of the eyewitness accounts. you described earlier there could have been a blind spot they didn't see one another does this have to do with visual flight rules. >> under visual flight rules it may seem simplistic the rule is to see and avoid. in this corridor, the rules of the road, rules of the air is you are going to be basically hugging the right side of the river. so both of these aircrafts, if they're southbound are going to be on the west side of the river. the overtaking aircraft according to regulations is required to give way to the aircraft that is being overtaken. so it is dependent upon the aircraft that was -- had the higher speed that was overtaking the aircraft. that aircraft actually should have altered its course to the right. and i am not familiar as to which airplane struck the other one. but it sound look it is sort of

a free-for-all. it's not. it is a very structured thing. there are actually classes you can take either on line or go to classes to ply the hudson corridor. a great visual site. i went in there many times with the airlines. you can see a lot of traffic. there is a floor, we did not go below 4,000 in the airliners and a ceiling for general aviation guys that is 3,000 feet. some places the general aviation aircraft are as low as 500 feet. but the premise is to see and avoid. >> even given those parameters are we talking about an area that is a pretty high air traffic -- pretty dense in air traffic area? >> beautiful day. it's new york city. yes, the visual -- vfr corridor is there. so people one can get out of the area without having a lot of the additional, and it is a great visual sight. no doubt following the event on

the east river, there is going to be a lot of cries to close the hudson river corridor i am sure. >> close it temporarily as a result of the investigation which is certainly going to take a long time? or are you just saying close period? >> they closed the east river corridor. there is a misconception about general aviation that it is a bunch of wild cowboys out flying around in their little airplanes. since retiring from airline i gravitated back into the general aviation community i can tell you there are a lot of very responsible people in the general aviation community. >> earlier, put you on the spot about the piper pa-32. gave me a great estimation as many as four people could be on board. since gotten confirmation three people indeed were on board. likely took off from teeterboro, new jersey, airport. and then on its way to ocean city, new jersey. john, thank you so much. here now is mayor michael bloomberg.

>> i am sad to report that about 12:00 this afternoon there was an accident which we do not believe was survivable between an airplane and a helicopter. the helicopter was a sightseeing helicopter, an a-3 star 50 made by eurocopters and think the airplane was a piper saratoga. the airplane we think took off from teeterboro and had on board a pilot and two passengers, one a child. we do not have the names or ages or where they come from. and on the helicopter there were five italian tourists and a pilot. we have at this point found two bodies, we're not sure where one of them came from. the other one we are reasonably sure it came from the helicopter. we have found some wreckage. we believe that it is the

helicopter, but the visibility is about two feet at a depth of 30 feet on the jersey side of the river opposite roughly 14th street where the wreckage was located. we have not found the second piece of wreckage. we are assuming we have the helicopter. but i cannot for sure say that. and in which case we are looking for the airplane or vice versa. with me today is our police commissioner ray kelly, calvin drayton, first deputy director of office of emergency management, ronnie spetafora, deputy assistant chief of the fdny, josh berigia, chief of ems, our borough president has joined us, and we also have representatives from the national transportation safety board which will do the complete investigation, we have also have the coast guard on board and we have representatives from the port authority, the harbor

police, the new york state police, over on the jersey side we have been working with the jersey state police and local police forces there. what we can tell is that the plane left from teeterboro, the helicopter had just taken off from west 30th street, there were a number of eyewitnesses who saw the crash, it would appear that the airplane ran into the back side of the helicopter. but keep in mind with all of these things, number one, until national transportation safety board makes the determination nothing is a fact. and it can take them many weeks or even years to determine what goes on. this probably won't be that big an investigation. but they will do a complete investigation before they announce their conclusions as to what happened. and whether there are any steps that should be taken to improve safety. and to prevent similar tragedies

such as this. the police department has sent some of their community affairs unit and mayor's office community affairs both are with the families of the italian tourists who had taken off from 30th street and are providing counseling, i'm gathering they don't speak english we have italian speakers there and professionals who sadly all too often have to learn how to deal with tragedy and help the families get through this difficult period. i might point out as you would expect the red cross is here, providing the kind of assistance that we need. both the fire department and the pd have boats and divers and everything is being done. but i think it is fair to say this has changed from a rescue to a recovery mission. and that probably was what we could have started out with the instant it happened. there is some evidence from eyewitnesses that one of the

