hot! hot! hot! time to check your air conditioning? come to meineke now and get a free ac system check. at meineke, you're always the driver. search and rescue continues to be under way there in hoboken, new jersey nshgts hudson river. you see apparatus there looking for signs of life after a tourist helicopter with at least six people onboard collided with a small plane. eyewitnesses see divers in the

water and many search and rescue teams there. something else we'll be focusing on later on today. have we turned the corner in the economy as president obama suggested earlier in the week? including as of yesterday his message? that is a topic for a full hour at 4:00 eastern time today. send your comments and questions to me on facebook or on my blog, cnn.com/fredericka. "your money" starts right now. up ahead, the future of your money. in six months, a year, five years, what you can expect from the economy. why health care reform could force president obama to renege on one of the biggest promises of the campaign. in a rough-and-tumble job market, how to go from fired to hired. just like that.

settle in. it's time to talk "your money." welcome to "your money," i'm ali velshi. the jobless rate improved for the first time in more than a year. the unemployment now stands at 9.4%, down from 9.5% in june. while the report was better than we expected, we are still losing jobs in this country, lots of jobs. 247,000 jobs were lost in july. that is the smallest job loss in a month since august of '08. 6.7 million people have been laid off since the beginning of this recession, which started in december of '07, but january of '08, that first square there, that's the first month in which we lost jobs. take a look at that trend. for the first seven months of 2008, it was fairly steady, then the recession worsened. we know that. we felt it. that's when the credit crisis

hit. look at the job loss going down in january by 741,000. since then we started to see a reversal in that trend. fewer jobs lost on a monthly basis. in june we hit a bit of a snag there. it went, it got worse from may. take a look at july. this is the smallest since last august, 247,000 jobs lost. how does that affect where you live? i told you that the national average, the national unemployment rate is now 9.4%, down from where it was last year. let's take a look how this works out across the country. in red are the states with an unemployment rate that is two percentage points higher than the national average or more. if the national average is 9.4%, we are looking at states with 11.4% or higher unemployment in red. you can see some states there in the west. you can see iowa, michigan which has the highest unemployment rate in the country of more than 15%.

really it's hard to see. in the corner there you can see rhode island and south carolina. in gray are those states where the unemployment rate is within 2% either way of the national unemployment rate. somewhere between 7.4% and 11.4%. in green, this is a pattern we've seen for a long time, those states which have an unemployment rate two percentage points or lower than the national average. those mountain states, and we've seen this for a while, virginia also enjoying that trend. what does this mean for you if you are a job seeker, if you are an investor, if you are looking to make decisions about how to spend your money or go to school in this economy? lakshman achuthan is a great friend of our show. you have been saying for some time the larger picture here is that this recession is ending right under us right now probably. >> absolutely. the information we are seeing this week on jobs is completely consistent.

it's confirming that. back in april looking at forward-looking indicators, it became clear the recession ends this summer. some time between memorial day and labor day. we won't get the exact date for another year. >> that won't matter to most people. >> that's history by then. here it's like what is going on? is it getting worse or better? definitely that trend you just went over is showing us it is getting better. that doesn't mean it feels good or the recession is definitely over at this moment. we are still losing jobs. that is a key determinant. you have to grow jobs to say you are in an expansion. >> you have a great map. you have a different map -- i talked about unemployment rate. yours is different. this talks about job gains or losses. let's take a look at this map and tell us what's going on. if i look at this map i think this looks terrible. the whole country is in decline but for four states. >> yes, yes. the red tells you the trend has been down. you are losing jobs. the good news is that map used to be allred.

you had no color. just a solid swath of red. now we are seeing yellow where things are changing direction from losing to gaining. there is one blue state where you are actually adding jobs in this state. this will slowly change color. it will slowly turn yellow and blue for the rest of this year into next year as the recovery becomes evident to everybody and we start to get actual jobs being added. >> that is one way to break this down. i think it's important to break it down a few different ways. there's still great disparity in demographics, in people unemployed, who has more jobs than others. >> absolutely. >> it is still a tough world for minorities in america. >> absolutely. what you are having -- first, before you get to the demographics, there's one big theme here. manufacturing has been taking it on the chin for decades. every recession we have in that period accelerates. it gets very much harder. >> you start to see that in the

