Officials Demand Ban on Helicopter Tourism

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In the wake of the fatal collision between a small fixed-wing airplane and a sightseeing helicopter, officials gathered today at the 30th Street Heliport on the west side to demand that the F.A.A. and the city ban tourism helicopter flights over the densest parts of Manhattan. Meanwhile, outside an East Harlem elementary school, Mayor Bloomberg said he was leaving the decision up to the F.A.A., telling reporters, "They don’t need me weighing in. They know certainly well what goes on there. They are professionals. I assume they’re going to wait until the National Transportation Safety Board to make its report and then they’ll make their decisions."

Regulating the Hudson River's lower airspace would probably require additional air-traffic control resources from Newark or La Guardia Airports, which are already spread thin. When asked whether the F.A.A. should build new towers to regulate air traffic over the Hudson, Bloomberg said a new tower would be expensive and would not necessarily prevent accidents from happening: "There's no reason you couldn't do that on the Hudson River, it's just to say, who's going to pay for it?"

At the heliport press conference, other officials—including Representatives Jerrold Nadler and Carolyn Maloney, Manhattan borough president Scott Stringer, and City Council members Christine Quinn and Gale Brewer—demanded an immediate end to "the Wild West approach to Hudson River airspace." Brewer, who has been trying to limit tourism helicopters for some time now, said, "These flights are loud, low and dangerous, hovering over tall residential buildings, parks and playgrounds." And according to Nadler, "It is unconscionable that the F.A.A. permits unregulated flights in a crowded airspace in a major metropolitan are."

At the crash area on the Hudson, police divers believe they have located the plane, a Piper single-engine aircraft, and are trying to pinpoint its exact location on the bottom of the Hudson River. The bodies of two plane passengers have not yet been found.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By John Del Signore in News on August 10, 2009 4:54 PM

Comments [rss]

ed_Extinct

read my post again. I am speaking of small air craft--- single engines... not ommercial flights.

ckl

Sometimes things happen.

F1Mikal

Stoopid idea to ban the helicopters...

Especially since the plane, hit the helicopter.

grrr.

hate knee jerk reactions.

guess we should ban cars also

ed_Extinct

We should ban trench coats--- not guns. It's the same reactionary mentality as with gun control. Immediately following columbine, guns were less of an isse than the trench coats used to hide them.

We're a very reactionary society--- we need to be proactive, but since there's too much beaurocratic redtape nothing gets accomplished, people continue to perish, and law makers, much like the public, play the blame game.

yytttt

actually banning planes sounds like a much better idea than banning helicopters... and i know many people will agree with banning cars.

ed_Extinct

Helicopters, whether news, stunt, police, army, or tourist are the issue. Helicopters aren't the problem.

The problem, which seems to be an on-going issue, is Teterboro Airport. The air disasters that happen most frequently around the Tri-State area are ALL out of Teterboro. The crash in Buffalo this past winter: Teterboro. Cory Lidle's plane: Teterboro. The numerous Cessna crashes over the last few years: Teterboro. Something is seriously wrong with the management at Teterboro; this is the FAA's first stop in my opinion--- as with what many commenters have already said, tourist helicopters aren't falling out of the sky on a daily, weekly, or even a yearly basis. Tens of thousands of flights take place every year with no issues.

Teterboro: now there is an issue.

ma bell

the problem here is the FAA. another poorly run federal government bureaucracy. the freaking federal government has no clue what they are doing with the tasks that they already have been assigned. it seems that each organization from the FAA, to the CIA, to NASA, to the USPS, are all gigantic clusterfucks. yet they have the audacity to think that they are going to take the healthcare system and miraculously transform it into a model of efficiency. gimme a freaking break.

ma bell

and what about the us airways flight, the american airlines flight that crashed after september 11. these weren't teterboro flights.

ma bell

the plane that crashed in buffalo this past winter took off from newark and had nothing to do with teterboro.

jaycjay

Uh... OK. What could have been done differently at Teterboro to prevent this from happening?

Teterboro is simply the source of much of the light plane traffic in the region, so statistically it follows that if there a problems with general aviation flights in the region there may be a Teterboro connection. The aiport's management, though, has no specific connection.

"Tens of thousands of flights take place every year with no issues."

And tens of thousands of flights leave Teterboro every year with no issues.

jaycjay

This doesn't seem that it can be blamed on "helicopter tourism" any more than it can be blamed on "light aircraft transportation." The problem actually came from intermixing the two.

Really in a crowded flight path like the Hudson, it'd make sense for altitude restrictions that would keep helicopters and fixed-wing craft separated. They're really not compatible. Instead of saying any aircraft under 1100 feet follows Visual Flight Rules, add in that helicopters have to stay under, say, 600 feet.

What I see as the cause of this accident is the plane having just entered VFR out of Teterboro's control, and the pilot not seeing the helicopter -- which had just taken off -- entering the traffic pattern from below him. Used to flying a fixed wing plane in areas unlikely to have helicopters jumping into the mix, he probably wasn't watching for an aircraft coming up from below where there are no airports.

