Former Greenwich Man ID'd as Hudson River Jumper

Stamford Advocate- The man who committed suicide last week by jumping off a Hudson River bridge was a 1996 graduate of Greenwich High School.

New York State Police say the body subsequently recovered from the river near the Newburgh-Beacon Bridge last weekend was that of 34-year-old Frank D. Rende, most recently of Bridgeport.

Police say Rende jumped from the westbound side of the bridge around 7 p.m. on Sept. 20.

Troopers were called to the bridge for a report of an abandoned vehicle midway across the bridge in the westbound lanes. State police say a pedestrian on the bridge spotted the body floating in the middle of the river Sunday morning. Firefighters from Newburgh recovered Rende's body.

So Sad. And Scary Video.

The exact moment when a tourist helicopter collided with a small plane over the Hudson River Saturday was captured by a tourist on a boat.

WASHINGTON - The air traffic controller at Teterboro Airport was on the phone with his girlfriend during the mid-air collision over the Hudson River.

His supervisor had wandered off and wasn't even in the tower.

Horrified officials called their actions "unacceptable," even though they were not blamed for Saturday's crash.

Both controllers - who were not immediately identified - have been suspended and will likely be fired.

Crash probes by the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration revealed the two controllers seriously deviated from their assignments at the time of the collision.

...."The controller gave Altman two choices of route, and he chose a straight shot down the Hudson.

NTSB chairwoman Debbie Hersman has said the controller told Altman to switch his radio over to the Newark tower - and gave the correct frequency - but Newark never made contact.

The controller was also on a separate line with his girlfriend.

"The handoff was never made," an aviation source said.

Mayor Bloomberg was alarmed by the development.

"If true, this is an unacceptable breach of the trust we put in those who watch the city's sky," he said.

New clues to the crash may be contained in a dramatic tourist video of the tragedy that surfaced Thursday on NBC News.

The footage, taken from a boat on the river, shows Altman desperately trying to lift his left wing to avoid hitting the helicopter.

Meanwhile, the remains of the five Italian tourists were welcomed home to Bologna by a large, emotional crowd of friends, relatives and mourners.

Silvia Rigamonti, who lost her husband and youngest son, threw herself at her husband's casket.

FAA Suspends 2 Air Traffic Controllers Over Hudson Crash

(CNN) -- The Federal Aviation Administration has suspended two air traffic controllers from New Jersey's Teterboro Airport over Saturday's collision of two aircraft over the Hudson that killed nine people, a spokeswoman said Thursday.

The controller handling the flight of a Piper PA-32 Saratoga carrying three people "was involved in apparently inappropriate conversations on the telephone at the time of the accident," spokeswoman Laura Brown said in a written statement.

In addition, "the supervisor was not present in the building as required," she said.

"While we have no reason to believe at this time that these actions contributed to the accident, this kind of conduct is unacceptable and we have placed the employees on administrative leave and have begun disciplinary proceedings," she said.

The National Transportation Safety Board is working with the FAA in investigating the Piper's collision with a sightseeing helicopter.

"These are serious violations of the FAA regulations," said Mary Schiavo, former inspector general for the Transportation Department.

The controller was on the phone with his girlfriend "after he cleared the pilot for takeoff," a source with knowledge of the investigation told CNN. "He was still on the phone at the time of the crash."

Killed aboard the plane were the owner and pilot, Steven Altman, 60, of Ambler, Pennsylvania; his brother, Daniel Altman, 49, of Dresher, Pennsylvania; and Daniel Altman's 16-year-old son, Douglas.

The Piper took off from a Philadelphia-area airfield Saturday morning and landed at New Jersey's Teterboro Airport before taking off again, this time bound for Ocean City, New Jersey.

The NTSB has said the pilot of the small plane was cleared electronically and handed off to Newark, New Jersey, air traffic controllers, a standard procedure.

However, Newark's control tower never got a verbal response from the pilot of the small plane. Controllers lost contact with the plane at 11:53 a.m., when it was at an altitude of about 1,100 feet, the NTSB said.

The controller put on leave was described as a long-time employee, the source said.

He and the supervisor face disciplinary action that could include their firing.

Also Thursday, FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt said the agency may re-issue advisories to pilots using the busy airspace over the Hudson River.

Pilots are urged to use a radio frequency dedicated to traffic in that corridor, to fly no faster than 140 knots, and to turn on their lights as they enter that airspace.

The victims aboard the helicopter were the pilot and five tourists from Bologna, Italy, part of a group of 10 Bologna-area residents who were in New York to help a couple celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary, said Giovanni Castellaneta, Italy's ambassador to the United States.

The celebrating husband and one of the couple's sons were killed in the crash, but the wife skipped the sightseeing flight to go shopping, another son told Italian news media.

The victims from Bologna were Michele Norelli, 51; Norelli's son Filippo Norelli, 16; Fabio Gallazzi, 49; Gallazzi's wife, Tiziana Pedroni, 44; and Gallazzi's son, Giacomo Gallazzi, 15.

Michele Norelli's wife, Silvia Rigamonti, decided to visit New York stores instead of seeing its sights from above, the couple's eldest son, Davide Norelli, told Italian media.

The pilot of the helicopter -- a Eurocopter AS350 -- was Jeremy Clarke, 32. He had worked for Liberty Helicopter Sightseeing Tours for about 1½ years and had logged 2,700 helicopter flight hours, NTSB Chairman Debbie Hersman said.