numbers. you see the adult male unemployment rate is higher than adult women because adult males populate the manufacturing industry more than women. >> exactly. michigan, for example, has the highest unemployment rate in the nation. that is the same reason. women tend to work more in services, which tend to be a bit smoother. we are seeing in the latest numbers that the job loss is expected in services were much weaker than expected. that engine is starting up again in this country. >> we have seen the numbers go down, meaning higher percentage amongst hispanics. other than that we've seen blacks do a little bit better. other groups do better. it's marginal. bottom line is it's still -- >> this is marginal. i would expect basically, if you are in the rust belt, if you are exposed to manufacturing, you may get a little bit of a reprieve here as the global industrial engine is restarting,

but it's not -- the end of the recession will not cure the problems there. that is something that is going to make the jobs numbers weaker than they otherwise would have been at the end of this year into next year. the so-called jobless recovery. >> let's talk about what you just mentioned, where the jobs have most been lost. this is not about this recession. this is about the last decade. manufacturing jobs have been the at the top of the list of jobs being lost. in this particular report, what was interesting is construction was higher than manufacturing. more jobs were lost in construction than manufacturing. retail jobs were also lost. where you look at where there were net gains once again, the only one of significance was health care. this has continued to be the story the last few years. >> right. health care because it is not so disregularsy. if you have to go to the doctor, you have to go to the doctor. and education. >> tends to be a second. >> construction is where we are having shift. you are getting residential home activity. it's not enough to make up for the losses out of the commercial

real estate activity, which has ground to a standstill. >> we share a view of all the measures of the economy, you accord a lot of weight to them, but i think you've got to fix this jobs situation to feel a recovery. >> right. >> when is it fixed? when do we start to gain more jobs on a monthly basis than we lose? >> net-net probably doesn't happen until year end. underneath that you'll see the nonmanufacturing sector begin to add jobs first. the key is it has to add more jobs than what you are losing in manufacturing for this net number to start going forward to start rising. >> you think we might see that in 2010? >> maybe this year. depends how fast the service sector starts to pick up speed. it will. it did at the end of the last recession. we had services adding jobs right away in early 2002. manufacturing lost another 3,000 jobs. >> wow. lakshman achuthan, managing

director of the economic cycle research institute. coming up, how to go from being fired to getting hired in no time at all. and once and for all, whether the obama plan to fix the economy is working.

people ask me this all the time.

[ no audio ] that's always one that is ahead of what's going on. take a look aty back ñ(ñ(ñ(($$hhdjd the dow was around 9,100. we are using the dow to illustrate this. you can look at other markets, as well. this market was choppy all the way down to about march 9th, which some people say is going

toned up having been the bottom of this market in the 6,500 range on the dow there was a gradual uptick all the way to now where we are right back to where we were on elec,k,k,k,[l[ it forms a perfect "v" which is how people describe my pbpqbbab body. take a look at the housing industry. that's what got us into the mess in the first place. let's look at the case-shiller report which looks at 20 metropolitan areas. let's remind you there are lots of ways)d)d)d)d)d)d)d)d)d)d)d)d?

he certainly made some speeches that suggest his administration and his policies deserve some of the credit for it. according to a cnn opinion research poll, more than half of you think the president's plans made the economy better or at least will make things better in the future. 40% say his policies won't improve the economy. ken rogott is from harvard university, stephen moore an editorial writer with "wall

street journal" and douglas is a former economic advisor to john mccain. who better to talk about this than these three gentlemen? stephen, you are generally not that bearish about things, but you don't think we should have a discussion about who should take credit you don't think it's all that good. >> we certainly lowered our standards when we say a loss of 250,000 jacobs is good news. unemployment is as high as it's been in practically 50 years. there is modest expansion, and i'm still worried about this and i don't think the worst is necessarily over. >> douglas, what do you think is going on? >> steve's got an element of truth there. this jobs report is not as strong as it might appear first blush. people being discouraged leaving the labor market.

