The family of a New Zealand helicopter pilot killed in an mid-air crash in the United States say they are "devastated" after it was alleged an air traffic controller was on the telephone to his girlfriend when the crash happened.
US aviation authorities have suspended an air traffic controller who they say was chatting on the phone as Jeremy Clarke's helicopter and a light plane collided above New York's Hudson River a week ago, killing nine people.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has also removed the air controller's supervisor, who was out of the building when the accident happened.
Sarah Clarke, Mr Clarke's cousin, said last night that the family were "completely devastated" to learn of the alleged incident.
She told the Weekend Herald a funeral for Mr Clarke, 33, would be held in New Zealand next week but family members were still waiting for his body and that could delay their plans.
It was possible the funeral would be at his old school, Rosmini College, on Auckland's North Shore, where a memorial service was held yesterday.
The FAA said that there was no evidence that the air control employees' actions contributed to the accident, but the alleged conduct was "unacceptable".
Air traffic controllers are expected to be alert at all times while on duty.
The New York Daily News reported yesterday that the controller was talking to his fiance as the disaster unfolded.
National Transportation Safety Board and FAA investigators learned of the telephone conversation while examining recordings of telephone conversations on a landline phone in the tower that controllers use to communicate with other parts of the Teterboro Airport, where the light plane took off from.
