By Tom Hays
The Associated Press
NEW YORK — Divers are back in New York’s Hudson River, searching for the wreckage of a small plane that smashed into a tourist helicopter over the weekend, and hoping to recover the bodies of two remaining victims from the collision that killed nine people.
The divers went into the murky Hudson about 11 a.m. Fifteen minutes later, two divers came up and one gave a thumbs-up to another team member on a second dive boat.
Also on the scene is the 30-ton Moritz, an Army Corps of Engineers vessel that has a small crane.
The Moritz helped search for a missing engine after U.S. Airways Flight 1549 made an emergency landing in the Hudson River in January.
The plane and helicopter collided on Saturday, killing a family from Pennsylvania, five Italian tourists and the helicopter pilot.
Investigators also planned to conduct interviews with controllers at Newark Liberty International Airport to try to piece together the flight route of the small plane into the Hudson river corridor, where it smashed into a tourist helicopter at 1,100 feet Saturday, killing all nine people including five tourists from Italy.
Air traffic control transcripts described Monday indicate a worry-free exchange between controllers at Teterboro, in New Jersey, and the plane’s pilot, Steven Altman, who was told he could pick his flight path toward Ocean City, where he was flying after picking up his brother Daniel Altman and teenage nephew Douglas Altman.
The air traffic controller at Teterboro Airport gave him two choices: Head down the river, or take a southwest tack.
When a Teterboro controller asked the pilot if he wanted to go down the river or head southwest, he responded by saying: “Either.”
“Let me know,” the controller said.
“OK, tell you what,” Altman replied, “I’ll take down the river.”
Hersman said air traffic controllers at Teterboro at some point told Altman to switch radio frequencies so Newark controllers could communicate with him, but Newark never made contact, she said.
All seven of the victims whose bodies were recovered have been positively identified through dental records and fingerprints, the New York medical examiner’s office said. Autopsies found they died from blunt-impact injuries.
The collision at around noon on a sunny Saturday occurred in a congested flyway popular with sightseers. Hersman said an eight-day NTSB survey of the river corridor before the collision had counted about 225 aircraft flying within a 3-mile radius of the collision site each day.
Many of these tour craft fly below 1,100 feet, where pilots are largely free to choose their own routes, radioing their positions periodically but not communicating regularly with air traffic controllers.
The NTSB has issued at least 14 safety recommendations _ 12 for collision avoidance _ for flight in congested areas across the country, and more than 50 for the operation of air tours, Hersman said.
About a half-dozen relatives of the Italians were still in New York waiting to return home with their loved ones’ remains. A group of 10 tourists traveled from Italy, two of them to celebrate a 25th wedding anniversary.
The NTSB has declined to speculate about the cause of the crash. The agency’s investigation is expected to take months.
The helicopter had just taken off from Manhattan’s West Side for a 12-minute tour. Witnesses said the small plane approached the helicopter from behind and clipped it with a wing. Hersman said the helicopter was gaining altitude when the two aircraft collided.
Both aircraft split and fell into the river, scattering debris and sending weekenders enjoying the beautiful day on the New Jersey side of the river running for cover.