Raw Home Video of Hudson River Helicopter / Plane Mid-Air Collision Surfaces - Raw Video

Freedom's Lighthouse ^ | August 13, 2009 | BrianinMO

[Federalist Patriot]

Here is raw video of the mid-air collision of a helicopter and a plane over the Hudson River last Saturday, August 8. It was taken by a tourist, and the home video has been aired by WNBC-TV in New York. Nine people perished in the collision. . . . . (Watch Video)

[jwparkerjr]

I have sent the link to the video to my son who is a helicopter pilot for the sheriff's office in Naples, FL. He also flies their fixed wing and is a rotary wing instructor for the helicopter school on the airport. He's also an instructor on the use of the high quality night vision goggles, the ones that cost many thousands of dollars per unit. I wouldn't thought it, but it takes a fair amount of experience with those things to be really proficient with those guys. He works nights and a lot of their operations are over the very sparsely populated areas of the Everglades and along the SW coast of Florida.

I told him I had an opinion as to who was more at fault but that I wanted to hear his take on it before I told him.

I'll be interested to hear what he has to say. Probably won't hear from him until tomorrow, he's off today.

He flies the EMS version of the helicopter that was in the midair, I think. The sheriff's office and the EMS system share pilots since they are expensive and can be difficult to find, especially pilots that are also certified LEO’s in the state.

He has the BEST job in all the world!

[USNBandit]

Does it require that both aircraft have the system for it to work?

It doesn't require both aircraft to have the system, but the traffic has to have a mode C transponder.

We jokingly call it the fish finder because it isn't always that accurate in bearing, but is pretty good in altitude. The aircraft I fly have it piped into the nav systems so it gets displayed on the moving map. A couple of our aircraft have piped into a Garmin 530. Not that high end. I usually see the guys pop up on the scope well outside of 10 miles and the screen goes to traffic only and verbal warnings around a mile.

Personally the scariest things I've seen in aviation is when you find yourself in glider country. They fly at pretty high altitudes, despite their wing span they are often hard to see, and they usually aren't talking to anybody to conserve battery power. There was a corporate jet flying on an IFR flight plan into Reno a couple years ago that got T bones over Minden by a sail plane. The glider pilot was doing vertical maneuvers right in the approach corridor. He got out with a chute. The jet landed at Carson City gear up with a serious injury to one of the pilots. Passengers were okay.

[knarf]

Thanks .. the FR network is amazing.

I'll be very interested in hearing his take, also.

[TChad]

I have sent the link to the video to my son who is a helicopter pilot for the sheriff's office in Naples, FL.

His response should be interesting.

[Ramius]

Pilot stuff ping.

I watched the video a few times, and there’s a few things that just aren’t clear to me, even seeing the video. I can’t quite tell who was overtaking whom. It appears to me that the helo was rising up beneath the fixed wing... but I can’t quite make out whether he came from behind or whether he rose up in front of the fixed wing.

It looks like maybe the helo was rising up under the fixed, with the fixed overtaking (or crossing?) high and behind the helo’s right shoulder. The helo pilot would be in the left seat... so it’s a bad blind spot for him. The fixed wing pilot only caught the glimpse of the helo rising under him at the (too late) last second.

My gut tells me that of course if either one had seen the other with enough time to react the crash wouldn’t have happened. I wonder if it isn’t a combination of blind spots, that in a stroke of really bad luck joined to make a crash.

[USNBandit]

the use of the high quality night vision goggles, the ones that cost many thousands of dollars per unit.

The first goggles I flew on were called catseyes and were designed for the F-15E. I was in the Navy and we got them as hand me downs. They were replaced in the late 90's by the ANVIS-9. The ANVIS were 1/3 the price of the catseyes, had a 50% larger field of view and 5 times the amplification.

[USNBandit]

Would the helo pilot be in the left seat? I ride in AS350’s in a law enforcement configuration and the pilot is in the right seat. I’ve never been in a tourist configured ASTAR.

[Ramius]

I dunno... I thought the PIC was always in the left seat. If that’s wrong, then it’s wrong.

[jwparkerjr]

We have a very active sky diving center just north of us. They jump from 10,000 feet or higher and although it’s out of the way of busy sky it’s still really scary to see 8 or 10 of them come out of nowhere! Haven’t seen a mode-c for jumpers yet? Wonder what they would squawk? Even though the sky’s crowded THERE, they are jumping at an altitude that puts them in the airspace used by the big guys going into TIA. There are five controlled airports within 30 miles of the drop center.