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Small Plane and Helicopter Collide Over the Hudson River

Aired August 08, 2009 - 14:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Just to recap, happening right now, for the second time this year we have an air emergency in New York's Hudson River. Rescue efforts are under way right now after a reported collision of a helicopter and a small plane.

And it happened just after noon today. Six people reportedly were on board the chopper which belongs to a local sightseeing company called Liberty Tours. And according to the U.S. coast guard only one person has been recovered so far.

Here's what other eyewitnesses are telling us.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALANNA DUFFY, CRASH WITNESS, (via telephone): I did not see the collision. I looked up into the sky and I saw a plume of smoke. I saw a helicopter twirling through the air. And the rotors were removed. There were pieces and shards of the helicopter flying around.

And then the actual body of the helicopter turned and made a nose-dive straight down while there were still parts of the rotor floating above it.

SCOTT SCHUMAN, EYEWITNESS (via telephone): We were actually walking and we heard the loud bang and saw both the plane and helicopter go into the water.

WHITFIELD: And then what?

SCHUMAN: Well, I mean we saw the plane, lost its wing and whirly birding its way down, brown smoke coming out of the back of it. It crashed into the water, and then a few second later the helicopter with debris flying off of it also hit as well.

And it was just a matter of minutes before we saw a number of different boats rushing to the scene. We saw a little debris falling in Hoboken (ph) right up the street in front of us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right. That was the account of many eyewitnesses who saw this happening right there at the Hudson River, a midair collision between a helicopter, which is a tourist helicopter, which it is believed at least six people may have been on board, and a small aircraft that we also understand took off from the Teterboro Airport, which is a reliever airport there in New Jersey. A lot of small aircraft fly in and out of that airport.

Susan Candiotti is live from lower Manhattan. You described earlier, Susan, just the location of this point, the focal point for the search-and-rescue mission, not far from Liberty Island, the Statue of Liberty. And it also means it has attracted a huge crowd. What are you seeing?

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Fredericka, I have a poor connection with you, but let me try to pick it up best I can.

We're standing alongside the Hudson River, lower Manhattan, Hoboken, New Jersey on the other side. And within our site is Statue of Liberty at the end of lower Manhattan.

The activity we're seeing now involved helicopters flying overhead. I counted at least five or six boats, mainly from the Fire Department of New York. I know the U.S. Coast Guard has one near or on the scene here. Other aspects, New York City Police Department also assisting in this operation.

As they are circling the area of this midair collision where a small plane, according to authorities, appears to have taken off from Teterboro Airport, a small private airport in New Jersey, and struck a helicopter in midair before both crashed into the Hudson River.

We are hearing reports of at least one person who has been rescued, possibly more. At this time we have heard from eyewitnesses who talk about seeing debris fall from the plane and the blades of the helicopters as both fell into the water shortly after this collision took place at about noontime today.

In the meantime, we are however now seeing other traffic going up and down the Hudson River, including some barges that are being towed and small boats as well, very few of those however, but mainly commercial traffic at this time.

So the rescue operation or recovery operation is, of course, well underway here as authorities try to figure out, of course, how this happened.

All we had heard is that after the small plane took off from Teterboro Airport just before noontime, that the control tower lost radar contact and radio contact with it.

Of course, we are in touch with the FAA would be investigating, as well as the National Transportation Safety Board to try to figure out exactly what happen.

The helicopter, as you had heard, is a touring helicopter. Those are frequently used around Manhattan, of course, to tour the island and various sites, with at least six people on board according to the New York City Police Department -- Fredericka?

WHITFIELD: All right, Susan Candiotti, thanks so much from lower Manhattan. And we did have some images, via broadband, actually, upper left hand part of the screen there. That is midtown -- on the west side highway. That's actually the heliport where the Liberty Tour helicopters take off and land.

So you are seeing right there, there are some helicopters there. And you see the police presence. And clearly there have been a lot of people who are passer-by whose now know and have learned that the helicopter involved in that midair collision with the small aircraft originates from there.

Dan Berman from the NTSB, National Traffic Safety Board, he's an investigator. He is with us right now as well.

So, Mr. Berman, we are hearing eyewitnesses say everything from both the helicopter and the plane traveling southbound, somehow a wing was sheered, and then the two aircraft intertwined and then corkscrewed right into the Hudson River. Is this about what you have learned in the early stages of your investigation?

