New Jersey , who were monitoring the plane 's flight during the August 8 collision . `` The NTSB is concerned with the complacency and inattention to duty evidenced by the actions of the -LSB- Teterboro -RSB- controller and the supervisor during the events surrounding this accident , '' Hersman wrote . Hersman said the pilot of the aircraft requested permission to climb to 3,500 feet minutes before the crash . But because there was no coordination between controllers at Teterboro and Newark airports , controllers did not grant the request , increasing the risk of a collision in Hudson River low-altitude airspace known as the `` exclusionary zone , '' she said . Pilots in the exclusionary zone are not separated by air traffic controllers , and instead use visual `` see and avoid '' tactics . The Teterboro controller was making a personal phone call and `` was not fully engaged in his duties '' in the minutes leading up to the accident , Hersman said . His supervisor , meanwhile , had left the building on a personal errand without informing the controller . The air traffic controller 's inappropriate phone call `` likely would not have
WASHINGTON -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- The rules governing air traffic over New York 's Hudson River need to be rewritten to prevent another mishap like this month 's fatal collision of a small plane and a sightseeing helicopter , federal safety investigators said Thursday . The wreckage of a plane that collided with a helicopter is lifted this month from the Hudson River . The recommendation comes three weeks after nine people were killed when the two aircraft collided in the congested airspace bordering Manhattan . The recommendation is noteworthy both because of its sweeping nature and its timing . Ordinarily , the National Transportation Safety Board makes recommendations at the conclusion of its investigation , which typically take a year . But in a letter to FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt , NTSB Chairman Deborah Hersman said that based on preliminary findings , the safety board is concerned about the `` safety of flight '' over the Hudson River . She outlined a series of changes , among them requiring that helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft fly at different altitudes over the river . She made specific reference to `` the performance of air traffic controllers '' at Teterboro Airport in