Air Traffic Controller Suspended Over Hudson River Collision

The collision killed a total of nine people, all of the passengers on both aircraft, combined. The plane contained a Pennsylvania family of three and the helicopter held five Italian tourists and a pilot.

Additionally, reports are that the supervisor has been suspended as well. He was not in the tower as required.

However, while labeling these actions as "unacceptable," the FAA did not attribute blame for the accident to them. One thing to note is that many of the tourist aircraft, such as the helicopter involved, fly below 1,100 feet, where pilots radio their positions periodically but do not communicate regularly with air traffic controllers.

In terms of the airplane, however, the pilot who was flying to Ocean City after picking up his brother Daniel Altman and teenage nephew Douglas Altman, picked a downriver flight path, and should have been handed off to the suspended ATC.

A controller told Altman to switch his radio over to the Newark tower, gave him the correct frequency, Newark never made contact.