BEN BERMAN, FORMER NTSB INVESTIGATOR (via telephone): Hello?

WHITFIELD: Dan Berman, are you with me?

BERMAN: I'm sorry, this is Ben Berman. Go ahead.

WHITFIELD: OK, Ben Berman, I'm sorry.

OK, so, once again, we are hearing a lot of different things from eyewitnesses about how these two aircraft were both traveling southbound, then somehow a wing was sheared off the small aircraft, they became intertwined and then simply descended into the Hudson River.

Is that about what you are learning?

BERMAN: Well from what the eyewitnesses are reporting, it sounds like with the aircraft corkscrewing that does suggest the possibility that the wing was sheared off the aircraft, or one wing.

Of course with the helicopter going straight down, that would suggest possibly the rotor of the helicopter, the main rotor made have contacted with the wing of the aircraft, and it's a rotor failure.

So the NTSB is going to investigate. They will eventually find the significant parts of this aircraft and be able to track down the pattern of failure, and they'll use radar tracks to see how the aircraft probably also managed to come together as well.

But right now that is what it looks like.

WHITFIELD: And, of course, first priority is trying to get to any potential survivors. Is the NTSB in any way involved in that, or do you donate some resources in that effort as well?

BERMAN: The NTSB will take over after the search rescue and recovery operation is complete. So right now the top priority is to rescue anybody who has survived the accident and may be injured or may be ready to be rescued.

After that, they will be -- continue to search for any victims of the crash. And the NTSB will move in to look for wreckage and piece it together.

WHITFIELD: What is your understanding where the search-and- rescue stands right now? We know the U.S. Coast Guard is confirming that one person has actually been rescued. Do you know anything about the condition of that person?

BERMAN: I don't at this time. One hopes that they'll be able to rescue some other folks. But if the reports are correct that there is nothing left on the surface, that will become less and less of a likelihood as time goes on.

WHITFIELD: Yes, we heard from an eyewitness earlier, Alanna Duffy, who said nothing was buoyant. How deep is the Hudson River at this point?

BERMAN: I don't know, but plenty of depth to be well below the surface at this point.

WHITFIELD: Ben Berman of the NTSB, thanks so much, appreciate that. The bulk of their investigation beginning as he said after the search-and-rescue mission because that indeed is top priority.

Again, U.S. Coast Guard saying one person has been pulled from the water, but we don't know the condition of that person, and they continue to search for others. We know at least six people may have been on board that tourist helicopter which collided with the small aircraft, which we now understand may have originated from a small company in Philadelphia.

(WEATHER BREAK)

WHITFIELD: We have been hearing from eyewitnesses all in different forms, whether it be those who were in hotels that were nearby, or those who were also walking.

People are sending their iReports, and they're also twittering information. Josh Levs will be joining us to share on that front.

And Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York, also he is to hold a press conference momentarily. We'll take you there live as it happens. Much more straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Welcome back to our live coverage now. Search-and- rescue mission underway in the Hudson River.

A midair collision taking place between a tourist helicopter and small plane. We understand that the two aircraft were both flying southbound according to eyewitness accounts and somehow collided into one another, sheared the wing of the aircraft.

And we talked to the NTSB, an investigator, who said that likely the way the helicopter just simply fell into the water, a rotor then fell off.

And we understand that six people may have been on board the tourist helicopter. It belongs to Liberty Tours, which takes off out of midtown Manhattan, often uses this route as very familiar to it.

And we also understand that the small aircraft may have taken off from Teterboro, New Jersey's airport, which is a seater (ph) airport in the area.

We have been hearing from eyewitnesses who actually saw all this happen. You can see it's a beautiful day there in Manhattan.

David Thompson is an eyewitness. He is with us right now. And you also snapped off a photograph of the scene. What did you experience? What did you hear and see?

DAVID THOMPSON, CRASH WITNESS (via telephone): Yes, ma'am. Well, I was on a boat tour in the Hudson and was talking with my aunt, and turned around after I heard a pop and saw the blade fly off from the helicopter and both of the two aircrafts mangled in amongst each other, and then just descending down into the river. So it was very intense.

WHITFIELD: You were on a tour boat in the area. Immediately, did it reroute itself? What happened in those moments?

