Why are helicopters hovering over manhattan

We'd agree. It's also crazy over the Two Bridges waterfront with those non-stop "Open Door" helicopter tours. Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer added the "wild, wild West" of helicopter rides only benefits rich people and tourists. The bill, as written in October , would ban helicopter flights over cities with at least 8 million people or with a density of over 25, people per square mile—unless it is for public health and safety or operations to support construction or infrastructure maintenance.

During a press conference beneath the noisy helicopter traffic at a heliport in Lower Manhattan, lawmakers announced the bill would be re-introduced on Monday. Mar 7, PM. Those aircraft are allowed to go wherever they want, whenever they want, as long as they stay below that 1,foot ceiling. Having all those helicopters buzzing around unregulated airspace is not only annoying but can be dangerous too: Since , there have been 30 fatal helicopter wrecks in the city, including the chopper that crashed onto a midtown building in , killing its pilot, and the sightseeing helicopter that was owned and operated by Liberty Helicopters and booked through New Jersey-based FlyNYON that fell into the East River in , causing five deaths.

And every New Yorker of a certain age remembers the day in when a helicopter broke up atop the Pan Am Building , throwing its rotor blades and other parts into the streets around Grand Central Terminal. There are now also several commuter chopper outfits buzzing around the city, notably the Uber-for-helicopters start-up Blade, which has quickly cornered the market on zipping business executives to and from the Hamptons. This means that helicopters operate under visual flight rules and are not under the direct control of air traffic.

Helicopter flights over the City may originate from various airports, heliports, or helipads within the tri-state area and may be destined to any of these various airports, heliports or helipads.

The purpose of a specific helicopter flight may not be immediately apparent from ground level, but may be classified as:. The City does not have the authority to regulate tour flights that originate outside of NYC. Tour or sightseeing flights are defined as Point A to Point A.

These flights may originate from a number of airports, heliports, or helipads around the tri-state area for the purpose of viewing the city skyline.

All sightseeing helicopters must depart and approach the DMH from the south, maximizing aircraft distances from Brooklyn Bridge Park. Helicopters will then follow the center of the Hudson River north to either 79th Street, or Yankee Stadium, before returning south center-west of the Hudson River.

All flights will fly over the Hudson River at 1, feet or above to reduce noise, barring any Federal Aviation Administration restrictions. Tour flights that originate outside of the DMH or outside of NYC are not required to follow the approved tour flight routes and may legally fly over land. The City intends to use the data collected from this survey to generally add and improve City services.

Survey participation is voluntary. A crash that occurred in June of caused several officials to ask the FAA to ban helicopters from flying in the city. If helicopters fly any higher than 1, feet above the tallest building, they would need to be directed by the air traffic controllers at LaGuardia Airport.

This is one of the reasons why that limit was set, and also why some people think it is inappropriate. In fact, many members of Congress and other officials say that there is too much risk to the people on the ground to allow helicopters to fly over the city. Despite the restrictions, it is always possible for a helicopter to crash into a crowd, which would be disastrous.

In the past several years, there have been tourists who died while participating in a tourism helicopter tour — the latest was in March of that killed five people from Italy. Not that any death is insignificant. In fact, one death from a helicopter crash is one too many.