i think we shouldn't expect much in the second hatch of 2009. it's going to be 2010 before we see real growth. >> you see something going on in the future. you just don't think it's happening right now. ken, what is your view of what's going on right now and whether anybody should take credit for it? >> i think the recession is losing steam. there is no question about it. i think while have a bit of growth second part of this year. i don't see strong growth until next year. jobs should be going up. we can't just cheer that they are not going down as fast. >> let's talk about -- the reason is not just a political discussion who should get credit for it, but it's important to understand this from an economic perspective. we need to know after the trillions of dollars thrown into this economy in the last year, what works and what didn't work? what's your view of what has worked so far? >> one thing a lot of americans aren't focusing on, we talked a lot on your show about the fiscal stimulus, about $100 billion of that has been spent.

i don't think that made one bit of difference. the big stimulus has come from the federal reserve. we talked about this a few weeks ago. the fed is shoveling money into this economy at a record pace. we've seen an increase in the money supply. >> let's be specific about this. the fed is what got our credit freeze to open up because it allows companies to borrow money. it put money into the mortgage agencies which kept mortgage rates low. >> that's right. the direction, if you look at the graph of the money supply, it was relatively stable for about seven years. starting about november it went straight up. that is now -- when you put that much money in an economy, that stimulates. >> okay. ken there are dangers putting that much money into the economy. steve is talking about printing money we all talk about. there are dangers down the road to that. >> yeah, there are dangers down the road. we were in danger falling off a cliff. they put in the fiscal stimulus. they weren't sure if we needed it. they put in all this monetary

stimulus. it has worked. i do think the fed and administration deserve credit that we are not falling off a cliff. on the other hand, nobody should kid themselves. debt is soaring, there is all this money to pull out of the system. it's not easy going forward. >> that's right. >> douglas, you were an advisor to john mccain. you are the kind of person political people would want to hear from. what is what it to go about this now? we all agree there will be some improvement, further it. prochlt to the economy, maybe later this year or next year. what should the administration be doing now to have the greatest effect to help americans? >> the administration should look forward and recognize that households are in weak positions. they came into the recession highly indebted. they lost a lot of money in their houses and their portfolios. they are unlikely to be a source of growth. you have to put in a foundation under those places that will be a source of growth. our businesses with capital expansion, our exporters and our international competitiveness. let's bet on the places that could drive this economy forward. they should be focusing on that. >> the only good news here is if

we are note in panic mode about the economy, we could have those discussions about what else could happen. don't go away. we are looking ahead to what you, the viewer, want to know. the future of your money, your economy in six months, in two years and five years, we are going to break it down specifically with this panel next. it's the chevy open house. and now, with the cash for clunkers program, a great deal gets even better. let us recycle your older vehicle and you could

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i'm fredricka whitfield. you are looking at live pictures right now outside of hoboken, new jersey, because a search and rescue mission is under way, a sizable one. we understand as cnn confirms through variable sources, the faa as well as sources in the new york/new jersey area, that a helicopter, a tourist helicopter collided with a small plane there and many eyewitnesses who joined us throughout the last half hour described various things. these two aircrafts colliding and simply swirling and twirling into the hudson river there rescue teams were on their way to respond. according to one eyewitness, she

says there was nothing buoyant. it didn't appear as though any remnants of the aircraft or even the helicopter were at the surface of that water. divers have been seen descending into the water trying to find signs of life. at least six people may have been onboard that tourist helicopter. it's unclear how many may have been onboard that small aircraft. joining us is scott schuman who was actually walking in the vicinity there with family members. heard this loud bang and then saw this twist of these two aircrafts descend into the water. scott, give me an idea of what you are seeing now. >> right now i see a bunch of boats in the water. there seems to be less police folks looking around there. i don't see much out of the water right now. >> describe for me again earlier today, i did a thumbnail sketch of what you saw earlier when you

were walking out with family. you heard the loud bang and then you actually saw these two aircraft making its way into the water, right? >> yeah. we were just walking along the river. heard the crash, looked straight up and saw -- first thing i saw was a plane with only one wing on it twirly-birding its way down into the river. it had brown smoke coming out of the back of it and made a loud and big splash when it hit. maybe a couple seconds later we saw the helicopter with debris kind of flying off of it. almost fluttering and then that crashed into the water, as well. after we did see debris landing and falling in hoboken up the street from us. >> it's not uncommon, you live in the area, not uncommon especially on the weekend to see some of these tourist aircraft in the area. it certainly is something a lot of people partake in to get a chance to see the new york city area, tri-city area in a

