venture is even more ambitious: The show's comprised of multiple, intertwined narratives performed simultaneously on all four levels of the rusty, labyrinthine vessel, named the Lilac. Like life, it’s impossible to see the whole story from every angle, and what you see is up to you.

More on August's tragic small plane-tour helicopter crash over the Hudson: National Transportation Safety Board says that the small plane pilot "read back the wrong radio frequency to an air traffic controller but wasn't corrected." The pilot was never corrected and never got Newark Liberty Airport's right frequency; a minute later, his plane crashed with the helicopter. The NY Times points out, "The Teterboro controller did not catch the discrepancy in the readback. At the time, the controller, alone in the tower, was in the midst of a personal phone call, and in addition, there was other voice traffic on the radio frequency at that point." The plane's three occupants were all killed, as were the chopper's six.

Those boats in the water today—it's the Coast Guard! "The U.S. Coast Guard will be conducting exercises in the East River, Hudson River, and New York Harbor between 9 AM and 3 PM on Tuesday 9/15/09. Expect additional Coast Guard vessel activity in these areas." Just be glad for the warning—DC didn't get one and CNN, after overhearing on the radio the words "you will be fired upon" and "bang bang bang," decided that shots were fired on the Potomac, started a Friday kerfuffle when it was just a training exercise the Coast Guard didn't disclose to the public (and apparently the news media).

New York City welcomed royalty yesterday, as Crown Prince Willem-Alexander of Orange and Crown Princess Maxima were greeted by a 21-gun salute and welcomed by Mayor Bloomberg and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in a ceremony at the USS Intrepid. It's all part of the 400th anniversary celebration of Henry Hudson's arrival in the New York Harbor; the Crown Prince said, "It's an honor to be welcomed here by the Secretary of State and the mayor of this great city. Arriving in New York is always a great pleasure, and the pleasure increases with every visit."

       

Yesterday was the 17th Annual Tugboat Race and Competition. The other competitions are "Nose to nose pushing contests and line toss competition" but the main event is the race from the 79th Street Boat Basin to Pier 84 at 42nd Street—one nautical mile. Flickr user and Gothamist reader ennuipoet, who took these great photographs (more here), says, "The Ellen McCallister won with a time of just over six minutes."

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.

New footage from a tourist on a Circle Line cruise showing last Saturday's collision between a small plane and a sightseeing helicopter was released tonight, just as the FAA announced that the air traffic controller and his supervisor at Teterboro Airport in NJ were suspended. Apparently the air traffic controller was on the phone with his girlfriend while handling the small plane's flight and his supervisor had left the room. The FAA said, in a statement, "We learned that the controller handling the Piper flight was involved in apparently inappropriate conversations on the telephone at the time of the accident... We also learned that the supervisor was not present in the building as required."

Yesterday, a memorial was held for five of the victims killed in Saturday's collision between a small plane and sightseeing helicopter. The service, at the Frank E. Campbell Funeral home on the Upper East Side, was brief and the hearses for the five Italian tourists—Michele Norelli, 51 and his son Filippo Norelli, 16, and their friends Fabio Gallazzi, 49, and Tiziana Pedrone, 44, and their son, Giacomo Gallazzi, 15—filled the street. An Italian tourist told the Post, "There are no words to describe what this family is going through. They went for a holiday and came home in a coffin."

NYPD divers and the Army Corps of Engineers managed to raise some of the wreckage of the small plane that crashed into a helicopter this past Saturday. Two more bodies were recovered, meaning that all nine victims' bodies have been found; three were on the plane while six were on the sightseeing helicopter. The Hudson River's murky conditions have been an obstacle to divers during the recovery effort; they explained to the Times they have been doing much of the search by touch.

      

Investigators continue searching the Hudson River for other remains and wreckage from Saturday's tragic collision between a small plane and sightseeing helicopter over the Hudson River. So far, seven bodies have been found, as well as helicopter wreckage. Authorities are hoping to pull the plane's wreckage from the water, but they say that finding the two remaining bodies is their first priority.