wings of the airplane was severed and, separated, probably severed by the rotors of the helicopter. but we won't know as i said until, ntsb does their investigation. we will over the next hours remove the bodies from whether it is the helicopter or airplane that we have found. but at this point our paramount focus is on making sure that our divers are safe. we don't want them to make this tragedy any worse that in has already been. and we will continue looking for the other aircraft whichever one it is. there is not a lot else to say. i would be happy to take some questions. but nobody really knows any more than what i have just said. and so if you want few ato ask more, you will get the same answer. >> mr. mayor, can you as a pilot describe the airspace and how aircraft indeed have to navigate it? >> there is a corridor here where aircraft can fly

uncontrolled by air traffic control. there is a common freak whence used. pilots that fly in this area all the time pretty much always use those frequencies to announce where they are and to listen to find out where other people are. and when they're going by 34th street. or wall street, the other place helicopter can land. helicopter pilots pretty much always describe where they are, what altitude, and which direction they're going to ensure separation. that's probably not anywheres near as true with airplanes that fly through the area not very frequently. there is no requirement that they do that. although common sense says and the maps do show what the frequencies are. >> is there any indication that that plane was flying too low or why it would be flying so low? >> it was, we don't know what

altitude. the corridor probably is 1,000 feet or below. obviously for example, helicopters can go all the way down right to the water because they have to land on the pier. so it's, there is a maximum altitude restriction and minimums tend to be just staying away from the side from buildings. but nobody really focuses on that. the reason for the maximum altitude is you want to make sure these airplanes stay away from commercial aircraft which fly higher than that and would never be cleared lower than this. typically a commercial airplane going into la guardia going up the river would be cloerd to go at 5,000 feet. 1,000 feet being the maximum for these. yes, miss? >> can you describe in a little more detail how the bodies were recovered? the two bodies that have been recovered, how was that? >> i cannot do that. one was, we believe, floating free. and they found the other one, the divers have recovered. but as you might imagine, the divers are more worried about doing their job and making sure that each other is safe.

rather than giving us a blow by blow. there are some bodies in the wreckage that we have found in the aircraft whether an airplane or helicopter. we believe it's the helicopter. but we're are not 100% sure. but they are studying now how to get them out safely. eventually the wreckage will be picked up. first thing we are frying to do is get the body out obviously. with the sensibilities of the families and our prayers have to go out to them. it is a tragedy and, other than flight 587, this is as far as i know the largest accident resulting in death in the new york area in modern day. yes, miss. >> is there any indication that the pilot -- >> there is no indication that any body had any problems whatsoever. one of the pilots on the, sitting, on the deck at the west 30th street said he saw the airplane. he grabbed his microphone and tried to tell the pilot of the

helicopter that got hit. but whether the pilot ever heard it, whether he was on the right frequency, could have just been an optical illusion that it was close to and turned out it was not an optical illusion. it is a crowded busy area. and generally pilots that fly in this area are well-trained and they certainly have plenty of practice flying in that. it is, you know, on -- when the road are crowded, and you are going fast you really want to pay attention and pilot here typically do. what exactly happened. i am not going to speculate. until the ntsb issues their report, you are not going to know. yes, sir? >> how big is the debris field? >> it is all underwater. they can see two or three feet maximum. they can't tell anything. [ inaudible question ] >> we have no idea where both went down exactly or where the current might have taken them. we have found one piece of wreckage. whether they have looked twi or

three feet in either direction from that. i don't know. they are, this is a dangerous area. when the currents are running. it's 30 feet under the water. visibility is terrible. and their first instructions are do not compound this tragedy. recovery is certainly not worth jeopardizing people's lives. rescue, maybe. but not recovery. sir? >> can you tell us which direction the aircraft were flying? >> the helicopter had taken off from west 30th street heliport, went directly perpindicular out over the river which is their practice to make sure they see any traffic going north or south on the river. that's confirmed by the other pilot from the -- sitting on the heliport on 30th street. he says the plane was coming from a little bit from the northwest which would be from the teeterboro airport area where we do know that this plane had taken off from. and so that's consistent.

