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7 bodies pulled from Hudson after mid-air crash
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-08-10 07:11

7 bodies pulled from Hudson after mid-air crash

A heavy lifting ship from the US Army Corps of Engineers lifts the fuselage of a helicopter from the location of a crash between a sight seeing helicopter and a small fixed wing airplane over the Hudson River, in New York, August 9, 2009.[Agencies]

The five tourists were from the Bologna, Italy, area: Michele Norelli, 51; his son Filippo Norelli, 16; Fabio Gallazzi, 49; his wife, Tiziana Pedroni, 44; and their son Giacomo Gallazzi, 15.

The trip was a gift from Norelli's sister, family friend Giovanni Leporati said. "The anniversary already happened but they took advantage of the August holidays and went," Leporati told The Associated Press by phone.

The helicopter company, Liberty Helicopters, released the name of the pilot in the crash: Jeremy Clarke, of Lanoka Harbor, New Jersey. The NTSB said the pilot, who was born in 1976 and came to work for Liberty last year, had about 2,700 hours of flight time.

"I've flown with him, right after he had got his license," said his former mother-in-law, Betty Mallory. "He was a very responsible, very safe pilot. I wouldn't have had any hesitation flying with him."

The plane's pilot was 60-year-old Steven Altman, of Ambler, Pennsylvania, two law enforcement officials told the AP on the condition of anonymity because all the bodies have not yet been recovered or identified. Also in the plane were 49-year-old Daniel Altman, of Dresher, Pennsylvania; and his 16-year-old son, Douglas, the officials said.

Two police cars stationed at driveway of the gated community where Steven Altman lived blocked reporters from entering.

The NTSB has long expressed concern that federal safety oversight of helicopter tours isn't rigorous enough. The Federal Aviation Administration hasn't implemented more than a dozen NTSB recommendations aimed at improving the safety of the tours, called on-demand flight operations.

A report by the U.S. Department of Transportation's inspector general last month found that 109 people died in accidents involving on-demand flights in 2007 and 2008, while no one died in commercial airline accidents.

There have been 119 midair collisions since 1999, excluding this one, the NTSB said. Of those, 63 were fatal, killing 162 people.

Liberty Tours runs sightseeing excursions around the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island and Manhattan at costs ranging from $130 to about $1,000. Liberty helicopters have been involved in two previous accidents since 1997, but no one was injured.