morning, looking for victims and wreckage in up to 50 feet of water. the ability to see is very limited. two to three feet at most. reporter: on a bright sunny day it was hard to understand why a small plane and sight seeing helicopter collided over the hudson river. i was very shocked. i was screaming for a few seconds. then two of us, we started calling 911. reporter: the small plane with one pilot and two passengers, including a child, took off from new jersey s teterboro airport. five italian tourists lifted off for a tour in a helicopter. the helicopter headed southbound. that s 11, 1,200 feet. the plane rolled into the helicopter. hit the side it. the helicopter went straight down the water. there was a poof of smoke and bang. the plane went further down. reporter: italian tourists
they won t be beaten easily. one of the things that sticks out in my mind was when we went back now to witness to war in a moment. first we want to take you to hoboken, new jersey a national transportation safety board briefing. of the national transportation safety board. good evening. on behalf of the ntsb, i would like to offer our condolences to all of those who lost loved ones in this tragic midair collision that occurred over the hudson approximately noon today. there were two aircraft involved, the first was a helicopter. it s a eurocopter as-350. the number is november 401, lima hotel, carrying one pilot and five passengers registered to liberty helicopters and it had deported the west 30th street. the second aircraft was a piper saratoga, ta 32r that departed
the work that here to doing this evening. where did the plane take off from originally? the question was, where did the plane take off from originally? the aircraft, i believe, was registered in pennsylvania, but we will have to look and see if we have flight plans, both for the aircraft originated and what the final destination was. again, that is information we believe we can provide to you tomorrow. do you have any information about any distress calls being made? the question, do we have any information about distress calls being made. we have a team right now at teeterboro tower reviewing air traffic control communications and tapes. i ll take one more question. will the divers be back in the water tomorrow? what happens at 7:00 a.m.? will divers back in tomorrow? i was sitting in on a briefing this evening. then plan to get back into the water tomorrow. i think they will be looking closely at some expert
teeterboro. n number november 71 mike charlie. there was a pilot and two passengers. they collided in midair shortly before noon over the hudson river near stevens point. three victims have been recovered, dive operations have been suspended for the evening and they will resume at 7:00 a.m. tomorrow morning. they have located the helicopter. it has been marked with buoys and the site has been secured with authorities who will there be throughout the evening. using side-scanning sonar to locate the airplane and any other wreckage. once that wreckage is pulled up, they will try to do it tomorrow, depending on the current and the circumstances and the
Transcripts for CNN CNN Newsroom 20090809 08:03:00 archive.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from archive.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.