whether that plane was in the process of banking and turning south to go down toward the statue of liberty. we just don't know. they would not be allowed, and probably would have known from the maps that they could not go over manhattan. but there is this corridor down over the river. so, yes. >> one more question. >> the plane was going south. a helicopter going towards new jersey? >> the helicopter had already turned going south. when the plane came. but it first came out, it turned south. it was climbing. and probably, between 500 and 1,000 feet. they will try to establish that later on. take the last question, or two. >> analysis of the airspace, did there have to be a miscommunication between the two pilots? >> normally, there is no requirement that they communicate at all. and it is not positively controlled airspace. there is a common frequency which you can voluntarily use to announce where you are, where you are going, listen to other pilots doing the same thing. as far as we know helicopter pilots almost always do this. we assume the pilot did that.

that took off. if he had time to do it. he may have taken off and not bothered yet until he got established. we don't know that the airplane was listening on that frequency or said anything. the last question. >> mr. mayor, how challenging do you know this airspace to be to fly? what would you say if there were calls, after the incident, for more restrictions over the hudson river? >> that is up to the faa to determine. may be one of those things that no amount of receive striction other than preventing aircraft coming into the area could have prevented. that is not something that anybody wants either. the city has interests, we have commercial interests, and making sure that we are accessible and transportation can come in and go. we have a number of airports close by. there is caldwell, newark, teeterboro, there is -- on the other side of the river, you have got, la guardia, and kennedy, and little further out, republic just to the north there is westchester. it is a busy area as any big

city would be. and there is traffic coming in and out all the time. for commercial aircraft there is an awful lot of positive control and i will say my experience with the faa comptrollers in this area they are the most professional i have ever had the privilege of working with. they handle an enormous amount of traffic and really do know their stuff. but there are areas that are not positive controlled. the faa can't control every place. this could have happened over a cornfield as well as over the east river. i think it is really any place you see a lot of traffic together that is not positively controlled. you have to beep careful. it's not for me to prejudge whether any body did anything right or wrong. the only definitive answers to your questions, will come from the national transportation safety board. that's why air transportation is so safe. they don't jump to conclusions. they carefully work to establish with a lot of investigation what exactly went on and they will do every kind of test and every

kind of analysis you can conceive of and when they are ready to issue their report they will. let me just finish by saying, it is a great tragedy. all the people of new york and the new york region are, have their prayers with the families, and the deceased. i think you saw a stellar example of the kind of cooperation, the two big agencies, pd and fdny, but also, port authority, and new jersey, and other new york, new york state, and volunteer organizations all working together. sadly, there is not a lot of rescue to do here. it is all recovery from this point on. later on, we'll make sure that the press is informed of when there are bodies recovered, when we are able to release identification or tell you when the aircraft, both aircraft wreckage will be recovered from

the river. but i think any speculation after this is just not based on any fact. i would urge you to wait until the professionals do what they're supposed to do. if you look at other cases the first reports tend not to be terribly accurate. you saw that in a number of big airplane, commercial airplane crashes recently. i don't want that to happen here. we are doing everything we can. we responded in exactly the way our plans from office of emergency management pulling everybody together and all the training, the police department, fire department, other agency do together. if anybody had survived we would have been there. sadly it appears to us at that point this was probably not survivable from virtually the instant of the accident or certainly a few second later from both aircraft went into the water.

i'm ser to haorry to have to re the public another tragedy. this is not going to have a happy ending like when the airbus went down on the river where everybody survived. in this case we believe nobody has. thank you very much. >> new york mayor michael bloomberg there. talking about how this accident, midair collision between a helicopter and a small aircraft was simply not survivable. no longer is this a rescue effort, instead a recovery mission. he came out now three hours after the initial reports of this collision between a helicopter with five italian tourists and a pilot on board. and a small aircraft that took off from the teeterboro, new jersey aircraft with three people on board. pilot and two others. including a child. those two aircraft collided there over the hudson river. eyewitnesses saw it all. taking place. and saw the aircraft descend. the mayor there saying that they have located the wreckage. maybe that of the helicopter.

