NTSB changes key point in crash report

WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal safety officials investigating a midair collision over the Hudson River changed their account of the accident on a key point Monday, saying an air-tour helicopter struck by a small plane wasn’t initially visible on radar to an air-traffic controller handling the plane.

The National Transportation Safety Board had previously said the controller failed to warn the plane’s pilot of the potential for a collision with several aircraft in its path, including the helicopter.

Nine people died in the Aug. 8 accident.

The board says in a statement released Monday that although the controller at Teterboro Airport in New Jersey failed to warn of several aircraft in the path of the Piper, the tour helicopter wasn’t one of the aircraft on the controller’s radar screen until seven seconds after the handoff to nearby Newark Liberty International Airport.