Accidents
Pilots, controllers blamed in Hudson midair
The NTSB has cast broad blame for the Aug.

The NTSB has cast broad blame for the Aug. 8, 2009, fatal midair between a privately piloted Piper Lance departing Teterboro and a Liberty Helicopters Eurocopter AS350BA flying an air tour that killed nine over the Hudson River near Hoboken, N.J.

On September 14, the NTSB determined that the probable cause of the accident was 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 the Teterboro Airport local controller’s non-pertinent conversation, which distracted him from his ATC duties, including correcting the airplane pilot’s read-back of the incorrect frequency, and the timely transfer of communications for the accident airplane to the Newark Liberty International Airport tower.”