but we are talking about water at least 30 feet deep, visibility for the -- emergency crews there just two feet. they did find two bodies. but the mayor says this simply did not appear to be an accident that was survivable. he says that his rescue teams will not -- their lives will not be put in jeopardy to continue a rescue mission instead it is a recovery mission. so they are scaling back some of their urgency. but they continue to be there in the hudson river trying to find along with the ntsb and faa trying to find any other bits of wreckage that may be that of the airplane that they still try, they are still trying to locate. that essentially i think is all the information the mayor just now conveyed there. three hours after the collision. midair collision taking place between the two aircraft. of course the mayor reiterating they're trying to offer their best condolences to the family members of those involved in all of those and all those that died

in this collision. much more straight ahead here in the "newsroom." usiness 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. you're like my secret ingredient. come in today and connect up to five devices on one 3g connection. now only $99.99

welcome back. after a midair collision, a small airplane with three people including a child on board. on its way to ocean city, new jersey. and a tourist helicopter with five tourists from italy. and the pilot on board. no survivors here. however, emergency crews did recover two bodies and they did recover the wreckage of what they believe to be the helicopter according to eyewitness accounts said the mayor it appeared as though the plane may have run into the back side of the chopper. but of course the ntsb, nation and a half traffic -- safety board will be looking into exactly what took place here in this collision. hear other eyewitness accounts throughout the last three hours

now. >> absolutely. we saw, i would say, six, seven minutes later, we saw, i guess, a helicopter descend very quickly, maybe 50 feet above the water. two men dropped into the water. and i -- presuming was some sort of rescue operation. i did not see anybody actually being rescued but there was definitely -- a rescue operation. the first rescuers were actually not but commercial boats that went to the crash. those in the vicinity heard it. and ran. >> i did not see the collision. i looked up into the sky. 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 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. >> we were actually walking and hear the loud bang and saw the plane and helicopter go into the water. >> and then what? >> and we saw the plane it was kind of whir lichlt e-birding its way down. and smoke out the back of it. crashed into the water. a few seconds later. the helicopter with debris flying off it. also hit as well. just a matter of minutes before we saw a number of boats rushing to the scene. and actually saw a little bit of the debris falling in hoboken right up the street in front of us. >> those are the eyewitness accounts that we have been hearing from since just after noontime. that's when a midair collision took place between the tourist helicopter with five italian tourists and the pilot on board and a small aircraft. we understand now that took off from the teeterboro, new jersey

airport on the way to ocean city, new jersey. three people on board that aircraft. including a child. mayor michael bloomberg coming out moments ago saying this is now a recovery mission. this crash was simply not survivable. a security analyst mike brooks with us is with us. you were with us earlier before the mayor spoke. okay, mike, get to mike in a moment. sorry about that. let's talk with jacqui jeras, talk about the weather here. you said earlier that it was a clear, beautiful day. wind doesn't appear to be a factor according to what the mayor had to say. he said in terms of the recovery mission it is still fairly dangerous for the emergency crews we are talking two feet visibility. >> yeah. >> in the depths of walter of 30 feet. >> one or two feet visibility not a long distance, fredericka. not to mention you have the current as well. walter temperature is about 75, 76 degrees. at least the water temperature is relatively comfortable for

the divers. it is kind of murky water. with the current. you can't see very much. it is going to be really hard to do that. we heard mayor bloomberg talk about how they are not willing to risk the lives of the rescue crews to try to find some of these bodies as well. something ls to keep in mind. this is a google earth animation to help give you a better idea where this area is. here is the hudson river. here is hoboken. this is manhattan island. right in this area here. this is west 14th street. we heard the mayor talking that some of the wreckage was found across the river in this area here. that is the area they will be focusing in on. just a little bit. to put it in perspective. here is ellis island. lady liberty. a lot of the helicopter flights do come down and give you a nice tour of this area. in talking a little in terms of general aviation, aircraft tend to fly up the river on the new york side and then downriver here. the weekend -- it is a beautiful

weekend. temperatures are well into the 70s. pushing into the 80s. skies are generally pretty clear. we did have scattered clouds at different levels into the atmosphere. but there was really nothing out there to restrict visibility. visibility was about 10 miles. so, you know we have all been there, fredericka. when you are driving on your car down the interstate. you have the blind spot. pilots have the blind spot not to mention they have to look above and below you. if the helicopter was making some kind of a curve. and that plane was already flying southward it might have not seen it do that. he thought he knew had a handle on where everything was. of course pilots can also communicate to each other. via radio. they don't have to do that. that is not a requirement for general aviation. a busy corridor, certainly. weather overall was fine. satellite picture here, kind of showing you some of the spotty cloud that have been moving in and out. we also talk about wind. how wind can cause huge issues with aircraft. well these guys were flying around 1,000 feet or so. maybe a little below that.