different way. the helicopter belonged to liberty helicopter sight-seeing tours. according to the new york port authority, we are getting information a small plane did land at the teterboro airport near where you are and picked up a customer or maybe two and picked off about 11:54. it's unclear whether that is the aircraft that collided with this helicopter. give me an idea how common a sight it is to see a small aircraft as well as helicopters in the area? >> we were right across the river from all the new york city tourists where the helicopters take off all the time. especially on the weekend with the tourists that come in. as you mentioned with teterboro airport as well as new york city airports having planes fly overhead is normal. that's why when we heard that loud crash, originally it could have been a jet engine or something, but it sounded louder and more like a bang and normal. that made us look up and see

them start falling into the hudson river. >> earlier when we spoke, you said it was a matter of minutes before you started to see these search and rescue boat and other search and rescue helicopters in the air responding to the scene, right? >> yeah. absolutely. the minute it hit in the water we saw boats already in the water start turning their course and heading straight for the crash. the police officers here in hoboken immediately went into action. we heard them on the radio. sirens flying by and trying to get as close to the river as possible. it really did remind me what happened several months ago with miracle on the hudson when the plane went in and the boats instantly went over to do as much search and rescue as possible. >> when i look at our images we have up on the screen right there. you cannot see it, but i count about 12 boats in the water there. it's unclear whether those are all search and rescue or are they mixed in with leisure boats in the area? on the weekends, it's not uncommon to see leisure boats on

the hudson. >> from here i see a lot of smaller boats. i would assume, obviously i can't tell from where i am, i assume those are just leisure boats out in the river getting closer. obviously you have the coast guard and police boats with their lights on flashing kind of, almost like setting up a perimeter in the water to not allow certain people in there. i believe i see a tugboat or large yellow boat. i don't know if you see that on your screen. i'm assuming that's what's trying to pull anything out of the water. >> since you've been there in the past hour, you've seen nothing pulled out, not in the form of debris? >> i have not personally seen anything pulled out, no. >> scott schuman, thanks so much for being with us. appreciate it. >> thanks a lot. >> we'll have much more straight ahead on this emergency situation taking place off hoboken, new jersey. a number of witnesses saw these two aircraft simply collide. a tourist helicopter as well as a small plane colliding in the air and depending into the water

as a number of search and rescue teams are there trying to find any of the people who may have survived this kind of collision. much more straight ahead.

an intense search and rescue mission under way there right between hoboken, new jersey, and manhattan in the hudson river. why? a mid-air collision took place afternoon time between a tourist helicopter and a small aircraft. it is believed as many as six people were onboard the tourist helicopter. according to the u.s. course gad also responding on the scene, saying one person actually has been rescued. the new york city fire department officials are also on the scene saying there appear to be fatalities. our susan candiotti is joining us via broadband there right off the shoreline of the hudson river. what can you see, what do you know, susan? >> reporter: well, right now i'm

going to bring you an eyewitness who was here, colin rich. rich was right here along the hudson river when just before noon he saw something horrific happen before your eyes. tell our audience what you saw. >> we had a plane and a helicopter both flying southbound over the hudson. the plane actually rolled up towards new jersey heading in that direction and rolled into the side of the helicopter. the helicopter immediate ly los function. the rotors fell off and it plunged about 1100 feet into the water. the plane continued to travel towards the water towards the "w" hotel and plunged into the water from about 1100 feet. >> reporter: what was going through your mind? >> very, very excited. honestly at the point i just

couldn't believe it. i still can't. >> reporter: you are certainly shaken by this. how long would you say it took before you saw rescue people coming to the site? >> at the moment we had circle line was on spot within 30 seconds. they turned around and headed in that direction. >> reporter: that is a tour boat, right? >> that is a tour boat. they were the first ones on site. we had emergency personnel and helicopters over there probably within four, five minutes. >> reporter: were you able to see anyone being pulled out of the water? we do have a report from the coast guard that there is at least one person who has been pulled from the water rescue. >> it's reassuring to hear that, but i didn't see anything like that. >> reporter: did you take pictures of this? >> i do have some pictures. >> reporter: because you are a professional photographer? >> yes. correct. >> reporter: what sticks out in your mind from what you saw? >> everything about this is quite shocking. to see something like that right

