Phone call about dead cat to blame for the deaths of nine people in Hudson River mid-air collision

UK Daily Mail ^ | September 15, 2010 | Mail Foreign Service

[50mm]

A fatal mid-air collision between a helicopter and a small plane, which resulted in the deaths of nine people, was caused by an air traffic controller talking on his phone about a dead cat, an investigation has found.

A government safety panel said the incident over New York's Hudson River last year occurred after the controller became distracted by the call.

Five Italian tourists were killed on August 8 2009 when their tour helicopter smashed into a light aircraft flying over the city.

The U.S National Transportation Safety Board said the Federal Aviation Administration rules between New York and New Jersey, which rely on pilots to 'see and avoid' other aircraft rather than be actively separated by air traffic controllers, were also to blame for the accident.

Both aircraft involved in last year's accident were equipped with a different kind of technology - traffic monitoring systems - that provide indications of the impeding collision, investigators told the board.

[brytlea]

This is so true. My brother takes his job so seriously I guess it’s hard for me not to picture that they all do, and that’s likely not the case.

[Oztrich Boy]

dead cat to blame for the deaths of nine people in Hudson River mid-air collision

102 Uses for a dead cat