WASHINGTON – A control tower recording captured an air traffic controller bantering about a dead cat with a giggling female friend as a small plane flew toward a collision with a helicopter, according to a recording released Thursday by the Federal Aviation Administration.
On the recording the controller at Teterboro Airport in New Jersey appears engrossed in his conversation with the woman as she describes how repulsed she was by the carcass of a cat.
The FAA released the recording in response to a Freedom of Information Act request from The Associated Press.
Nine people were killed in the Aug. 8 accident over the Hudson River in New York.
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There's no indication he was aware of the danger until alerted by other controllers moments before the crash.