An Extraordinary Correction

If you’re keeping up with the mid-air collision between the Cherokee Six and the helicopter (an AS 350) over the Hudson River last Saturday, the investigation has taken an extraordinary turn. On Friday, the NTSB issued a press release that included the following statement:

”The Teterboro tower controller, who was engaged in a phone call at the time, did not advise the pilot of the potential traffic conflicts.“

Taking that quote out of context is quite misleading. To be honest, up until this started showing up in the Press, I wasn’t paying that much attention to the story. The aircraft were operating in a VFR corridor, what could be a controller’s involvement is this ? In addition, out of sheer habit, I try to refrain from comment about ongoing accident investigations. First of all, it’s a good policy and second of all, I never wanted to endanger NATCA’s “party status” in the investigation (back when I represented NATCA.) The NTSB invites “parties” with expertise to participate in investigations. For instance, no one knows more about an engine than the manufacturer. The engine manufacturer is normally invited to join the accident investigation to provide their insight. Part of being a “party” is an agreement to keep your mouth shut. It is a system that has worked very well over the years.

Once again, to be honest, when I first heard the controller was engaged in a “non-business-related phone call“ I figured it was the FAA at work. That would be just like them. I was very surprised to hear that -- most-likely irrelevant information -- from the NTSB.

Fortunately for the controller involved, NATCA was paying attention the whole time. The information has been in front of everyone the entire time but it took NATCA to bring it to everyone’s attention. Again, these are direct quotes from the same NTSB press release:

”At 1152:20 the Teterboro controller instructed the pilot to contact Newark on a frequency of 127.85 ;“

”As the Newark controller was providing the suggested heading to the Teterboro controller, the pilot of the airplane was acknowledging the frequency change to the Teterboro controller. “

”The first radar target for the helicopter was detected by Newark radar at about 1152:27, “

The Teterboro controller instructed the pilot to change frequencies at 1152:20, the pilot of the airplane acknowledged the frequency change and the helicopter in question didn’t show up on radar until 1152:27 -- 7 seconds after the airplane pilot was gone.

I hope it strikes you that all that seems a little fuzzy. How does the Newark controller suggest a heading before the the helicopter even appears on radar ? The simple answer is that he doesn’t. Another quote from the press release:

”As noted above, immediately after the Teterboro tower controller instructed the airplane to contact Newark tower on frequency 127.85, the Newark controller called the Teterboro controller to request that they turn the airplane to a heading of 220 degrees (southwest) and transfer communications on the aircraft.“

I’ve tried to explain how critical seconds become in aviation before and this is just another example. Things happen very quickly and simultaneously. You don’t switch an aircraft to another frequency at “1152:20”. You start to switch one. It takes a couple of seconds. Maybe three or four. A couple of other things can happen in those two seconds. Maybe three or four if you’re unlucky. This is already getting too long so let me move on to the point.

NTSB changes key point in Hudson collision report

”Federal safety officials investigating a midair collision over the Hudson River changed their account of the accident on a key point Monday, saying an air tour helicopter struck by a small plane wasn't initially visible on radar to an air traffic controller handling the plane.

The National Transportation Safety Board had previously said the controller failed to warn the plane's pilot of the potential for a collision with several aircraft in its path, including the helicopter, before handing off responsibility for the plane to another airport. “

As I said on my Facebook page last night, I don’t remember that ever happening before. It is, well, extraordinary. But wait, there’s more.

New twist in Hudson River collision investigation

”The board said in a statement Monday that while the controller at Teterboro failed to warn of several aircraft in the path of the single-engine Piper, the tour helicopter wasn't one of the aircraft on the controller's radar screen until seven seconds after the handoff to nearby Newark Liberty International Airport.

The traffic controller's union had been pushing publicly for NTSB to correct the account, an unusual move that caused NTSB to boot the union from the investigation. “

That’s right, NATCA’s actions to defend a controller -- and set the record straight -- cost them their “party” status. It’s a kind of “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” situation.

There’s no use denying it, this is turning into an awkward situation for all. I hope -- now -- everyone will take a step back, take a deep breath and shut up. My sympathies are obviously with NATCA but I have a tremendous amount of respect for the NTSB. Our relationship is too important to let it be defined by one mistake. So don’t let that happen.

Don Brown
August 18, 2009