THOMPSON: We actually were on a (inaudible) tour, and we joined the search-and-rescue time. The photo that I sent in on iReports was of the NYPD rescue helicopter that came out about ten minutes later. We joined about ten other boats and circled the area in the Hudson.

WHITFIELD: And what did you see in that time?

THOMPSON: There was plenty of debris. Just little -- looked like different parts from both of the aircraft just floating there right outside of our boat. We didn't see any people. I think there was a diver that went in as well. That was what was reported.

We were actually taken back into the boat. We weren't allowed on the deck.

WHITFIELD: When your boat then joined ten other boats. At the time you hearing the pop of sound and taking the picture as we see in the upper left hand corner of the NYDP helicopter, what's the proximity? About how far a distance were you from the actual crash site?

THOMPSON: We were only about 200 yards from the actual crash site. So when I turned around and looked up in the sky, both of the aircraft were about, I'd say, 200 yards, and they were about 75 feet to 100 feet in the air. So it was pretty close by. So we were...

WHITFIELD: Sorry, go ahead.

THOMPSON: We were able to get to the site within a minute once we started sailing again.

WHITFIELD: So you were able to see pretty clearly. You mentioned the debris on the water's surface, small pieces of debris, nothing that seemed to you to represent a tail or a fuselage or anything significant of either one of the aircraft?

THOMPSON: No. Uh-uh. All of the major elements were completely submerged from what I could see from my vantage point. Just different, like, propellers and, it just looked like the end of a car crash, kind of like different pieces, just, just floating there on the top of the water.

WHITFIELD: Are you from the area? Or were you visiting?

THOMPSON: No, I was visiting. Yes, my it's birthday today. I'm from Boone, North Carolina. I was just in the area with a family reunion. Yes, ma'am.

WHITFIELD: All right, David Thompson. Thanks so much for your account of what took place. And thanks for sharing that photograph of what you saw.

The emergency response kicking into high gear. Within minutes, say so many eye witnesses, it happened so quickly that midair collision, and so quickly so many different agencies were there -- U.S. Coast Guard, New York City Fired Department, New York Police Department, NTSB, as we just heard from an investigator also on the scene right now as well, all trying to find more survivors.

That the top priority. Even though the U.S. Coast Guard says one person has been rescued, we don't know the condition of the person. Still, the search a very intense search underway to try to find any other persons before they are able to get to the bottom of exactly what happened.

Josh Levs is joining us right now as well. Josh, you have been hearing from people in a lot of different forms and fashion, and you've also been doing a lot of digging to try to help us understand what exactly has taken place here.

JOSH LEVS, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Absolutely. Fred, we're hearing from people every which way there is.

Let me show you something that is interesting here. This is a Web site called "Mashable," which follows YouTube and Facebook and Twitter. We can zoom in right here. I want you to see what they have up right now.

They're talking about this case. They're pointing out there are some people. One guy sent out a picture via twitter claiming that this tire fell right in front of his car, and he believes it was connected into one of the planes.

WHITFIELD: And where was that person located?

LEVS: He was in the Hoboken area. Geographically it would make sense. But you know there's a lot of questions immediately.

This is what happens on Twitter. Check this out. See this list here, top topics on Twitter. You can see right now -- "Hudson River" is one of the top ones. "Helicopter." So there are a lot of people weighing in. Look for these key words. What you see is a lot of people exchanging information, sending links.

One thing we have -- we have spoken to these people ourselves, a series of iReports. These are people who are at the scene. We called them, talked to them. We know what they are seeing.

And you talked to one of them. What we are seeing here is from Jim Davidson. He has a series of photos. I will show you a few here that show what is going on on the scene right now with the authorities gathering together and looking out there.

He says crowds have been gathering there. He also says that he was able to hear what he knows what was the crash because he was close enough to it at the time.

I am thinking we can take some of these full in the control room. You can see some of the photos that he sent in.

We do encourage everyone to send what you have got, iReport, Facebook or Twitter. Send us the photos, videos, stories, let us know what it is you're seeing. This is actually a guy you were just talking to. You can see more of your pictures as well.

WHITFIELD: David Thompson.

LEVS: Yes, David. We were showing you this just minutes ago. And then you talked with him on the phone.

There are a lot of people in the area who have been snapping photos. If you're able to give us a description, let us know what it is your seeing. Keep it coming here.

