NTSB: Controller was distracted in fatal Hudson crash

Federal investigators have determined an air traffic controller involved in the August 2009 midair collision of a small plane and a sightseeing helicopter was distracted by a personal telephone call.

The crash killed nine people, including five Italian tourists onboard the helicopter.

While talking on the telephone with an airport operations employee, the controller failed to correct the small-plane pilot, who had incorrectly read back a radio frequency just minutes before the crash over the Hudson River.

Had the small plane pilot switched to the proper radio frequency, he would have been on a different course, away from other Hudson River aircraft, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.

The controller, Carl Turner, 38, of Lake Grove, was doing three things at once - directing the Piper A-32 pilot, communicating with controllers at Newark Liberty International Airport and talking on the personal call with the airport worker - before the crash.

The "simultaneous transmissions . . . interfered with each other," the crash investigation report states.

Wednesday's finding is the NTSB's factual determination of what happened just before noon on Aug. 8, 2009. Its final ruling on the cause will come later.

Documents the NTSB released Wednesday give a detailed depiction of just how distracted Turner, who had worked at Teterboro Airport in New Jersey since 2004, was in the moments before the impact.

The personal phone discussion was with a female airport operations colleague about a dead cat on a New Jersey taxiway.

The phone call, in which the pair joked about grilling the cat, was routed through Turner's headset, while communication with the other controllers and the Piper pilot was on a speaker.

Frequencies are repeated by pilots to ensure accuracy. Controllers instruct pilots to change radio frequencies to communicate with other controllers. In this case, Turner had given the Piper pilot a frequency to communicate with controllers at Newark.

SEE PHOTOSHelicopter, plane collide over Hudson

The crash prompted the Federal Aviation Administration to propose new flight rules for the airspace over the Hudson. Changes now in effect include requiring aircraft flying in the corridor to use a dedicated radio frequency and different altitudes for airplanes and helicopters.

Turner and a FAA flight manager at Teterboro, Dennis Moore, 55, of North Brunswick, N.J., were placed on administrative leave after the crash. They remain on paid leave, according to the FAA.