Transcript: Mayor de Blasio Appears Live on CNN with Wolf Blitzer

June 10, 2019

Wolf Blitzer: Joining us now, the Mayor of New York City, Bill de Blasio. Mayor, thanks so much for joining us. You know, this is an awful day, a very difficult day for you, for all New Yorkers – but, first of all, do you have any more information you could share with us about why this helicopter was flying in that area?

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Well, Wolf, the first thing I want to say is, thank God that this was not a much worse incident, because it's really troubling to think about what might've happened if that helicopter had gone down in Times Square. And I want to say, our first responders did an amazing job ensuring that people were safe and limiting the effect of what happened. But what we know here – you've heard a lot of it just in the last few minutes, there's something mysterious here. There's something about, why would an experienced pilot take this roundabout route? We do not have an indication that he checked in with LaGuardia Airport Tower, which is the protocol. If you're going over buildings in Manhattan, especially because of that restricted airspace around Trump Tower, you're supposed to check in at LaGuardia Tower and get authorization or be told not to. And something strange happen here, but we don't have all the facts yet. In the end, I think point Anderson made this really important – the helipads are at the periphery of Manhattan, they're on the water. It is rare to see a helicopter going over the populated areas, and we have to make sure that doesn't happen again in the future. And I think the FAA needs to look at this very carefully and ask the question if they need to toughen up their rules or are put more security or, you know, monitoring of the situation to make sure something like this couldn't happen again.

Blitzer: We have a picture – and I'll put it up on the screen once again – Mayor, of what remains of this helicopter. It looks like it's been chopped into little pieces as it crashed into the roof of the skyscraper in New York City. What's so weird is that it took this roundabout route, going from the helicopter station on the East Side, down through the southern part of Manhattan, then making a U-turn and coming back uptown.

Mayor: Yeah, Wolf, it's extremely strange. And look, we have – as I said – the first thing I said when I held a press conference earlier, there is no indication of terrorism. There is no indication of a threat now. Every New Yorker – the minute I heard it, you know, something hits a building, you immediately worry that is terrorism, because we've lived through that. We all feel that deeply and painfully from 9/11. But no, this was something very different. I've seen some of the video and this appeared to be the pilot acting very erratic, didn't look just like something that would be mechanical for some of that route. We don't know what was going on with him as a person, and I'm not going to speculate, but it may have been something personal, it may have been something affecting his psyche or, you know, substances – we don't know. But this is very unusual. If he was trying to go back to his home base in New Jersey, this would not have been the way to do it. So we need to know more about him and what might've going on now. But thank God in terms of the incident itself, no indication of an attempt to harm anyone and no indication of any ongoing threat to the people in New York City.

Blitzer: Because we do have some video of a helicopter flying along the East River just moments earlier. Is that the video you're talking about? Was that the video of this helicopter pilot?

Mayor: As far as we understand, it is. And we need to confirm that, but the NYPD sources I talked to believed it was and it looked like very erratic actions by a pilot in control – did not look like a helicopter that was crashing or losing altitude or anything like that, it looked like a series of purposeful moves that were very erratic. So, we need to know a lot more about what was happening with this individual at the time he made this decision to take off. I'm having trouble following why he would have gone back up over Midtown, Manhattan if his destination was well to the south in New Jersey. Something doesn't follow here, but that's why we're doing the full investigation.

Blitzer: What, if anything, could you tell us about the helicopter pilot, Mayor?

Mayor: Everything I've heard is – long-time experienced pilot. I guess most of the work he did was shuttling around executives. This is the heliport where a lot executives from Midtown, Manhattan go, so that would be normal – that, that would be the kind of pilot who'd be working there. Apparently – let off an executive earlier in the day and everything was normal. So, this is really strange for a number of reasons. But, Wolf, you know, it does beg the question – thank God we have not had in the City [inaudible] – in Manhattan proper, a major incident since that horrible Pan Am building one years ago that really ended the practice of helicopters landing on building roofs in Manhattan. There have been several tragedies, for sure. They've happened right at the helipads or out over the water. This one though begs the question about the sanctity of our airspace, not just in Manhattan, but all over this country, particularly in major urban areas, and we have to make sure the FAA has this under control. We have to make sure that they have the ability to really monitor closely, and if there is any pilot with any kind of problem or a situation where a pilot should not be flying, we have to make sure the federal government has the tools to make sure that happens, because, again, we had some kind of miracle today that whatever was going on with this pilot, he landed squarely on that roof. And as you saw, the huge hit that – that helicopter was obliterated, there was a fire on top of that, but it was all contained on that roof. Under another situation that helicopter could have gone right down in the middle of Times Square – who knows how many people might have been lost. So we've – we have to make sure the federal government does its job here and really makes sure that there are the safeguards in place that New Yorkers need and all Americans need to make sure something like this doesn't happen again.

Blitzer: I know you've got to run, Mayor, but, very quickly – were there any communications this pilot had after he took off and before the crash with anyone?

Mayor: So, Wolf, any pilot – any helicopter pilot who wanted to ask permission to go over Manhattan, particularly anywhere near Trump Tower, requires the permission of the tower at LaGuardia Airport. So far, very preliminary information – we have no indication that this pilot sought permission. We have no indication that he was in communication with LaGuardia Tower. That adds another element of mystery to this situation. An experienced pilot would know that they were not supposed to go over those big buildings in Manhattan without the approval of LaGuardia Tower, and we're going to confirm that. But, so far, we have no indication he was in contact with LaGuardia.

Blitzer: Mayor de Blasio, thanks so much for joining us. We'll stay in very close touch with you, with local law enforcement, with the Fire Department. Obviously – a horrible situation that could have been so much worse.

Thanks so much for joining us.

Mayor: Amen. Thanks, Wolf.