winds were generally calm. only around 5 miles an hour at best. certainly wind not an issue either. >> very sad situation. all right. jacqui jeras thank you. again, the mayor during the press conference moments ago said simply this was an accident that was just not survivable. much more straight ahead right after this.

welcome back. the accident simply not survivable. the words from new york mayor michael bloomberg. talking about a midair collision taking place three hours ago right there in the hudson river between hoboken, new jersey, and lower manhattan. it involved a helicopter with five italian tourists on board. and a pilot which took off from a midtown helicopter tourist agency and the collision with a small aircraft with thee people on board. including a child that took off from the teeterboro, new jersey airport. it collided just after noontime. all nine people are dead. two people, two body have actually been recovered which is now a recovery mission there in the hudson river. but throughout the day we have heard from various eyewitnesses and this is what they have been telling us since just after

noontime. >> right now a see of bunch boats in the water, seems to be less. police boats around there. i don't see much being pulled out of the water right now. >> describe for me again earlier today. i did a little thumbnail sketch of what you saw earlier when you were walking out with family. you heard the loud bang 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. kind of saw, first thing i saw was the plane with one wing on it. and it was whirlie-birding its way down the river, brown smoke out of the back. and made a loud, big splash when it hit. and couple second later we saw the helicopter with debris kind of flying off of it. almost fluttering. and then that hit, the crash in the water as well. and afterwards we did see debris

just kind of landing and falling in hoboken right up the street from us. >> it is not uncommon, you live in the area, not uncommon on the weekend to see some of the tourist aircraft in the area. something a lot of people partake in to get a chance to see the new york city area, tricity area in ape very different way. >> right. >> we understand that the helicopter did belong to liberty helicopter sightseeing tours. and according to the new york port authority we are also getting information that a small plane did land at the teeterboro burrow in teaneck, new jersey, not far from where you are, picked up a customer, or maybe, even two, and then took off again at about 11. 54. it's unclear whether that is indeed the aircraft that collided with this helicopter. >> just look you said. we were right across the river

from the tourist, helicopters take off on the weekend with tourists that come in. you mentioned with teeterboro airport and new york city airport having planes fly overhead is normal. that's why when we heard that. we heard the loud crash. originally could have been a jet ingin or something. definitely sounded a lot louder and a lot more like a bang than normal. that's what made us look up and see them start falling into the hudson river. >> earlier when we spoke, a matter of minutes before you started seeing these search-and-rescue boats and other search-and-rescue helicopters in the air responding to the scene right? >> absolutely. the minute it hit the water. we saw boats in the water turn their course, heading straight for the crash. and the police officers here in hoboken, immediately went into action. we heard them on their radio. sirens flying by. just trying to get as close to the river as possible. really did remind me of what happened. several months ago with miracle on the hudson when the plane went in and boats instantly went

over to do as much search-and-rescue as possible. >> when i look at our images up on the screen right now. you cannot see it. i count about 12 bolts in water there. it is unclear whether those are all search-and-rescue or are they mixed in with leisure boats. i know on a weekend especially. it is not uncommon to see a lot of boats on the hudson? >> from right here i see a lot of smaller bolts. i would assume. i can't tell from where i am. i assume those are just leisure boats out in the river just getting closer obviously you have the coast guard and police boats with their light 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. on your screen. and i'm assuming that is what is trying to pull anything out of the water, any of the wreckage. >> since you have been there in the past hour or so, you have seen nothing pulled out. not in the form of debris -- >> i have not personally seen anything pulled out. no.