in front of you is incredible. tragic. >> reporter: i'm sure the it will stay with you the rest of your life. thank you very much for telling us about what you saw. again, we have information that at least one person, according to the u.s. coast guard, has been pulled from the water. we also understand that the small plane is registered to a company in the philadelphia, pennsylvania, area. we are looking into that. as we indicated earlier, the helicopter evidently belongs to a tour company called liberty towers. naturally, we are checking for more information about that. it appears though the small plane, according to an faa spokesperson and the new york port authority, did take off from the teterboro airport which handles private planes, shortly before noon. it is presumed at this time that that is the plane. the airport lost contact with that small aircraft described as a red plane.

colin saying it's a red and white aircraft. naturally we are seeing a lot of activity here. the u.s. coast guard has at least one boat on site as they try to rescue whoever they can find from the water as well as pick up debris eventually, when that happens, as well. >> at the top of your live broadcast here we were able to hear the chopper activity overhead. are you able to tell whether the choppers that are as part of being used as part of this rescue mission are they using any apparatus, ropes or anything being descended into the water to help in any pulling of debris or help perhaps in the rescue of that one person we understand has been rescued? >> reporter: fredricka, not that i can see at this time. i can only see one helicopter at this time circling overhead. of course, this is going to be an operation, from experience, is going to take quite some time

as they figure out what they have in the water. naturally they'll try to retrieve any debris that they can, if those boats are big enough and they have quite the apartment rats. that will take quite some doing to pick debris out of the water. we can't see anything on the what you're surface. naturally, it may have sunk by now. that will involve the cranes or other types of machinery mechanisms to try to bring the wreckage from the bottom of the hudson river here. just to give you a better sense of where we are, here is a park here along the hudson. we are in the downtown area of manhattan along the hudson, just across the river from us. hoboken, new jersey, and teterboro is in that general vicinity. if that flight took off from pe teterboro, wouldn't have far to go before coming across the hudson. it is very common for helicopters, tour helicopters to take off from this general

vicinity on short tours, longer tours, tours of manhattan. you can see the statue of liberty from the distance. we are not far from liberty island, as well. it's naturally attracting a lot of people who are standing by to see and watch the activity as we speak with witnesses and find others who are here to see exactly what's going on. actually, from this spot i can't see much of an operation. you heard colin say it was within moments one of the ferries that runs back and forth between new jersey was on the scene. to him it appeared to be here in 30 seconds. i have a report that five minutes after this happened you have the coast guard arriving on scene and before that you had the new york police department and fire department also appearing on site. we have information from another eyewitness report seeing a diver drop down from the helicopter into the water within minutes

after this happened. as usual, there is a quick response by the new york city police department and fire department, as well as coast guard and other private entities such as the ferry boats that operate regularly between manhattan and new jersey that were on the scene very, very quickly here. the question, of course, is whether they will be able to retrieve anything from the water. we are getting conflicting reports. now we have confirmation from an official agency that at least one person has been pulled from the water. >> and likely air space has been closed down in that general vicinity except for rescue mission choppers? >> reporter: that wouldn't be unusual. that is a standard operating procedure to clear all other aircraft from the area we have seen none other than helicopters flying overhead. >> susan candiotti, thank you so much for that update. we'll take a short break and bring you the latest on this search and rescue mission under way. to underscore, a collision, mid-air collision between a

tourist helicopter and a small plane taking place there between manhattan and hoboken, new jersey, over the hudson river. an intense search and rescue mission is under way trying to find any survivors. already one person has actually been rescued. we don't have any more details other than that. much more straight ahead. (pouring rain) i had a great time. me too.

