Forty fabulously wealthy individuals are on the waitlist to buy the AgustaWestland AW609 Tiltrotor, a wildly expensive hybrid helicopter-plane. Mayor Bloomberg is said to be at the top of the list. more ›

Sad news from Bellevue Hospital: a second passenger who was critically injured in the October 4 East River helicopter crash has died. Helen Tamaki, who was visiting from Sydney, Australia, passed away from complications caused by suffering a lack of oxygen to her brain, hospital officials said. Her death was ruled an accident. more ›

Two years ago, a sightseeing helicopter and a small private plane collided over the Hudson River, killing a total of 9 people and raising questions about air traffic safety. Now, the Post reports, "The federal government has struck a secret deal with operators of tourist helicopters -- allowing them to fly in airspace over the Hudson River supposed to be reserved only for small, private aircraft." To make matters worse, "Even the private pilots who use the corridor are not warned by FAA flight briefers to be on alert for the choppers they don’t expect to encounter." more ›

The model of the helicopter that crashed into the East River on Tuesday, killing one passenger, is apparently susceptible to rotor problems. And the National Transportation Safety Board has ruled out the pilot's belief that the chopper, which plunged into the river upside down, failed due to engine problems and are now investigating wind issues, as well as whether weight restrictions were followed. more ›

The pilot of the deadly helicopter crash in the East River on Tuesday has a less-than-savory past—he's a convicted felon for his role in a carefully planned robbery in Staten Island 32 years ago. more ›

According to the FDNY and @NYScanner, a helicopter is down near the FDR Drive at 34th Street and the East River and there are three people currently trapped inside. A FDNY rep noted that it was most likely a commercial helicopter because of the nearby 34th Street Heliport. We'll update as we know more, but here's streaming video. more ›

Well, would you look at that: After his spokesman said that taking a state helicopter to his son's baseball game was appropriate, NJ Governor Chris Christie has decided to reimburse the state. In fact, Christie is going to reimburse the beleaguered Garden State for all the personal trips he's made with the chopper. Good thing his wife has a high-paying job—and we bet he saved up a little something when he was a lobbyist. more ›

Michael Strasmich, a retired small business owner in his late 50s, was riding his bike over on the west side's Hudson River Greenway in March 2007 when a helicopter landed at the West 30th Street airport. According to his attorney, David Rankin, the aircraft’s top blade was approximately 30 feet from Strasmich at the time of the incident, and a gust of wind from the chopper knocked him off his bike! Strasmich has hit by another cyclist and injured, but it was all for a good cause: the helicopter was delivering important executives from the East Side of Manhattan to the West Side. more ›

Aviation authorities are attempting to give the whole city the peace and quiet Brooklyn argued for last year, cracking down on helicopter pilots who flout regulations on where helicopters can fly and how long they can hover there. And Sen. Daniel Squadron couldn't be happier. "This is a big deal," he told the Post. "Residents can’t continue to suffer from the scourge of helicopters." more ›

A group of tourists exited to see the city skyline from the air over the Hudson river got a slightly grittier view when they spotted a dead body floating off South Street Seaport from their helicopter tour. Manhattan Helicopters employee Angel Gonzalez said, “It looked like a bag of trash." more ›

Two West Point cadets who were stranded on an upstate mountain cliff for over eight hours were rescued in dramatic fashion by the NYPD early this morning. The two freshman cadets called 911 around 6 p.m. yesterday after they realized they were stuck on a cliff on Storm King Mountain; they were trapped on an 18-inch-wide rocky ledge, clinging to a tree as winds increased up to 50 mph and temperatures dropped below freezing. Both had hypothermia by the time authorities arrived in the area. more ›

That Jamaica Bay emergency landing a NYPD helicopter had to make yesterday? It turns out the helicopter was on "security patrol for President Obama's arrival at JFK" when it was trying to head back to NYPD Aviation headquarters at Floyd Bennett Field to refuel...but it ended up falling into the bay, just 30 yards from the helicopter pad. The NYPD believes it had a mechanical failure. more ›

Around 3:45 p.m., a NYPD helicopter made an emergency landing in Jamaica Bay. WPIX reports, "Police say the helicopter landed upright... while returning to a nearby police department airfield [at Floyd Bennett Field]. One of the officers suffered a minor injury. The chopper was carrying a three-man flight crew and two scuba divers who were on a routine security patrol. Flotation devices were deployed before it landed in the bay." It's unclear what caused the emergency landing, but last year, NYPD choppers made emergency landings in Maspeth, Queens and Brooklyn's Prospect Park. more ›

After much protest, and some claiming their sound can cause brain damage, the helicopter nightmare over Brooklyn may be coming to an end. According to the Brooklyn Paper the city instituted a no-fly zone over the entire borough today. The move will eliminate 30% of sightseeing helicopters, that often fly over for aerial views of DUMBO and Brooklyn Heights, as well as ban them from flying below 1,500 feet. There will be no short tours allowed, and no sightseeing over Brooklyn or the Brooklyn Bridge. more ›

The Office of Emergency Management wants you to know, "Five low-flying military type helicopters will be doing survey work in the Brooklyn area this afternoon." So the noise might not be those annoying tourist helicopters! more ›

The annoying, constant whirring of tour helicopters has been driving Brooklyn residents crazy, and today, lawmakers gathered to ask the city to enact measures to better "protect the safety of helicopter users and the quality of life of neighborhood residents" with these three steps: "Implement a 311 protocol for receiving, responding to and addressing helicopter complaints; Increase oversight and planning of the helicopter industry, with a focus on reducing, if not eliminating, tourist helicopter traffic; and Conduct an assessment of security risks involved in storing fuel at the downtown heliport." more ›