>> that was eyewitness scott schuman. we spoke to him an hour after the midair collision between the helicopter and small plane. we learned a lot since our conversation with scott. especially from the mayor. michael bloomberg who said all nine people on board these two air crafts that collided, still unclear exactly what caused the collision, all nine people have died in this collision. calling it a very tragic event. it is now a recovery effort. two bodies have since been recovered there. from the crash site. and investigators believe they found the wreckage of the helicopter. they are still looking for the wreckage of the airplane. visibility very tough in the water. so the divers and all the emergency response teams that have responded to what was initially a rescue effort are now in recovery mode but not putting their lives in jeopardy because there are indeed currents in the hudson that make it very difficult in such operations. 2 feet visibility depth of the hudson at the point of the

impact, 30 feet. so of course, ntsb, faa all now working towards the investigative side of this. exactly what caused these two aircraft to collide. eyewitnesses say they saw the two aircraft both traveling southbound. it is unclear whether there was a blind spot issue, what happened. josh levs, been keeping a close watch on this. hearing from eyewitnesses in so many different levels. we have since learned, josh a. cording to the mayor that the people on board the helicopter were tourists from italy. as well as the the pilot on board. we understand of the three people on board the small aircraft, a child also involved. >> so awful, fred. people pouring out their hearts to the people and victims. talking how difficult and scary it is. not the kind of news you want to hear. we are following ireports. facebook, twitter. flicker, everything showing up on line we can check out. zoom in. show you some of the latest ireports i can show you. this is the latest one. what you are seeing here something we were talking about

minutes ago. spoke with a man. a tire landed in front of his car. later found out, believes it came from the plane. he has reason to believe that. turns out investigators closed off the area. robert wagner, ireporters one of the people checking that out. he sent us the series of photos. scroll through several. showing rescue efforts. showing boats going through the water. he tells us some of his story. he told us he has seen a lot of activity. lot of people concerned out there. people were speaking to in the area, what you have been hearing, are saying that people have been leaving their homes going out to the water. taking a look. seeing what can be done. if they can help in any way. here is a series of photos. we have been getting as well. a lot coming in. let me show you this. this just came to us, jason cohen, a series of photos he posted on flicker. been out in the area as well. in hoboken. to the west side of the hudson. you can look over here. sending us some of the same shots. he says you are seeing really active efforts. fred one thing we have heard today, can't say it enough is

that the rescue efforts were immediate. everyone says new york city authorities were jumped on this immediately as if there was no delay. it happened. they went right out. you can see some of the photos people have taken in some cases in minutes and the hours since this happened. a lot of people sending more and more images. let me jump to twitter too. want you to see this. one of the top topics. we are seeing people talk about this. a lot of people expressed their concerns. see the top, topics, hudson river is one of them. helicopter has been one of them. if you would look to send us tweets, joshlevscnn. what your stories are what you have seen and thoughts are. reaching out on facebook. inviting you to send your thoughts. views, any photos you have gotten. one thing that we do, you will be happy to know, we are showing you these ireports. we do reach out to people. we speak with you directly before we show it here. make sure these are people who are right there. we get your stories. and we do learn what you are

able to see there. obviously, fred. a good place for people thinking about the victims. >> it is incredible. eyewitnesses have filled in the blanks for us to help us understand all that has transpired over the last three hours or son't what do you have there? >> case in point. case in point. what you are talking about right there. eyewitnesses. our man story on cnn.com. our main story its leading with an ireport photo. how we have been getting our news from the people on the ground who used every social networking technique including ireport to come to us, say this is what happened. i saw it. these ways people have of reaching us have told the story over the last few hours. >> m souf our first eyewitness accounts. yeah, thankfully from a lot of the ireports. and very consistent with the information we heard from mayor bloomberg. >> right. >> the headline here from mayor bloomberg this is no longer a rescue mgs but now a recovery mission. all nine people, died from this. two bodies have been pulled from the hudson river.

they continue to look for the other bodies as well as pull the wreckage. because now the investigative side of this will be kicking into high gear with the ntsb. >> let me just mention before we go on. always helps to keep in mind. i have done stories on this before. reality checks. it is still true even with the latest numbers. flying is the safest form of travel. people heading to airports now. some people are in airports watch this news. flying remains the safest form of travel of all the forms of travel there is. obviously it makes news when it happens because it is awful and rare and so tragic. >> thank you so much, josh levs. appreciate that. much more from the "newsroom" right after this.