While yesterday's helicopter crash claimed the lives of nine, one pouty teenager who didn't feel like taking a chopper ride may have been what prevented a double-digit death toll. Italian tourist Paola Casali was eager to share how her 13-year-old son's reluctance to take a Liberty Tours helicopter led the pair to be running just late enough to miss out on the tragedy. The 42-year-old woman visiting from Rome had reserved seats for her and her son on the tour that would be taking off soon after noon. But when the boy was dragging his feet, the two did not arrive until 12:40, just in time to see the aftermath of the accident. She suggested their tardiness was due to potential divine intervention saying, “What is so strange is that this morning Lorenzo felt so nervous and did not want to fly today. He wanted to stay behind in a Starbucks." Casali hung around and talked with other witnesses who had showed up at Liberty and learned that no more tours were being given yesterday. One tourist said that they would simply come back today, telling WABC 7, "I guess if it happens today, it won't happen tomorrow."

       

A total of four bodies have been found from yesterday's tragic collision between a small plane and sightseeing helicopter. The crash, which presumably claimed the lives of nine people, occurred around noon over the Hudson River, off Hoboken, NJ. Witnesses, who had been enjoying the beautiful day in parks along the river, described the impact as sounding like a "cannon"; two told the Daily News, "I saw the chopper hit the water like it was a toy. The plane kept flying a little bit. It fell, not too far" and "I thought it was impossible they could crash. And then they actually did. The plane kept flying, the helicopter went straight down."

          

Update 10:30 p.m.: The National Transportation Safety Board says that a total of three bodies have been recovered from the Hudson; it is not clear whether the bodies are from the plane and/or helicopter. The diving recovery operations were called off in evening and will resume in the morning.

The Daily News has the scoop on some interesting details surrounding the rescue of passengers from a capsized boat in the Hudson River early yesterday morning. Turns out Doug Liman, director of Swingers, The Bourne Identity, and Mr. and Mrs. Smith, and "four movie-making pals were on his sailboat celebrating the wrap of a new film early Wednesday when they spotted the ship speeding toward a tiny vessel." A cargo ship, about "250 feet long, 50 feet tall, with no lights," was headed towards Daniel Rechelbacher's 40-foot boat. Rechelbacher and two friends jumped into the river, while another was tossed off the boat when the cargo ship crushed the vessel. Liman's boat headed to the crash, picking up Rechelbacher and two others, while the crushed boat's captain "refused to swim away from his crushed vessel and remained there until Fire Department boats arrived." Rechelbacher called his rescuers "guardian angels" while Liman said, "I make action movies for a living. If I had Jason Bourne survive that, people would start throwing popcorn at the screen .... These people were extremely lucky." And no criminality is suspected—apparently cargo ships have right of way in the river.

Around 1 a.m. this morning, WABC 7 reports that a 30-foot pleasure boat in the Hudson River near Jersey City capsized—"apparently after being struck by another vessel." The four people aboard the boat were rescued from the Hudson River by another boater: "Eyewitness News is told that Good Samaritan took them onto his vessel and to shore at Pier 40, near Canal Street. The four were treated by EMS for minor injuries." The NYPD towed the capsized boat to Jersey City and the Coast Guard will investigate the damage to the boat and see whether it was hit by another boat. A black-and-white commercial boat may have hit the vessel.

The Triathalon spirit seems to be spreading all over town this weekend. A 65-year-old man had to be pulled out of the Hudson last night after he dove in and attempted to swim out onto the Intrepid. He made it 50 feet off of shore before firefighters caught up with him and assisted him onto a ladder leading to a rescue boat. An FDNY source told the News, "He felt like he had to go and touch the Intrepid, so instead of paying for admission and going on board, he decided to jump in the water. He was intoxicated. ... You could smell it." The man was taken to Roosevelt Hospital for observation and treatment for minor injuries. Where will the Dutchman's celebratory Quadricentennial festivities lead next??

