All Feared Dead in Midair Collision on N.Y.'s Hudson River

Aug. 8, 2009 — -- A search for victims of the fatal mid-air collision between a tour helicopter and a small plane on the Hudson River off New York City has been suspended until morning, the NTSB said, with three of nine apparent victims already pulled from the water.

Everyone aboard both aircraft that collided shortly before noon are believed dead, officials said.

"I'm sad to report that at about 12 o'clock this afternoon there was an accident, which we do not believe was survivable," New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg told reporters.

"This is not going to have a happy ending like when the Airbus went down on the river where everybody survived," Bloomberg added, referring to the case in January when a disabled passenger plane landed safely on the Hudson. "In this case, we believe nobody has [survived]."

The helicopter operated by Liberty Tours was carrying a pilot and five Italian tourists, and the plane carried three people, including a child, Bloomberg said.

The plane's pilot was Steve Altman, who was taking his brother David and David's teenaged son to the beach, ABC News Radio reported.

The helicopter occupants were two male teens, three adult men including the pilot, and an adult woman, ABC News station WABC in New York reported.

At least two bodies were pulled from the water by mid-afternoon, and the rest of the passengers were presumed dead, Bloomberg said. A third victim was pullled from the water later before the search was suspended, WABC reported.

The three bodies were believed to be two males from the helicopter and a third male, possibly the child who was on the plane.

Earlier, officials said at least six survivors, perhaps seven, were plucked from the water and were being treated by emergency medical technicians in New York City, but those reports were incorrect, the New York Fire Department later said.

According to the Federal Aviation Administration, the Piper airplane was headed from Teterboro, N.J., to Ocean City, N.J., and the Liberty Tours chopper had just taken off from New York's 30th Street Heliport.

"It would appear that the airplane ran into the back side of the helicopter," Bloomberg said. "But keep in mind with all of these things that, number one, until the National Transportation Safety Board [NTSB] makes the determination, nothing is a fact."

He said an NTSB investigation could take weeks or years.

The NTSB had local investigators on the scene, and also was sending a team to the site from Washington, D.C., that included Chairwoman Debbie Hersman.

"We are going to be looking very closely at air traffic control tapes and information about where those two aircraft were, and any air traffic communications that occurred prior to the collision," Hersman said before departing.

The FAA earlier said the helicopter hit the fixed-wing aircraft near New York's Pier 57.

"I saw a puff of smoke," Alanna Duffy told ABC News Radio after seeing the accident from a New York pier. "And then the helicopter did a couple of twists and turns, and rotors started flying. And then the nose of the helicopter went straight down into the water."

A debris field, including a fuel slick, spread across the Hudson River, much of it toward the New Jersey side. Debris, including a wheel, washed up in New Jersey.