teterboro welcome back. i am fredricka whitfield in atlanta. now a recovery mission. nine people have died from a midair collision over the hudson river near lower manhattan. sandwiched between hoboken and lower manhattan there. we understand that a small aircraft and a tourist helicopter collided just after noontime. and eyewitness jasmine pann saw the whole thing. >> the only thing i saw was a black helicopter went down. we were all watching, it's like in the movie. and then they start, it was turning and then the head went down first. and then about three, four seconds later, i thought it was a wing of the helicopter but there is no wing for helicopters, probably the rotor

blades. >> what did it look like? >> so if this is the head. i think it went down like this. so it was quick, yeah. >> did you see -- >> what did you do next, after you saw this? >> we all, three of our girls, we all called 911. i think it was probably busy. it said leave a message. that was a little bit funny. but very soon, about a minute, i just see like all of the other helicopters. and then people coming for the rescue. it was very quick. >> did you see the plane? did you see a plane? >> no, i did not see a plane. i didn't know there was a crash. i just thought a malfunction. >> did you see them starting to pull people out of the water? >> i see a lot of people come and start try to rescue. and then lots of boats start to drive toward the helicopter. >> did you see people in water? were there people swimming? >> i did not see that. i did not see any struggle or anything. i see a lot of people try to

come and help. >> where were you? >> chelsea piers. >> where were you exactly when you saw it? >> i was on level three or c, i think level d. so we were -- chelsea piers golf club. >> tell us more about the rescue effort. what did you see. both headed to the scene. tell me what you saw? >> i saw a lot of helicopters. and boats driving towards the scene and try to help. >> how high in the air was the helicopter when it was going straight down? >> i don't think i saw the whole thing. when i saw it took about -- i saw about six seconds of it. >> yeah. it was straight, nose down. >> it was nose down, yeah. >> was it -- turning? >> i think it was turning, yeah. >> your reaction when you saw it, you obviously had never seen anything like this? >> yeah, i was shocked. i think i was screaming for a few second. then two of us, we start calling 911. probably a lot of people saw it. that's why the line was busy.

then we saw the rescue boats, rescue helicopters, just went after like a minute. it was that quick. >> no one was swimming. >> i did not see it. >> any flames? >> i didn't see any flames. i saw some smokes like afterward. i didn't see any flames. >> now we know after hearing mayor bloomberg, less than an hour ago, that this helicopter with five italian tourists on board and the pilot collided with a small aircraft, three people on board including a child that had just shortly before the collision taken off from the teterboro, new jersey, aircraft. it is unclear exactly what caused this midair collision. mayor bloomberg said it is possible according to eyewitness accounts that that aircraft ran into the rear of that helicopter before the two spiraled down as you heard jasmine pan there describing into the hudson river. now a recovery mission. not a rescue mission. all nine people have died in

this midair collision. and two bodies have actually been pulled from the hudson. but emergency crews continue to search for the wreckage of the aircraft and pull it up from the hudson river before it becomes the centerpieces of the ntsb investigation. security analyst mike brooks with us again. mike, earlier, you talked to me abo about "there is no voice recorder device to really look for after a collision like this." so trying to piece it together will be very difficult. but i wonder, even much more difficult now because you don't have survivor accounts. it is going to be very difficult, fred. the radar tape from teterboro and la guardia. could very well have been some audio communication between teterboro tower, their air traffic control and this general aviation aircraft, this piper. and maybe also some witnesses from air traffic control at la

guardia. it will all be on tape. the faa should have that. if you recall during the usairways after the plane landed in the hudson there were a number of video surveillance cameras along the river that actually captured the plane landing in the water. they will be going around. detectives from nypd and detectives from new jersey state police and the ntsb will be looking on both sides from the new jersey side as well as the new york side, for any surveillance cameras that may have captured images of this crash in midair. and then from there, determine exactly where the helicopter went down, where the plane went down, and, determine where their search will continue from there. right now, they are conducting a grid search. a lot of things have to be taken into consideration. the hudson river flows fairly rapidly. and it depends on what time the high tide, low tide, how fast the river goes. so you are probably, there are probably going to be centering their recovery efforts now a

little bit down the river from where they believe the helicopter and plane went down. and you know, as we talked about earlier, there were divers in the water from the nypd. some of the initial divers we nipd. some of the initial divers, we heard from coming out of the helicopters, they were from the nypd scuba unit. right before i went on air now, i was talking with some of my buddies from the nypd services who are familiar with this rivers, they say right along where the crash happened, the depth of the river is about from 30 feet to 50 feet deep right in that general vicinity. so that will also aid them on where they're going to zen their search and what kind of devices to bring from the nypd and also u.s. coast guard to attempt to locate the bodies in the river. >> this is still a very risky operation even for the emergency crews. we heard the mayor state it that way. because of the currents you just underscored it because of the

