[Teligacio]

August 9, 2009

Deadly End for Groups on 2 Trips of Leisure

By SERGE F. KOVALESKI and MICHAEL M. GRYNBAUM

At 11:50 a.m. Saturday, Steven M. Altman set off from Teterboro Airport in northern New Jersey at the controls of a single-engine Piper airplane for what should have been a routine, short flight to the Jersey Shore. Nearby sat Daniel Altman, his brother and partner in the family’s real estate business, and a teenage boy.

The three had been in the air for only about six minutes when, according to the authorities, Mr. Altman’s Piper slammed into the back of a helicopter that had just taken off from a heliport on the Hudson River, carrying a pilot and five Italian tourists eager to see New York City from the sky.

No one survived the crash.

The helicopter passengers were part of a larger group of about a dozen Italians — a collection of family and friends who lived in the Bologna area — visiting New York City as part of a vacation that was to wrap up on the beaches of Mexico, according to an Italian official and a person familiar with their plans.

On Saturday, all the Italian tourists showed up at the West 30th Street heliport, but only five would take to the air over the Hudson River while the rest waited on the ground. According to a spokesman for the Italian Embassy in Washington, the five who lost their lives in the crash were Tiziana Pedrone, Fabio Gallazzi, Giacomo Gallazzi, Michele Norelli and Filippo Norelli. Two of them were youths and the rest adults, the spokesman, Fabrizio Bucci, said.

The helicopter pilot was Jeremy Clark of Lanoka Harbor, N.J., according to Liberty Helicopters, the tour operator.

All told, nine people died after the two aircraft collided.

The pilot of the airplane, Mr. Altman, 60, was the son of a decorated World War II veteran. Later in life, his father flew more than 200 volunteer flights for a nonprofit group, Angel Flight East, that ferries ill patients, according to the group’s Web site.

Steven Altman lived with his wife, Pamala, in Ambler, Pa., a quiet, upscale suburb about 20 miles north of Philadelphia. Neighbors recalled Mr. Altman as a fit, amiable man who often walked the well-manicured route of his small cul-de-sac, chatting about basketball and the Philadelphia 76ers.

He built a basketball court in his backyard, which he used to keep in shape, said Dawn Kelley, who lives several houses down from the Altman family.

Mr. Altman, a Cornell graduate with a degree in engineering, was the principal of Altman Management Company, a real estate investment firm in Port Washington, Pa., that owns and manages residential properties. Daniel, his brother, was a vice president.

Since 2008, Steven Altman was on the board of directors of the Albert Einstein Healthcare Network, which runs several hospitals and medical facilities in the Philadelphia area.

As for the Italian victims, Mr. Bucci said that, according to their passports, they hailed from two different parts of Italy: Some were born in the northeastern part of the country around Bologna, while others were originally from a town not far from Naples called Benevento.

After New York City, the Italian tourists had planned to spend time in Florida before heading to Cancun. The survivors have now changed those plans and intend to return to Italy.

Al Baker and Patrick McGeehan contributed reporting.


Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company