Financial sector fat cats have been looking underfed of late, that’s why we were relieved to hear about this newest development: helicopters that shuttle them to and from Wall Street in eight minutes flat. For $200/day Liberty Helicopters will offer group rides—accommodating up to six passengers—between New Jersey and lower Manhattan. It seems showy and wasteful, sure, but Matt Zuccaro, president of Helicopter Association International reminds us that for the business community, “Time is money.” Just think of it as cab sharing for the obscenely wealthy. more ›

If you spot a low flying helicopter hovering over Manhattan tonight (more specifically, between 6:30 and 10 p.m.): do not panic. According to NotifyNYC this is all for a movie shoot, and they'll mostly be over Midtown and Wall Street. Hmm... what movie could it be? more ›

As we noted yesterday, ABC News is slowly releasing some of the 2,779 new photos of the 9/11 attacks obtained from the archives of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, in response to a Freedom of Information Act request. The images speak for themselves, but today Newsday published an interview with the NYPD helicopter pilot who took many of the photos, including the one seen here. Detective Gregory Semendinger spent three hours flying about the site that morning, doing double duty as a co-pilot and photographer, scanning the rooftops in hopes of spotting someone to save. more ›

These aerial photos of billowing smoke, collapsing buildings and scattering debris were released recently for the first time. They're from the archives of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, originally collected as part of the investigation of the 9/11 attacks. In response to a Freedom of Information Act request, ABC received nine burned CDs containing 2,779 pictures; many had been taken from police helicopters and had never before been seen by the public. Twelve, including the ones shown here, are posted to its website. more ›

Even though the average New Yorker has a smaller carbon footprint and uses about one-half less energy than other Americans, our Mayor — who has been widely praised for his ambitious environmental agenda — might be one of "the worst individual polluters ever to hold public office," according to the Times. more ›

This charming aerial video of the Coney Island amusement district is about four months old—eons in Internet time—so if you've seen it already, please do gloat in the comments. NYC The Blog spotted it today, and reports that it's the work of one Jason Lam, founder of aerial photography company Sky Shutter. Lam uses a customized radio control toy helicopter to shoot videos like these, but it's unclear where he gets the cheesy synthesized baroque music to accompany it. (We suggest muting the sound and replacing it with "Coney Island Baby.") more ›

How many helicopter scenes are in this movie anyway? WCBS is reporting that there will be yet another two days of low-flying helicopters over Manhattan — both today and tomorrow from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. This time around the locations include midtown, Wall Street, and the George Washington, Manhattan and Verrazano bridges. See Matt Damon's stunt double dangling from a chopper over the East River? You know where to send your pics. more ›

Some Brooklyn Heights residents say the cacophony from helicopters using the downtown Manhattan heliport is ruining their nice little neighborhood, with eight to ten flights landing every hour at the downtown heliport, just across the East River. Resident Neil Calet tells the Post, "We can no longer sit on our balcony because even nose-to-nose conversation is impossible." (Which means they probably can't hear the tiny violin we're playing, either.) Some fear it's about to get worse, because in April the city will shift sightseeing tours from the West 30th Street heliport to the downtown heliport. You gonna take that, Brooklyn Heights? more ›

If you rise and shine to the sights and sounds of helicopters darting over Manhattan tomorrow: don't fret. We just got word that "a movie shoot will be taking place in the vicinity of 12th Avenue and 23rd Street in Manhattan from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m." and you should "expect to see filming activity in the area including helicopters making sharp turns and maneuvers." If only Air Force One gave this kind of warning. Send us photos if you see the action; and try to figure out which one of these movies currently filming here it might be... perhaps the mysterious Untitled! more ›

Some reporter was disgraceful enough to ask Mayor Bloomberg about his choice to take a helicopter to the U2 concert at Giants Stadium Thursday, when he could have, say, taken NJ Transit (ha) and left a smaller carbon footprint. more ›

Reacting to the FAA's revelation that an air traffic controller at Teterboro Airport was on a personal call while also handling the flight route of the small plane that crash into a helicopter last weekend, the National Air Traffic Controllers Union's Barrett Burns said, "For the FAA to sit there and allude or make accusations that the controller had anything to do with this accident is absolutely absurd and very insulting." The FAA suspended the controller, as well as his supervisor who left the room, though the agency also said, "We have no reason to believe at this time that these actions contributed to the accident." And now the National Transportation Safety Board says that the controller didn't warn the plane about another small aircraft before the crash: WCBS 2 reports, "The board said radar data show that there were several blips in the plane's path, including the helicopter. The board said it wasn't until controllers at nearby Newark airport alerted the Teterboro controller to the potential collision that he tried unsuccessfully to contact the pilot." The crash killed nine people, six in the helicopter and three on the plane. more ›

New footage from a tourist on a Circle Line cruise showing last Saturday's collision between a small plane and a sightseeing helicopter was released tonight, just as the FAA announced that the air traffic controller and his supervisor at Teterboro Airport in NJ were suspended. Apparently the air traffic controller was on the phone with his girlfriend while handling the small plane's flight and his supervisor had left the room. The FAA said, in a statement, "We learned that the controller handling the Piper flight was involved in apparently inappropriate conversations on the telephone at the time of the accident... We also learned that the supervisor was not present in the building as required." more ›