depth of at least 30 feet and this two feet of visibility, it's dangerous and difficult as a recovery effort. >> absolutely. the divers are very, very -- they're very familiar, the nypd divers scuba unit, some of the best in the world. they're very familiar with the river. they train and participate in actual operations such as this. on a regular basis. so they know also the perils below the sea, below the surface of the river. because it's also very, very silty on that river. you can get stuck underneath. there's a lot of debris along the bottom of that river. so these are things that will be taken into consideration. they'll be bringing in side scan, sonar and other technological devices to aid in finding these body, but again, fred, they will probably be downriver from where the actual event occurred because of the

currents. >> what about air space in that area? the mayor was asked about traffic on the hudson. he wasn't willing to go there, about what may happen because it's difficult to know the radius of that search because of, like you said, the currents. but give me an idea what would happen under a situation like this. close the air space for quite some time. >> the faa along with the coast guard and nypd will determine how long do we have to have this area closed off. they may close off air space from 1,500 feet and below just because of the number of nypd helicopters and coast guard in the air. we see the nypd right there looking for any kind of debris or bodies that will be determined as they go along with the operation as well. you know, how long and what part of the rivers they will shut downen will up to the nypd and the u.s. coast guard. >> it would seem difficult that the choppers in the air would be

able to help if we're already talking about visibility being two feet if you're a diver in the water and the depth of this water. in what way might they be used now? >> a lot of times from the air, you can notice a number of different things. for an aircraft, you might see a small oil slick or discoloration of water which would indicate fuel that may have leaked an probably help them locate where the fuselage of this small piper is. because once, if it does settle to the body, you will get fluids coming to the surface. you can spot that a lot easier from the air than you can from the surface of the water. they also will be looking for, if there's any personal floatation devices that may have been in the planes it will come to the surface now. plus any debris that could break free from the bottom of the river and come to the top as well as possible bodies. because this time of the year, the water is fairly warm there and bodies of different size will react differently once

they've been underwater and the gas has been released. it's not very pleasant to talk about, but bodies could float to the surface. >> we did hear meteorologist jacqui jeras say earlier that the water temperature may be in the 60 to 65 degree range. mike brooks, thanks so much. very helpful in helping to understand what is transpiring now. it is indeed a recovery effort. no survivor, nine people died in a midair collision between a small plane and tourist helicopter right there over the hudson river, right between hoboken, new jersey and lower manhattan. much more straight ahead in the "newsroom" after this. and we all have doubt. but when the moment comes... what's going to win? here's to confidence. gillette helps you look, feel, be your best. gillette.

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welcome back. a crowded busy area for aircraft over the jersey river and hoboken, new jersey, becomes a tragic place. a small aircraft that had taken off from the teterboro airport, three people colliding with a tourist helicopter that operates out of midtown manhattan. five tourists from italy on board, along with the pilot, vul nine have since died. we heard from the mayor of new york, just about an hour ago

talking about this being now a recovery mission, no longer a rescue mission. now emergency crews there in the hudson river are trying to recover the wreckage and more bodies. already two bodies have been recovered. we wanted to reach out to a private pilot in the area who is used to flying in that very busy air space. his name is daniel rose on the line with us now. we heard the mayor say acknowledged, yes, this is a dangerous airport, airstrip area, traffic area, but he says most of the pilots in this area are very experienced, knowledgeable of that give me an idea of what it was like for you flying there. >> it absolutely is a very congested area, but if everybody does what they're supposed to do, it can navigated safely. there's no air traffic control over that area. there's no radar control, so everybody, each pilot is responsible for announcing where

he or she is on the hudson river. and watching out for other planes coming up or down or most importantly entering from below. so a helicopter, for instance, when they leave out of the heliport on the west side of manhatt manhattan, have to fly up and enter into this flow of traffic. it's a very challenging and potentially dangerous thing do, to coordinate that, so you enter the flow of traffic safely. and they need to be able to do that. >> did i hear this information earlier that the higher speed, the aircraft with the higher speed would have to usually yield to the other aircraft. that would mean this smaller aircraft, the smaller plane that would have taken off from the teterboro, new jersey airport. >> well, it's really more of a more maneuverable plane having to yield to a less maneuverable plane. but