And also we have our own twitter and Facebook pages going. Mine is easy. It's JoshlevsCNN. Want to talk to you. What you are seeing and confirm it.

So, Fred, I will stand here, keep making lots of phone calls.

WHITFIELD: And Josh, it's important really because, really, a good bulk of our information is coming from eyewitnesses. This happened just after the noon eastern hour, fairly high traffic, people out enjoying their Saturday.

They're walking by, or, as we heard from David Thompson, he was actually on a tour boat there in the Hudson. He was with family celebrating his birthday. And then he heard the loud pop, and then saw, as he described, the blade actually come off the chopper there. Again we understand this midair collision taking place between a tourist helicopter, maybe six people on board, it usually takes off and land out of the midtown Manhattan area. and then we understand a small aircraft which may have taken off from the Teterboro, New Jersey airport, with is a feeder airport there in the tri-borough, tri-state area. Much more straight ahead.

And also we are awaiting a press conference from New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. When that happens momentarily we will bring that to you live.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Welcome back. I am Fredricka Whitfield in Atlanta.

You're looking at live pictures on the right-hand side of your screen. That will be the location where New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg will take to the podium there to talk about this midair collision taking place just off lower Manhattan there in the Hudson River.

A collision between a tourist helicopter where at least six people may have been on board. It is tied to the Liberty Tours Service, which operate out of midtown, Manhattan.

And a collision with a small aircraft which is believed to have taken off from the Teterboro, New Jersey feeder airport, a small airport that is usually used by commercial, small private aircraft, and we understand that that plane just might have originated from a company out of Philadelphia.

In the meantime, the two collided. Eyewitnesses saw it on a beautiful day just after noontime. And now the FAA, according to the Associated Press, is reporting that there were three people on board the airplane that collided with that tourist helicopter.

The U.S. Coast Guard is reporting that one person was rescued. We don't know the condition of that person, however. But an intense search-and-rescue mission is underway to locate any one else who may have been involved in this collision.

As we await Mayor Bloomberg to take the podium there and update us as best we can, we will continue to talk to eyewitnesses who saw a lot of what has transpired there over the last couple hours.

Arnold Stevens was at the W hotel, which is very close to where this collision took place. He happened to be on his balcony, enjoying the view there. And he is back with us to give us an idea of what happened when you heard what you described earlier as a loud crashing sound and these two colliding.

ARNOLD STEVENS, CRASH WITNESS (via telephone): Yes, that's right. I heard a loud crash. I heard people who were, you know, jogging and bicycling along the river scream.

I turned and I saw both the plane corkscrew, very quickly descending into the river, maybe 100 yards away. The helicopter dropped right into the water.

It happened all very, very quickly. It was very surreal. You didn't know at the instant whether it was some sort of put-on or whether it was, you know, truly an accident. But it became apparent very, very quickly that it was something tragic.

Immediately on the scene, all surrounding boats, I'm presuming private and commercial, to the area very, very quickly. And probably within six or seven minutes -- I would say the accident happened around noon -- maybe a couple minutes after noon, a few minutes later, there were professional NYPD or Coast Guard boats on the scene.

WHITFIELD: Lots of agencies involved. The U.S. Coast Guard, New York Police Department as you mentioned, New York Fire Department, as well as the FAA now investigating, as well as the NTSB.

We spoke with an investigator, Arnold, with the NTSB earlier. And I described for him exactly what you described to us about one of the wings being sheared off and that helicopter simply dropping like a rock. And he said based on that description it sounds as though the rotor of the helicopter came off. That explains why it dropped down so quickly.

And other eyewitness accounts were that these two aircraft were actually both traveling southbound, and that perhaps somehow a visibility problem occurs, maybe with one of the aircraft, when they could be flying so close to one another and simply not be able to see each other.

Were you able to notice whether it appeared they were flying in the same direction?

STEVENS: I wasn't able to see whether they were flying in the same direction.

But, it's almost crystal clear day here. I have a hard time believing two planes or two helicopters or plane and helicopter couldn't see each other flying. It's really a rather gorgeous day here on the river.

WHITFIELD: The top priority is the search-and-rescue mission. The NTSB also says it is going to look into what exactly happened after the search and rescue has been completed.

We understand now, according to the FAA, just to reiterate, if you are just joining us, three people may have been on the fixed wing aircraft, which we are hearing described as a Piper PA-32. It may have originated from a company out of Philadelphia.