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this breaking story we are following for you right between manhattan and hoboken, new jersey. you are looking at emergency crews right there on the ground. over the hudson river, a mid-air collision took place involving a tourist helicopter which is believed six people may have been onboard and a small aircraft colliding in mid air there. eyewitness accounts have given us so many different views of what transpired there. some say they heard a loud boom and they saw these two aircraft twisted together then descending into the water. others say they saw during this collision one of the wings from this aircraft simply being sheared off.

within minutes emergency crews got under way, trying to get to anyone they may have been able to rescue. we understand according to a new york fire department, one person has been rescued. we don't know the condition of that person. we also received this press release from the u.s. coast guard. so many different agencies are involved in this search and rescue mission right now. the coast guard saying many agencies have responded, including five marine units, the new york city fire department, as well as new york police department, which has provided its divers that have already descended into the water to try to get ahold of any of the people involved here. this collision took place near pier 40, if you know anything about new york city. this is near lower manhattan. susan candiotti was on shoreline there and did a great job describing what you are able to see. liberty island, statue of liberty, very close to this collision. as you see from these images we are getting from new york 1, it

has attracted a huge crowd of people. a beautiful saturday midday there in manhattan. a lot of people who are out walking about. some eyewitnesses were simply taking a stroll there and heard the big bang and saw the collision of these planes. now it's attracted a number of people who are now watching an active intense rescue and search mission under way. john wiley is a retired commercial pilot, contributor for "aviation week" magazine, and is on the phone with us now. we reached out to you because you are very familiar with this area. we understand according to liberty tours which is where the helicopter originated, that the small aircraft may have taken off shortly before this collision from teterboro airport, which is a reliever airport where mostly small planes, private aircraft land and take off. what do you know about this general vicinity and what air traffic we usually see midday on a saturday?

>> any day that ends in the letter "y" is going to be a busy day in the new york corridor. doesn't matter if it's monday or saturday. you have a lot of traffic that is going to go into the reliever airports. you have newark, teterboro, which is used by general 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 previously airports were allowed to fly 300 feet down the corridor. it is very picturesque, but the problem you've got is almost in any vehicle that you are in, airplane or helicopter, you are going to have certain blind spots. from the information i received in just the little bit of time i've done the research on this, it appears both vehicles were moving in the same direction. a possible overtake could have

created a blind spot for one of the vehicles not to see the other. >> one eyewitness said they were both flying southbound. >> well, anything that's under your nose of the aircraft is going to be invisible to you. you are not going to be doing that much maneuvering left or right or banking because you have a relatively narrow corridor that you have to stay within. people are probably going to be looking outside at the skyline of new york. i imagine it's a beautiful day up there from the video i've seen of it. then you have two airplanes in proximity which just doesn't work. >> we do hear from our meteorologist jacqui jeras that it's a clear day. whether or not that is a factor here. of course, when jacqui is available we'll get perhaps kind of the wind speed. sometimes wind might be a factor in investigations of aviation accidents such as this. we are learning a little bit more about the aircraft. john, quickly, piper pa-32.

what can you tell me about that? >> i imagine it's a small single-engineer craft. my buddies will hammer me if i get it wrong. a great day, no doubt if they came out of teterboro. they would have a great day looking out. the fortunate thing, if there is a fortunate thing about this, we do have one survivor who is going to be better than any cockpit voice recorder. >> which is extraordinary. we are looking at an image of a piper pa-32. i'm a novice on aircraft. i'm not sure what it would mean, this type of aircraft besides the fact that it is a very small one. your estimation how many people might abboard aoard a pa-32? >> i'm looking at it now. pa-32, possibly four people onboard. you have extra windows back

there. maybe as many as six. >> yeah, okay. thanks so much. sorry to put you on the spot like that. we are just getting this information as it comes in. i'm give you a moment there. maybe there is more you can learn about this aircraft or even the helicopter once we learn a little more about it. we do know at least six people may have been onboard that tourist helicopter. john wiley, thank you so much. an eyewitness joining us on the phone. arnold steven, were you in the air during this collision? >> i was staying at the "w" hotel which is right on the water. i was out on the balcony. we heard a loud crash. looked out and saw a very small cessna sort of plane. looked like half the wing was missing. it was corkscrewing into the river. saw the helicopter drop like a

rock into the hudson. probably six minutes later there were boats surrounding the two collision areas looking for, i guess, any survivors. survivors. >> that is very consistent with what other eyewitnesses mentioned too. when they saw the small aircraft. it looked as one of the wings had been sheered off as you describe in the cork skewing. once the two collided. within minutes you sought search-and-rescue team, trying to find any survivors. we understand from the new york fire department one person has been rescued. did you happen to see anything that appeared to be a rescue taking place? pulling any one out of the water? >> absolutely. we saw, quyeah, six or seven minutes later, a coast guard helicopter descend very quickly, maybe, 50 feet above the water.

