Results tagged “helicoptertours”

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.

After a long dispute with the Hudson River Park Trust, the heliport operator at West 30th Street and the Hudson has agreed to phase out its flights for tourists by 2010. The NY Times reports Air Pegasus will cut its tourist flights over the next two years, "capped at 25,000 for the year that ends on May 31, 2009, then to 12,500 over the next 10 months, then halted completely."