But it is understood that a plane meeting the same kind of description did take off from Teterboro, New Jersey airport, and simply lost contact with control tower there.

And this small -- and this helicopter, which six people may have been on board, actually originates from a midtown Manhattan company called Liberty Tours. On this day, Arnold, a beautiful day as you described it, did it appear as though there was a lot of aircraft activity taking place right there outside of the Hudson? Did you happen to notice that before this collision were to take place?

STEVENS: Yes, certainly. There seemed to be a normal amount of air traffic. Typically you can always look up around here and see the occasional helicopter and, of course, we're near two or three major airports.

So there is always a good amount of air traffic. But certainly didn't seem to be anything out of the ordinary. It really seemed to be just a perfectly ordinary, sunny, beautiful day.

WHITFIELD: One person was rescued according to the U.S. Coast Guard. From your purview, were you able to see anything that resembled a rescue mission or anything like that?

STEVENS: Yes, I did.

About six or seven minutes after the collision I saw a helicopter come in rapidly, descend probably, I'm guessing 30 feet maybe above the water.

Two people in what appeared to be scuba gear descended from the helicopter into the water. I was unable to see any sort of rescue or any, any, anyone being rescued put back into the -- into the helicopter. But I definitely did see two scuba-geared people jump into the water.

WHITFIELD: And we do understand that New York Police Department has provided the divers involved in this search-and-rescue mission.

And right now at the upper left hand corner of your screen you are seeing the midtown heliport where Liberty Tours operates. You are seeing kind of grainy video here. But this is the location where the helicopters with the Liberty Tours, a very popular tourist sightseeing business, operate out of.

And we are also waiting, any minute now, Mayor Michael Bloomberg to take to the microphones there, not necessarily that location, but there in lower Manhattan to address this midair collision that has taken place.

Arnold Stevens, thank you so much for being with us and recounting all that you have seen thus far.

We'll be right back with much more straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Hello, I'm Fredricka Whitfield in Atlanta.

In the New York-New Jersey area a sizable investigation underway. A search-and-rescue mission is underway to look for any survivors of a midair collision between a tourist helicopter and a small aircraft. CNN is confirming that on board the small aircraft three people on their way to Ocean City, New Jersey. We also have received confirmation from the Liberty Tours group that it was their helicopter involved in this midair collision. At least six people may have been onboard that aircraft.

Now, we also understand from the U.S. Coast Guard that one person has actually been rescued, but it is unclear the condition of that person. The search-and-rescue still underway to find any other survivors in this collision taking place just after noontime today.

So many eyewitness accounts have been flooding in to us here at CNN, sharing their views of exactly what they heard, what they saw, and how the search is underway.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York will be holding a press conference momentarily. When that happens we'll be able to bring that to you live.

Earlier we spoke with a retired commercial pilot, John Wiley. And this was his account of all that has taken place thus far.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN WILEY, RETIRED COMMERCIAL PILOT (via telephone): Any day that ends in the letter "y" is going to be a busy day in the New York corridor. It's doesn't matter if it's Monday or it's Saturday.

You have a lot of traffic that's going into the reliever airports. You have Newark, you have Teterboro, which is used by aviation and business jets. There are numerous other small airports.

This corridor going up the East River, at one time there was a proposal to close the corridor. There have been acts to lower the envelope so that, previously, I think airplanes were allowed to fly as high as 3,000 feet up and down the corridor. It's very obviously a picturesque area you can see a lot of the New York area in.

But the problem that you have got is that almost in any vehicle that you are in, airplane or helicopter, you are going to have certain blind spots.

And from the information that I received in just a little bit of time I have done the research on this, it appears that both vehicles were moving in the same direction. So a possible overtake could have created a blind spot for one of the vehicles not to see the other.

WHITFIELD: Yes, one eyewitness says they were both flying southbound.

WILEY: Well. Anything that is under your nose of the aircraft is going to be invisible to you. And you are not going to be doing that much maneuvering left and right or banking because you have a relatively narrow corridor that you have to stay within.

So people are probably going to be looking at the skyline of New York. I imagine it's a beautiful day up there from the video that I have seen of it. And then you have two airplanes in proximity, which just doesn't work.

WHITFIELD: And we hear from our meteorologist, Jacqui Jeras, that it is a clear day, weather not likely a factor here.

