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With tens of thousands of helicopter tours above Manhattan each year, some are questioning once again how wise it is for there to be so many chopper rides offered to the public right above the heart of the city. Some companies won't offer rides above the dense city streets because they say that it's not worth the risk if something were to go wrong. New York Helicopter Charter's owner Michael Roth told the Post, "If you have an engine failure at 1,600 feet and you are on top of the Empire State Building, there's no way you are going to autorotate [glide with rotors turning] to the East River to make a landing. These are machines. Things can happen." And would you have guessed that Manhattan residents have begun complaining about noise from the helicopters? Councilwoman Gale Brewer raised the issue when one of her constituents on West 83rd Street told her, "There is no silence. It's like there is a helicopter perpetually." Last summer one Manhattan operator agreed to phase out their flights. And if urban choppers do become a thing of the past altogether, there's always hot air balloons.
Choppers Above Manhattan Making for Unfriendly Skies
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"With tens of thousands of helicopters now giving tours above Manhattan"
I don't think you meant 10,000 flying machines, but tens of thousands of individual tours. Both figures are wrong. We need an editor here.
Funny, I live in Manhattan and it's noisy whether there are helicopter tours or not. "There is no silence" - well duh, you live in Manhattan.
The Central Park balloon is full of helium, not hot air.
To be clear, the operator which "agreed" to phase out operation is run by Alvin Trenk, who is also a stake holder in the operating company that was recently awarded the contract to operate the Downtown Heliport. So, realistically, all of the flights that Air Pegasus is phasing out of the 30th street heliport, are being phased into the downtown heliport. Also, the only reason that they agreed to phase out tourist flights, is because they were being sued by the Friends of the Hudson River, to close the 30th street heliport. For more information and to sign the petition against helicopter noise, go to www.helifreenyc.org
A helicopter flew over my nuilding as I read this post. Hilarious. I agree there's too much of it. It's wasteful. Ban it or tax the fucking hell out of it.
How about all those tourist tax dollars lost? I bet it would come to about ten or twenty thousand dollars. How about some idiot just flies his copter into a building? Although if he was going to do that he would just do it anyway.
Let's see:
Initial altitude: 1,600 ft AGL;
Sink rate: 1,500 feet per minute;
Autorotation time: 1 minute (need some time to lower the collective);
Airspeed for maximum range autorotation: 90 kts;
Maximum autorotation distance: 1.5 nautical miles, or 1.7 miles;
Distance from Empire State Building to East River: 1 mile.
So I wouldn't say there's no way to autorotate to the East River. Of course it also depends on helicopter type, wind direction, and pilot skill, but autorotation in this situation doesn't look completely unrealistic.
You forgot to factor in whether you'd have a clear path to the river. Unless you can go directly east on 34th Street, I'd say there's a good chance there would be tall obstacles in your way.
I wasn't saying auto would be safe, only that it might be possible.
Of course I would prefer not to see single-engine helicopters so low over Manhattan. That's what multi-engine machines are for.
I lived on the Hudson toward downtown for 2 years. The copters were loud but I was able to tune them out after like two weeks.
People really will protest anything here.
The sheer amount of helicopter traffic flying willy-nilly over the Upper West Side of Manhattan is bound to result in an eventual collision. The general traffic up and down the Hudson River corridor with many of the helicopters cutting over the west 80's includes sight-seeing tours, corporate, law-enforcement, medical personnel, news teams, and shuttles to Long Island. Extreme turns, flying at lower altitudes than necessary, i.e. when there is no emergency, and the concentration of flights should be addressed. Spread them out and/or limit them. Why not fly the Hampton's wealthy commuters,etc. over midtown financial district whenever possible? The consistent deafening drone and intense vibrations of helicopters creates a living hell for many New Yorkers. Enough!