The tower controller advised the airplane and the pilot of
another helicopter operating in the area of each other and
instructed the pilot of the airplane to remain at or below
1,100 feet. At this time, the tower controller initiated a
non-business-related phone call to Teterboro Airport
Operations. The airplane flew southbound until the
controller instructed its pilot to turn left to join the
Hudson River. At 1152:20 the Teterboro controller instructed
the pilot to contact Newark on a frequency of 127.85; the
airplane reached the Hudson River just north of Hoboken
about 40 seconds later.
Is it me or is this conflicting advice -> fly in the VFR corridor ("remain at or below 1,100 feet") but switch to the controller of the class B airspace above.
"Remain above 1,100 feet and switch to newark" would have been more appropriate... especially seeing that:
The NTSB has said the pilot of the small plane was cleared electronically and handed off to Newark
FWIW, I once had a TEB controller vector a departing Lear with a course intercepting mine,
after they cleared me in for approach. I needed new underwear, and by the look in the Lear pilots eyes I think he did too. Luckily we saw each other in time (and were aware each other were in the area, and thus paying attention) and took avoiding action.
Not banging on the controllers at TEB, just saying making the corridor radar controlled is not going to stop human error, it will just move it from 2 pilots down to 1 controller to make a mistake.