Rotorcraft
NY Helicopter Traffic Reporter Was 9/11’s ‘First Word’
WCBS 880 radio helicopter traffic reporter Tom Kaminski is also known for his brief role as an eyewitness to one of the darkest events in American history.
With more than three decades of experience as a helicopter reporter in the skies above the New York City area, Tom Kaminski had a closeup view of one of the most shocking events in American history. (Photo: Brittainy Newman)
With more than three decades of experience as a helicopter reporter in the skies above the New York City area, Tom Kaminski had a closeup view of one of the most shocking events in American history. (Photo: Brittainy Newman)

He spends more than three hours in a helicopter nearly every weekday, flying in some of the world’s busiest airspace, and while his voice is familiar to millions of New York City-area commuters, WCBS 880 radio helicopter traffic reporter Tom Kaminski is also known for his brief role as an eyewitness to one of the darkest events in American history. Not even the passage of two decades has dimmed his recollections of that clear late summer morning. 

“The day was uneventful up until that point. We were out later than we normally would have been. We had to check on a collision that turned out to be really nothing. At 8:46 we started to make our way back [to the helicopter base at Linden Airport] and were making our turn south on the Hudson at the George Washington Bridge when we saw a flash and a fireball.”