The helicopter was taking the five Italians on a 12-minute sightseeing tour around New York and had taken off from a heliport in midtown Manhattan shortly before the crash, Hersman said.

Hersman called the area "very complex airspace" near three major airports and a variety of other general aviation facilities.

In an effort to determine just how complex, the Federal Aviation Administration found that, in each of the eight days prior to the crash, an average of 225 aircraft operated at or below 1,100 feet within a 3-mile radius of the accident site, she said. Below that altitude, aircraft can operate under visual flight regulations.

The wreckage of the helicopter was pulled from the Hudson on Sunday, nearly intact. Investigators will focus on radio communications along the air corridor at the time of the crash and will examine any images contributed by the public.

Neither aircraft was required to carry electronic data recorders -- often referred to as "black boxes" -- that record cockpit voices and flight information on larger planes. But electronic navigational devices on board might retain information that could help investigators, Hersman said.

Liberty Helicopter Sightseeing Tours, since 1995, has had eight accidents and one "incident," after which the NTSB made a number of safety recommendations, Hersman said.

"I think the fact that we are here today shows there is a lot of work that still needs to be done," she said.

Saturday's crash was the company's first involving fatalities.

Marcia Horowitz, a spokeswoman for the tour operator, said Liberty executives were working with investigators.

"The company is focusing its efforts on cooperating with the NTSB and giving as much information as it can," Horowitz said. "At this time, their priority is to help with the family of their pilot and, of course, the families that were involved in the accident."

Plane Lifted From Hudson; Final 2 Bodies Recovered

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Divers on Tuesday recovered the bodies of the final two of nine victims of Saturday's collision between a helicopter and small plane over the Hudson River, police said.

"They were inside the wreckage when we pulled it up," said New York Police Department Deputy Commissioner Paul Browne.

Earlier Tuesday, police divers had attached chains and straps to the plane's fuselage and used a crane to lift it from the riverbed 60 feet below the surface.

On Saturday, the Piper PA-32 Saratoga carrying three people collided with a helicopter carrying six people, five of them Italian tourists, killing all nine people aboard both aircraft.

The wreckage of the helicopter, operated by Liberty Helicopter Sightseeing Tours, was lifted Sunday nearly intact from the Hudson.

The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the collision, which occurred shortly after the helicopter took off from a heliport in Midtown Manhattan on what was to have been a 12-minute sightseeing tour around New York.

The Piper took off from New Jersey's Teterboro Airport and was bound for Ocean City, New Jersey. It began its flight Saturday morning at a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania-area airfield.

Helicopter, Plane Collide Over Hudson River

NEW YORK (CNN) -- The search for those aboard a small plane and helicopter that collided Saturday over the Hudson River has become a recovery mission, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said.

Two bodies had been recovered, but it was unclear whether the second was from the crash, which authorities "do not feel was survivable."

Two passengers, including a child, and a pilot were believed to have been aboard the single-engine Piper PA-32 when it collided with the copter around noon between New York and Hoboken, New Jersey, Bloomberg said.

Five Italian tourists and a pilot were believed to be aboard the helicopter, which was operated by Liberty Helicopter Sightseeing Tours, Bloomberg said. iReport.com: See witness photos

Earlier, the Coast Guard reported it had rescued one person from the river.

No immediate information was available on the person rescued by the New York City Fire Department. People at the scene said nothing could be seen floating on the water.

Witness Arnold Stevens said after the plane had a wing sheared off, it began "corkscrewing" into the water. The helicopter "dropped like a rock" after the collision, which happened about noon.

The tour company has confirmed the helicopter was one of its own, FAA spokeswoman Arlene Salac said.

A small plane landed at Teterboro to pick up one passenger late Saturday morning and took off at 11:54 a.m., said Ron Marsico, spokesman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

The travelers filled out a flight plan indicating they were flying from Teterboro Airport in New Jersey to Ocean City, New Jersey, the FAA said.

Ben Berman, formerly with the National Transportation Safety Board, which will investigate the accident, said if the helicopter fell straight down, it's likely there was a rotor failure. iReport.com: Were you there? Send images

Witnesses reported seeing debris flying from the helicopter as it crashed.

Scott Schuman was with his grandparents on the Hoboken side of the river when they heard a loud bang.

"The plane was kind of whirlybirding its way down, brown smoke coming out the back of it, and it crashed into the water. Then a few seconds later the helicopter with debris falling off of it also hit as well," Schuman said.

"It was a scary sight," he added.

He said some of the debris fell in Hoboken, and "we covered our heads."

Asked if he had seen anyone in the water, Schuman replied, "I have not seen anything, but judging by the impact when the plane and the helicopter hit, it would be very unlikely for a positive outcome."

The busy airspace surrounding New York's Manhattan island has been the site of several aeronautical mishaps in recent history.

Earlier this year, a US Airways plane with 155 people on board ditched into the Hudson, apparently after striking at least one bird upon takeoff from New York's LaGuardia Airport, officials said.

Capt. Chesley B. "Sully" Sullenberger's landing, which resulted in no deaths or serious injuries, was captured on closed circuit television.

In 2005, Yankees pitcher Cory Lidle and his flight instructor were killed when the 34-year-old ballplayer's plane crashed into a high-rise apartment building near the East River, city officials said.