Of course, when Jackie is available, we will be able to get perhaps kind of the wind speed or weather, sometimes wind may be a factor in investigations of aviation accidents such as this.

We are learning a little bit more about the aircraft. John, real quickly, Piper PA-32, what can you tell me about that?

WILEY: I'll look in my dossier and figure exactly out what a 32 is. I imagine it's a small single engine aircraft. But my aviation buddies will hammer me if I get it wrong, so I will just defer.

But a great day no doubt if they came out of Teterboro, they're going to be up having a great day looking out. The fortunate thing, if there is a fortunate thing about this, is that we do have one survivor who is going to be better than any cockpit voice recorder...

WHITFIELD: Which is pretty extraordinary.

And John, we're looking at an image now of a Piper PA-32. I'm pretty much a novice on aircraft. I'm not really sure what it would mean this type of aircraft, besides the fact that it is a very small one. Your estimation on how many people might be aboard a PA-32?

WILEY: Again, hang on for just a second...

WHITFIELD: You need a little time. I will give you time to look that up, John, because...

WILEY: PA-32. I'm looking at it now. PA-32, possibly four people on board. You have some extra windows back there -- maybe as many as six.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right that was retired commercial pilot John Wiley. We since learned now and have gotten confirmation onboard that aircraft that is very similar to the one that you saw, that Piper PA- 32, three people were on board, and they were on their way to Ocean City, New Jersey.

That plane had just taken off shortly before impacting with that helicopter that had taken off from the Teterboro airport.

All right, a former D.C. police detective and CNN Security Analyst Mike Brooks is joining us on the phone right now. Lots of agencies involved in this investigation right now, Mike, everyone from New York Police Department, fire, as well as NTSB, FAA, U.S. Coast Guard.

Give me an idea how all the agencies will cooperate in an investigation of this size?

MIKE BROOKS, CNN SECURITY ANALYST (via telephone): The initial response, New York City has a very, very robust plan for water rescue and water response plans. We saw this go into effect during the U.S. Airways crash.

And we heard from some of the iReporters about the New York City aviation unit dropping a diver into the water. They have a plan where they can go pick up an officer from the emergency services unit who is also a diver. And they are usually some of the first on the scene. Right now, after talking to my fire department and law enforcement, NYPD ESU sources, they're telling me right now that the fire department has five marine units on the scene. The police department has numerous boats from their harbor unit. An all the divers who are in the water right now are NYPD divers from the emergency services unit.

What they're doing right now, Fred, all the agencies, FDNY, NYPD, and Coast Guard are conducting a grid search of the area. And what they will do is put together a plan at command center, and they will go back and forth using a grid.

And also, one of the things you have to take into consideration are the tides and also the speed of the river. Some of that, some of the debris could be washed down shore as we saw during the U.S. Airways flight recovery. So all these things taken into consideration.

And then on the other side there is an investigation going on with the NYPD and New Jersey units and New Jersey authorities as well as the NTSB on exactly what happened.

They're going to go back and take a look at the radar tapes, most likely out of Teterboro, and also LaGuardia to see what was the exact flight of this general aviation plane that took off from Teterboro airport, and also, what was the exact flight of this helicopter.

Most aviation -- aviation agencies, whether it be small planes like this Piper, or the helicopter, that are below 1,500 feet, they're usually on visual flight plans, if you will. And we heard our commercial pilot, John Wiley, talking about possibly one aircraft overtaking the other and possible blind spots. These are all things they will talk to witnesses what they saw and what they heard.

But a lot of it, Fred is going to come done to the radar tapes and the one survivor that we are hearing from either the helicopter or that aircraft, because the helicopter and the general aviation Piper do not have any cockpit voice recorders or any of the black boxes like commercial aviation does.

So we're not going to know a whole lot except for the witnesses and the people onboard.

WHITFIELD: Wow, that's fascinating stuff. Also fascinating too is the fact that eyewitnesses said they saw these two aircraft going in the same direction. That whole blind spot issue that John Wiley brought to our attention is quite fascinating.

You have been looking at some still images coming in from various iReporters, eyewitnesses. You have also seen helicopters in some of the shots.

This is not the actual helicopter involved in the collision. These are actually search helicopters that are involved here.