two men dropped into the water. and i'm presuming some sort of rescue operation. i did not see anybody actually being rescued. but there was definitely a rescue operation. the first r rescuers were not actually coast fward but were actually surrounding boats, commercial boats, type of boats that ran to the scene immediately after the crash. any body within the vicinity heard it and ran to it. >> arnold stevens thank you so much for your eyewitness account at the w hotel where you were staying. you are on your balcony. the w hotel close in proximity to where this took place in the hudson river. not far from liberty island. statue of liberty. beautiful day in lower manhattan. certainly a lot of people out enjoying the weather. and then seeing this horrible event of a midair collision

between a small aircraft, what we now know to be a piper pa-32. we just heard john wily, retired commercial pilot. could carry as many as four to sex peopl six people. the helicopter belonged to the liberty tours. and six people may have been on board that chopper. and that collision taking place just in the noon eastern hour now. a massive search-and-rescue mix under way. one person we understand has indeed been rescued. much more straight ahead here from the "newsroom." now, i know the catering business but when i walked in here i wasn't sure what i needed. i'm not sure what i need. tom showed me how to use mifi to get my whole team working online, on location. i was like, "woah". woah ! only verizon wireless has small business specialists in every store to help you do business better.

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a simpler way to ship. call or go online now to get started. i'm fredricka whitfield in atlanta. looking at live pictures right now. a search-and-rescue mission is under way there in the hudson river between manhattan and hoboken, new jersey, because of a midair collision between a helicopter and a small aircraft.

it is believed that on the helicopter there may have been six people on board. the u.s. coast guard says one person has actually been rescued, but unclear the condiagnosis of that person who has been rescued. plucked from the water of the hudson there. looking at different images. upper left-hand side of the screen, you are seeing a lot of people who have converged at the location, the helipad of liberty tours. the place where the helicopter actually took off from. and that company is confirming that its aircraft was involved in this collision. on the upper right hand and lower of course you are seeing different views of the hudson river. a number of jurisdictions are involved here, new york, new jersey, as well as the u.s. coast guard. all involved. you have got marine units there. you have new york police department divers that have also descended into the water to look for any people, any survivors of this crash. you have new york city fire

department involved as well. according to the u.s. coast guard, recent conversation with one of its petty officers with cnn saying it has three response boats searching the hudson river. again one person has been rescued. unclear the condition of that person. no other victims have been recovered at this time. but they continue to search tirelessly there in the hudson river for any potential survivors. eyewitness, arnold stevens, was with us a moment ago. actually staying at the w hotel which has the perfect view of the search-and-rescue. and you also sadly, arnold, had the perfect view of this midair collision between the two aircrafts. so once again give me an idea what you saw. you were on the balcony enjoying the great weather there in lower manhattan. and then you saw this collision. >> yeah, that's right. i was out on the balcony, it is a gorgeous day. partly cloudy. and heard this crash.

people started screaming. i looked out and there was a plane with half the wing missing, corkscrewing the into ground, sorry, into the water. and the helicopter just dropped like a rock. and there was debris. and the debris disseminated, over a period of 20 minutes. now you can't see any debris at least from the balcony. i happen to be directly across from the collision site. maybe no more than 300 yard. it was just spectacular, and surreal to see it. >> and the search and -and-resc mission still squununder way. they rescued one person. unclear how many people may have been involved. we understand the number to be at least six. arnold stevens, thank you for

your account. we will be checking back with you momentarily. we've been hearing from eyewitnesses all morning long since this collision took place just after noontime. our josh levs has been hearing from you. lots of different ways, via ireports. people are ending in images and other accounts of what they have seen. josh? >> fed, our first iortsreports. ireports from people at the scene seeing what it is like right now. zoom into the computer behind me. show you a series of reports from jim davidson, he lives in hoboken. you can see people gathering in the area. you can see looks like, taking a look here, looks relatively calm. you can see crowds gathering to check out what is happening. people looking for anything that may have fallen on the ground. he tells us when he heard it first he thought a car crash. some sort of accident there. he didn't realize what it was based on the sound until word got out.