US Controller joked about cooking cat before crash

WASHINGTON - An air traffic controller was joking on the telephone about barbecuing a dead cat moments before a small plane collided with a tour helicopter, killing its New Zealand pilot Jeremy Clarke and eight others, above New York's Hudson River.

Transcripts obtained by The Associated Press show the controller at Teterboro Airport in New Jersey was talking to someone who works at the airport's operations centre at the time of the August 8 accident even while he was guiding the single-engine Piper and other aircraft.

"We got plenty of gas in the grill?" the controller asked.

"Fire up the cat."

Seconds before the accident, the controller uttered a curse word and ended the call.

A family from Pennsylvania in the small plane and five Italian tourists in the helicopter were killed in the crash.

The body of Mr Clarke, 33, arrived in Auckland yesterday morning.

A contingent of 20 family members, including his fiance Danielle Granahan, arrived in New Zealand with Mr Clarke's body, while investigations continue into how the crash happened.

Mr Clarke's funeral will be held at Schnapper Rock Cemetery in Albany on Saturday afternoon.

He and Ms Granahan had planned to get married next year.

He had lived in the United States since 2000 and recently became a citizen, the Associated Press reported.

The couple planned to move to Arizona and Mr Clarke recently went house hunting in Phoenix.

Mr Clarke had worked for New York helicopter company Liberty Tours for 18 months, and previously worked as a pilot and instructor for Los Angeles Helicopters from 2005 to 2007.

- NZPA