Piper PA-32R-300 accident near Hoboken, NJ
On August 8, 2009, a Piper PA-32R-300 (airplane) was involved in an accident near Hoboken, NJ. 9 people died. Damage to the aircraft: substantial.
- Date
- August 8, 2009
- Place
- Hoboken, NJ
- Aircraft
- Piper PA-32R-300 · Airplane
- Injuries
- 9 fatal, 0 serious, 0 minor
- Damage
- Substantial
- Position
- 40.743°N, 74.022°W
- NTSB ID
- 20090808X42846
Official records · ERA09MA447
- Investigation page: status, final report and safety recommendations
NTSB summary
The Safety Board’s full report is available at http://www.ntsb.gov/publictn/2010/AAR1005.htm The Aircraft Accident Report number is NTSB/AAR-10/05. On August 8, 2009, at 1153:14 eastern daylight time, a Piper PA-32R-300 airplane, N71MC, and a Eurocopter AS350BA helicopter, N401LH, operated by Liberty Helicopters, collided over the Hudson River near Hoboken, New Jersey. The pilot and two passengers aboard the airplane and the pilot and five passengers aboard the helicopter were killed, and both aircraft received substantial damage from the impact. The airplane flight was operating under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 91, and the helicopter flight was operating under the provisions of 14 CFR Parts 135 and 136. No flight plans were filed or were required for either flight, and visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident.
Probable cause
(1) the inherent limitations of the see-and-avoid concept, which made it difficult for the airplane pilot to see the helicopter until the final seconds before the collision, and (2) the Teterboro Airport local controller’s nonpertinent telephone conversation, which distracted him from his air traffic control (ATC) duties, including correcting the airplane pilot’s read back of the Newark Liberty In
From Wikipedia
On August 8, 2009, at 11:53 a.m. (15:53 UTC), nine people died when a tour Eurocopter AS350 Écureuil helicopter and a small private Piper PA-32R airplane collided over the Hudson River near Frank Sinatra Park in Hoboken, New Jersey, United States. The aircraft were in an area known as the "Hudson River VFR Corridor", which extends from the surface of the river to altitudes of 800 to 1,500 ft (240 to 460 m) at various locations along the Hudson River in the immediate area of New York City. Within this corridor, aircraft operate under visual flight rules (VFR), under which the responsibility to see and avoid other air traffic rests with the individual pilots rather than with the air traffic controller (ATC).
Because of the heavy commercial air traffic into Newark, LaGuardia, and Kennedy airports, an air traffic control clearance is required to operate in much of the airspace around the city.
Text from Wikipedia, “2009 Hudson River mid-air collision”, CC BY-SA 4.0; shortened to the introduction. Authors.
More accidents in NJ
- Bell 206L-4, Apr 10, 2025
- Socata TBM 700, Dec 20, 2011
- Cessna T337G, Feb 15, 2010
- Piper PA-28-236, May 31, 2006
- Cirrus Design Corp SR22, Jul 5, 2010
Browse: New Jersey · Piper aircraft
Source: NTSB aviation accident database (US government, public domain). Findings may be preliminary or later revised by the NTSB. Not a complete global record.