He was banking and making a turn -- bleeding off airspeed -- and suddenly there was the helicopter. At that point even he suddenly did see it, banked with airspeed down and at low altitude, there was no way he could maneuver to miss it. His path was set. And since the plane came up from behind it, the more maneuverable helicopter never tried to avoid the collision.

longacre

Looking at the NTSB database, which goes back to 1962, there has not been a single fatal helicopter crash on Manhattan Island. Every fatal crash has occurred in the rivers. There were two fatal accidents at the Pan Am Worldport on top of the Pan Am building, but they involved helicopters that were parked, not flying.

Mr Mel

There was a news helicopter crash years ago with fatalities. It turned out the helicopter flew out of NJ and were leased by the radio station. The leasing company was investigated and they found stolen helicopters at their site. They were using unauthorized parts from these choppers to repair their aircraft. It was supposed have been corrected then but who knows. In this case it looks like the fixed wing plane may have been at fault.

JacqueMehoff

I didn't know there are 5 helicopter tour operators flying over the city. anyway, I don't know why I'm getting worked up over this, I have no dog in this fight.

and, nothing will be done anyway. and nothing should change. let them fly.

NannyState

This is little different than what was experienced over the Grand Canyon: Multiple collisions and tour aircraft crashes until restrictions were put in place. I doubt the tour chopper was the problem but with so many planes in the air, they aren't left with an acceptable margin for error. There needs to be a cull.

Atomische

I took a helicopter tour with Liberty back in 2006. We had a very proscribed route, with only one tiny crossing allowed over developed land, above the Bronx and Harlem. The pilot was in constant contact with both EWR and LGA towers, which I could hear because we all had headphones and were tuned to the pilot's channel (in listen-only mode, of course). One of the coolest things ever, and they were very professional and safety conscious.

sj

Yes! Ban tourist helicopter flights over the densest parts of Manhattan! Because tourist helicopters are raining down onto Manhattan streets and buildings on a daily...wait, what? It's never happened? Really? Oh, so banning tourist flights over Manhattan would be a stupid knee-jerk reactionary measure that, if it had been in place already, would have done nothing to prevent the incident on August 9th? Ah, got it.

Gothamist states that pols are demanding the banning of tourist helicopters "over the densest parts of Manhattan." Not the same as banning tourist helicopters entirely.

But don't they already not fly over Manhattan?

cool

Tourism helicopter flights are already banned over Manhattan.

endoubleu

How long ago was the last fatal small aircraft accident in NYC?

And how many un-prosecuted deaths of pedestrians and cyclists have occurred in the meantime?

JacqueMehoff

I know, I'd like to know why everyone is blaming the plane,

he was flying out of teterboro on his way to ocean city, hardly a barnstorming flight.

sj

Because initial eyewitness accounts (I know, never the most reliable but all we have at the moment) indicate that the plane seemed to lose control and strike the back of the helicopter.

JacqueMehoff

I still don't buy it, sorry.

I'm more a plane nut than a chopper guy, sorry TC.

all these news orgs need copters, it's all over the stations. what station gets in a Piper Lancer? Burt Rutan maybe. and there are copters that fly faster than these single engine planes.

longacre

Because most accounts so far indicate the plane flew into the back of the helicopter, meaning the pilot of the plane could have avoided it had he been paying attention. Also, even if he was just "coasting" any plane will still be moving much faster than a tour helicopter.

silver

Why not ban news copters?

Like that will ever happen.

longacre

The economy and technology is doing that on its own. There is now only one traffic helicopter and two news helicopters.

nicemarmot

Seriously??? I still see a LOT of helicopters over midtown. Some of them are definitely news copters. The police ones tend to be obvious. Are the rest all tourist helicopters?

longacre

Yep, there are actually three among the local channels (in an earlier post I said two), but I believe there were as many as five at one point. To cut costs, there were recently some sharing agreements made across network lines.

* Channels 4 and 5 share one chopper

* Channels 2 and 11 share one chopper

* Channel 7 still has their own chopper.

I believe WCBS880 is the only radio station who still flies a traffic copter.

This doesn't include suburban stations which occasionally cover NYC events. News 12 LI has its own chopper, not sure about the Jersey stations.

Outter Burrougher

everything i've read says it was most likely the plane that was at fault - is there any actual evidence to suggest otherwise.

and if you want to ban these helicopters based on noise, okay we can discuss, but don't pretend it has anything to do with concern for our safety.

Think2wice

Milk that tragedy! The sky is falling!

PKinNYC

fucking geese.

emilydickinson

This article should be included in the OED as the usage example for 'reactionary. What do Christine Quinn and Scott Stringer know about regulating airspace?

Statistically this is such a rare occurrence, banning helicopter rides is absurd. Crossing a street, riding the subway and taking a shower are all many times more dangerous than a 20 minute helicopter ride.