2009 Hudson River mid-air collision

About

On August 8, 2009, at 11:53 a.m. (15:53 UTC), nine people died when a tour Eurocopter AS350 Écureuil helicopter and a small private Piper PA-32R airplane collided over the Hudson River near Frank Sinatra Park in Hoboken, New Jersey, United States. The aircraft were in an area known as the "Hudson River VFR Corridor", which extends from the surface of the river to altitudes of 800 to 1,500 ft (240 to 460 m) at various locations along the Hudson River in the immediate area of New York City. Within this corridor, aircraft operate under visual flight rules (VFR), under which the responsibility to see and avoid other air traffic rests with the individual pilots rather than with the air traffic controller (ATC).

Because of the heavy commercial air traffic into Newark, LaGuardia, and Kennedy airports, an air traffic control clearance is required to operate in much of the airspace around the city. Since ATC is often unwilling to grant this discretionary VFR clearance because of traffic volume, many airplanes that need to transit the New York metro area use the VFR corridor as an alternative to going east of the city (over water) or west (toward Pennsylvania). The corridor is also heavily used by helicopter tour companies, which take passengers on sight-seeing tours of the New York skyline.