If Brooklyn Councilman Carlos Menchaca gets his way, commercial helicopter tours in New York City might soon be a thing of the past.
The Daily News reports that the bill, still in draft form, is supported by Battery Park residents who live in close proximity to the Downtown Manhattan Teleport, the city's only commercial helipad since 2010. "I’m a homeowner, and this is driving me out of my neighborhood,” Delia von Neuschatz, founder of Stop the Chop, told the tabloid. "It’s an onslaught of nonstop noise." And, for good measure, "It’s ruining the quality of life in this city.”
About 200 people are currently employed by New York's five commercial helicopter operators, which conducted 33,378 tourist flights between April and October of 2013, according to Economic Development Corporation data obtained by Stop the Chop via a Freedom of Information request. These flights operate every day of the week, all year long, between 8 and 10 hours daily.
The legislation would not impact the reportedly 30,000 annual charter flights that take off from the Downtown Manhattan Teleport—conducted by the likes of Blade and UberChop.
This is not the first time the grating chop of a helicopter blade over the Hudson has gotten New Yorkers riled up. "I'm having flashbacks because it sounds exactly like being back in Vietnam again," said one concerned Brooklyn Heights resident, bemoaning the tours back in 2011. Since the early aughts, neighborhood-wide bans in Brooklyn and Manhattan have done little more than redirect the noise traffic elsewhere.
Brian Tolbert, the heliport's manager, counters that, earlier this year, commercial helicopters agreed to stop flying over land, in an effort to curb noise pollution.
"The helicopter tourism industry has always been great for New York. We follow all the rules and don’t cause any trouble,” Tolbert told the News.
Sure, if you don't include those terrifying and fatal crashes in the Hudson River.