So, Mike, you have given us an idea of the various resources being used here, cooperation on the federal level, as well as the New York and the New Jersey areas there. They're all focusing on trying to get to any potential survivors.

But give me an idea how that is also, it's also very complicated, the investigative side of this search, what happened. They can't overlook various factors while they're looking for potential survivors. How do they strike a balance?

BROOKS: Well you have two things going on right now, Fred. You have got the search-and-rescue effort by police, fire, and EMS in New York and New Jersey. And then you have the investigative side.

One of the things that came into play during the investigation of the U.S. Airways flight was in fact some of the security cameras along the river there, along the river.

So I can guarantee you that detectives from NYPD and also on the New Jersey side, Hoboken, Jersey City, they're going around to some of the buildings that may have surveillance cameras that show the river, and that will help them piece together a timeline of exactly when and where all of these things happened.

And that also will help them determine where do we start our search? Where exactly did the two planes, the helicopter and the plane, go down? You know, did one hit the water maybe north or south or east or west?

And that will help them determine exactly where they're going to do their grid search, if, in fact, the water flowing southward of the Hudson as the river flows, exactly where some of the pieces of debris may be.

BROOKS: Fascinating.

And this is a very busy portion of the Hudson. Every portion of the Hudson is very busy but this is very busy thoroughfare. And as the days go on, they're still going to need to be searching for debris, for pieces of the wreckage.

So do you suspect they will close the thoroughfare quite some time, redirecting? How do they protect this area?

BROOKS: Will they go ahead and put for general aviation they will put restricted airspace on this area to keep any onlookers in their own, own planes, helicopters.

And also, you know, some of the tourist helicopters and business helicopters that go up and down the Hudson on a regular basis, that will all be basically restricted to search-and-rescue.

And on the other side they will go ahead and the Coast Guard will probably go ahead and cut off any kind of commerce boats or anything on Hudson until they determine what kind of search pattern they're going to do and how long they're going to go ahead and have the search-and-recovery, or if this is going to turn into a recovery stage, if you will, of the operation.

But right now, authorities are still considering it a search- and-rescue phase stage for this crash.

WHITFIELD: Mike Brooks, thanks so much, CNN security analyst and also a former D.C. police detective. Thanks for joining us, appreciate that.

We continue to watch the developments here. The search-and- rescue mission there on the Hudson River just between lower Manhattan and Hoboken, New Jersey, a midair collision between a tourist helicopter. It's believed six people may have been on board, and a small aircraft which we now have confirmed had three people onboard. They had just taken off from Teterboro, New Jersey airport on their way to Ocean City, New Jersey.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York will be holding a press conference momentarily. When that happens we'll take that live. We're going to take a short break right now.

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WHITFIELD: All right, this breaking story.

We're awaiting a press conference form the New York mayor, Michal Bloomberg. After this midair collision taking place over the Hudson river almost three hours ago, now, really more than 2.5 hours ago.

A tourist helicopter with six people possibly on board colliding with a small aircraft that took off just minutes earlier from the Teterboro airport in New Jersey, a confirmation of three people on board.

We continue to await newest developments on the search-and-rescue mission taking place there in Hudson River.

Josh Levs is also keeping a close tab on what has been taking place. You've been hearing from a number of eyewitnesses on so many different levels with different accounts of what has happened.

JOSH LEVS, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Fred, minutes ago I said I spotted on Mashable.com, a twit-pic of part of a tire someone says fell in front of the car. It is his story, and he is joining us right now. Jason Miller, you with us?

JASON MILLER FOUND TIRE IN YARD(via telephone): Yes, I'm here.

LEVS: Jason talk to me about this. I will show everyone this picture. You say this fell right front of your car. Where were you, and what happened?

MILLER: I was driving out of Wehawk (ph) in New Jersey, into Hoboken. And I turned on to Sinatra Drive which runs out to the Hudson.

LEVS: I pulled up a picture of that so people can know where you were. You have the Hudson right here. Then just to the west of that where the A is, that is Sinatra Drive. So geographically it does makes sense and you would have been right near this.

So you hear something? What happened?

MILLER: Yes, I heard a back -- I actually though I may have hit something on my car. Next thing I know my girlfriend and I saw a whole bunch of debris falling out of the sky and a big splash in the Hudson.

And about, I would say, maybe 20 feet in front of me, maybe closer, may a little bit farther, the tire actually fell on the roadway in front of our car.

