Controller failed to warn pilot before Hudson River crash

— -- The air-traffic controller who was guiding the small plane that collided with a helicopter over the Hudson River last weekend failed to warn the pilot that other aircraft were flying in the area, federal investigators announced Friday.

The National Transportation Safety Board said that other aircraft, including the sightseeing helicopter carrying five Italian tourists that hit the small plane, had been visible on radar shortly before the crash.

The Teterboro controller had been on "a non-business-related phone call" at the time of the crash. The Federal Aviation Administration announced Thursday that it had begun disciplinary proceedings against the controller because such distractions are prohibited.

The supervisor on duty at the Teterboro facility is also under investigation because he or she was not there at the time of the accident, the FAA said. Both the controller and the supervisor are on paid leave.

The announcement by the NTSB raises questions about whether controllers may have some responsibility for the dramatic mid-air over the Hudson that occurred in front of thousands of people on a sunny Saturday. The collision killed three members of a Pennsylvania family in the small plane, the five Italian tourists and the helicopter pilot.

The impact was captured on video by tourists on a boat in the river and broadcast Friday by NBC. It shows the two aircraft converging at an angle. They struck each other with such force that one of the plane's wings was ripped loose.

The NTSB warned in its release that it has not determined who is at fault in the crash and said conclusions "at this time are speculative and premature."

As the plane and the helicopter approached each other at 11:53 a.m., alarm horns that warn when planes get too close began sounding at towers in Teterboro and nearby Newark Liberty International Airport, the NTSB said.

Controllers in both facilities told investigators they did not hear the alert, the NTSB reported.