Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Hoboken, New Jersey 07030
Saturday, August 8, 2009 11:53 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The Safety Board’s full report is available at http://www.ntsb.gov/publictn/2010/AAR1005.htm
The Aircraft Accident Report number is NTSB/AAR-10/05.
On August 8, 2009, at 1153:14 eastern daylight time, a Piper PA-32R-300 airplane, N71MC, and a Eurocopter AS350BA helicopter, N401LH, operated by Liberty Helicopters, collided over the Hudson River near Hoboken, New Jersey. The pilot and two passengers aboard the airplane and the pilot and five passengers aboard the helicopter were killed, and both aircraft received substantial damage from the impact. The airplane flight was operating under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 91, and the helicopter flight was operating under the provisions of 14 CFR Parts 135 and 136. No flight plans were filed or were required for either flight, and visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
(1) the inherent limitations of the see-and-avoid concept, which made it difficult for the airplane pilot to see the helicopter until the final seconds before the collision, and (2) the Teterboro Airport local controller’s nonpertinent telephone conversation, which distracted him from his air traffic control (ATC) duties, including correcting the airplane pilot’s read back of the Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) tower frequency and the timely transfer of communications for the accident airplane to the EWR tower. Contributing to this accident were (1) both pilots’ ineffective use of available information from their aircraft’s electronic traffic advisory system to maintain awareness of nearby aircraft, (2) inadequate Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) procedures for transfer of communications among ATC facilities near the Hudson River Class B exclusion area; and (3) FAA regulations that did not provide adequate vertical separation for aircraft operating in the Hudson River Class B exclusion area.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 8/8/2009 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 1153 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | Hoboken |
| Event State | NEW JERSEY |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 07030 |
| Event Date Year | 2009 |
| Event Date Month | 8 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | Yes |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 404436N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0740118W |
| Event Location Airport | -- |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | -- |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | -- |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | -- |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1151 Eastern Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 350 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | TEB |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 9 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 7 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Clear |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | None |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 24 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 7 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | -- |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Variable |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 3 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.23 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Fatal |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | 9 |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 9 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 27613 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA Eastern ROC |
| NTSB Notification Date | -- |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Apr 8 2013 1:15PM |
| User who most recently changed record | broda |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
||
|---|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
Aircraft #2 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N71MC | N401LH |
| NTSB Number | ERA09MA447A | ERA09MA447B |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation | Part 135: Air Taxi & Commuter |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No | No |
| Damage | Substantial | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | PIPER | EUROCOPTER |
| Aircraft Model | PA-32R-300 | AS 350 BA |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 32R-7680172 | 3059 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 3600 | 4630 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane | Helicopter |
| Aircraft Registration Class | -- | -- |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No | No |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 6 | 7 |
| Number of Engines | 1 | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual | 100 Hour |
| Date of Last Inspection | Apr 2 2009 12:00AM | Aug 2 2009 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- | 23 |
| Airframe Hours | 4505 | 13095 |
| ELT Installed | Yes | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No | No |
| ELT Type | Unknown | Unknown |
| Aircraft Owner Name | LCA PARTNERSHIP | MERIDIAN CONSULTING I CORP INC |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | FORT WASHINGTON | LINDEN |
| Aircraft Owner State | PA | NJ |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 19034-2514 | 07036-0004 |
| Operator is an individual? | No | No |
| Operator Name | STEVEN M ALTMAN | LIBERTY HELICOPTERS |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No | No |
| Operator Street Address | -- | -- |
| Operator City | AMBLER | LINDEN |
| Operator State | PA | NJ |
| Operator Country | USA | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 19002 | 07036 |
| Operator Code | -- | MHIA |
| Owner has at least one certificate | None | Yes - certificate holder |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | No | No |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | -- | -- |
| Operator Certificate Number | -- | MHIA082G |
| Indicates whether an air carrier operation was scheduled or not | -- | Non-scheduled |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | -- | Domestic |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | -- | Passenger Only |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | Personal | -- |
| Second Pilot on Board | No | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No | No |
| Departure Airport Code | TEB | JRA |
| Departure City | Teterboro | New York |
| Departure State | NJ | NY |
| Departure Country | USA | USA |
| Departure Time | 1149 | 1152 |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT | EDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | 26N | JRA |
| Destination City | Ocean City | New York |
| Destination State | NJ | NY |
| Destination Country | USA | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Aug 19 2010 8:41PM | Aug 19 2010 8:28PM |
| User who most recently changed record | grer | grer |
| Since inspection or accident | Last Inspection | Last Inspection |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | N/A | N/A |
| Runway Length | -- | -- |
| Runway Width | -- | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No | Yes |
| Air Medical Flight | No | No |
| Medical Flight | -- | -- |