                     

Last night, the Macy's 4th of July Fireworks headed to the Hudson River. There were colorful displays, including smiley faces, cubes, Saturn shells and star dust, set off from six barges. Here are some photographs of the show—while folks along the East River were disappointed the show wasn't there this year, they could still see a bit of the pyrotechnics.

Tonight, the HudsonRiver will be the scene for this year's Macy's 4th of July Fireworks. Six barges are set up in the water between 24th and 50th Streets— at approximately 9 p.m., 45,000 shells will explode 1000 feet into the air and some will even skim the water. The best viewing spots along the Hudson (on the NYC side) are anywhere below 59th Street along 12th Avenue—but there are specific access points on 11th Avenue: 24th Street, 26th-30th Streets, 34th Street, 40th-44th Streets, 47th-52nd Streets, and 54th-57th Streets. There is very limited viewing north of 59th Street on the West Side; overall, patience is key! Here's street closure info and subway and bus travel tips from the MTA. And you can share your fireworks photographs with us by tagging them "gothamist" on Flickr or emailing us at tips(at)gothamist(dot)com .

Tomorrow night is the 33rd annual Macy’s 4th of July Fireworks. As we all know, the fireworks will take place over the Hudson River this year, to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the river's exploration by Henry Hudson. Expect a dazzling display of 45,000 shells (which will explode a rate of more than 1,500 per minute) from six barges, which is the most barges that Macy's has ever used. Fireworks designer Gary Souza told the Post that the Hudson "gives us a broader area to launch the fireworks from and makes the show that much more spectacular. It's one of the biggest and best shows we've ever put together."

With the Macy's July 4 fireworks extravaganza on the Hudson River this year (to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson's voyage down the Hudson River), crowds will be lining up on both the New York and New Jersey sides of the river to catch a glimpse of the display. And while NY is used to the security and preparations required, NJ towns aren't: The NY Times reports, "The new location has left town officials in Hoboken, Weehawken, North Bergen and other waterfront communities confronting something they do not often have to deal with — the 100,000 or more spectators they expect to descend on the Hudson’s west bank." Local police and fire departments have warned about grilling regulations and some apartment buildings limited tenants' guests or said only tenants with ID will be allowed in (forget those parties!). There are also driving restrictions in Jersey City plus a zero-tolerance policy—"Open containers, public urination, public nuisance and destruction of property are all subject to a $1,000 fine per infraction," according to Hoboken Now, thanks to the rowdy St. Patrick's Parade behavior (which probably means having sex in public is "public nuisance" and pooping in the hallway is "destruction of property").

After Flight 1549 splash landed into the Hudson River in January—and with everyone surviving—one of the flight attendants, Doreen Welsh, said that a panicked passenger had pushed past her and opened up the rear door, sending water into the cabin. However, a few passengers have told the National Transportation Safety Board that Welsh was actually the one who opened the rear door.

If you're enjoying the gorgeous weather along the Hudson today and are wondering why the bodies you're spotting are not just floating today, it's the annual Great Hudson River Swim. Brave swimmers are making their way on a 1.3 mile shot down the Hudson that starts out at Christopher Street and finishes up at Battery Park City. Some New Yorkers naturally have their doubts—one asked the News, "It's New York City, how clean can it be?" But the News reports that it's "cleaner than you think" and anyway, what's a little Dysentery between friends? The real concerns for swimmers are actually not sanitary ones, but the potentially rough current and cool temperature of the water. NYC Swim's official site says you can expect the Hudson to be around 55 to 60 degrees. A previous participant told the paper, "It's colder than the Caribbean, but you're not going to be in that long." The city's site also warns of "chop, shipping traffic and random jetsam and flotsam in the waterways," which might explain why our arms seemed to glitter after a mid-90s dip up by the George Washington Bridge.