LEVS: I can't tell from the picture. Am I just seeing the rubber casing for a tire or is it actual tire material in there? Tire is rubber casing 00 is it just the exterior or was it solid what fell?

MILLER: It looks like it was just the exterior. I didn't see the rim or anything inside of it.

LEVS: This fell right in front. And this could have hit your car?

MILLER: It could have, yes.

LEVS: It must have had some velocity coming from the skies.

As I understand, looking at your twitter page, you have since looked at some images, and you do believe you saw there were three tires still attached to the plane. So you have extra reason to believe this was from the crash?

MILLER: Yes, that type of aircraft pretty much has that same tire. So I do have reason to believe it is.

And I saw the wing spiraling down, and maybe the wing may have hit something and shot it my way. But there was a debris.

LEVS: We have also been getting iReport photos. Jason, you have been in the area, what are you seeing? What's it like? What did it sound like when you were there?

MILLER: Yes, you know we had Jersey City cops, Hoboken, fire and rescue, people on the New York side, all converging on the site. They have since shut down the main road.

I actually ended up leaving. And it was just a lot of people looked very scared and looking at the sky and running. And I don't think anybody really knew what happened.

There was one cop that was next to me and I think he was probably one of the first to call it in. And he didn't really see it either. Not too many people saw it. I didn't even see the plane, just the wing and tire.

LEVS: But you heard a sound and you knew to look in the area.

And I want to emphasize, the tire that we are looking at is not from the helicopter at all. That's not what we are talking about. We're talking about the plane.

MILLER: Yes. It appears it would be to the plane, the plane that wrecked.

LEVS: Yes, I wanted to emphasize that. The images you were able to see later were from the plane and that's why you felt indeed it was from there.

So you are in this area. Has anything like this ever happened to you before? Have you ever seen anything like this?

MILLER: No. I am grateful I have never have seen anything like this before. And hopefully, hopefully, they do find more survivors.

LEVS: Yes, of course. And obviously a lot of people must be very concerned in the area.

What is it like for you now being in the vicinity, a resident of the area? Are people hunkering down, staying home? Are people gathering somewhere? What are you seeing in the community there?

MILLER: Yes, a lot of people -- I live right on the water. A lot of people have came out of their apartments and looked. The road is closed, so nobody is going back there to see anything.

And this is kind of in line where the Hudson crash happened. It is very fortunate that this happened again.

LEVS: Absolutely. Obviously, this is some situation we are following closely.

Also, listen, thank you for your twitter updates. It's been really interesting to see what you have got going right there. You twitter under the name "Weekend Oasis," right?

MILLER: I do, yes.

LEVS: OK, we have you "Weekend Oasis." I am joshlevscnn. When I am off here I will post some links to that, Fred.

And let me just remind everyone. If you have pictures, videos, stories about what is going on and you are in a position to share those safely, the best way to do it is at iReport.com.

You can see right here submissions we have been getting from people in the area talking about what they are seeing how it is effecting people, how crowds are gathering to see what happened.

Obviously right now the focus is the people and what may have happened. And everyone is still hoping for the best.

WHITFIELD: Absolutely. And Josh, I wonder, is Jason still with us?

LEVS: Jason, still there?

MILLER: I'm still here, yes.

WHITFIELD: I have a quick question for you. I'm just wondering, you know, when this wheel, you saw this wheel come down, did you already know about the collision? Or how did you have the wherewithal to take the picture?

MILLER: I had no idea what happened. I saw a really big splash and heard something. And my inclination was if it is the wheel to a little plane, which I am familiar with what they looked like, that it was a crash.

And then I heard the cop reporting a plane hit a helicopter. So I knew for sure it was something bad that happened.

WHITFIELD: All right, Jason Miller. Thanks so much for being with us there. Josh, thanks so much for that eyewitness account.

It is just extraordinary how much people have been sharing with us about what they have seen and what they have experienced as it pertains to this midair collision.

And we are getting confirmation there were three people on board the small aircraft that likely took off from Teterboro, New Jersey airport, and six people possibly on the tourist helicopter that may have taken off from the midtown Manhattan area.

And again, Josh, we are awaiting the Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York to hold a press conference. And as soon as that happened, that's the location right there, the live shot. As soon as the mayor arrives, we'll be taking that live.

Much more straight ahead right after this.

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