One of the employees was the air traffic controller who handled the flight but was on the phone “involved in apparently inappropriate conversations” at the time of the accident, the Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement.
The second was the traffic controller’s supervisor, who was supposed to be present but was out of the building at the time, the agency said.
The agency said, however, that it did not believe the employees’ behavior had any role in the collision.
“While we have no reason to believe at this time that these actions contributed to the accident,” the F.A.A. said, “this kind of conduct is unacceptable, and we have placed the employees on administrative leave and have begun disciplinary proceedings.”
Federal officials did not identify the employees, but a report in The Daily News said that the traffic controller had been on the phone with his companion. Citing an unnamed senior agency official, the newspaper said that the controller had been in radio contact with the Piper — while speaking to his companion on a separate line — and that he had given the pilot the correct radio frequency for Newark Liberty International Airport and handed him off to controllers at that tower, as required.
But according to investigators, the pilot never contacted Newark. It was unclear why the controllers did not hear from him.Moments later, just before noon, the small plane collided in midair with a New York tourist helicopter and plunged into the Hudson River off Hoboken, N.J. All on board the two aircraft — three in the plane and six in the helicopter — were killed.
In its statement on Thursday, the F.A.A. said that it was still trying to determine the cause of the accident.
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