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NY pilot who radioed warning: Plane like missile

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-08-10 19:56

NEW YORK: The pilot who radioed a desperate, last-minute warning says a plane that struck a helicopter over the Hudson River "looked like a cruise missile hitting a target."

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. Nine people, including five Italian tourists, were killed yesterday when a small plane collided with a helicopter sending both aircraft plunging into the Hudson River. [Agencies]

Ben Lane warned fellow helicopter pilot Jeremy Clarke on Saturday that the plane was bearing down on him.

Lane tells the Daily News that another pilot heard him scream "Watch out! Watch out!"

He doesn't remember screaming. But he does recall seeing a wing and chopper blades falling before both aircraft plummeted, killing nine.

He searched for survivors, but there were none.

Lane says a crash was inevitable along the busy corridor. He says helicopter pilots stay in constant radio contact. But many small plane pilots - he calls them "weekend warriors" - do not.