Stop The Chop NY/NJ is a grassroots organization formed to reduce helicopter noise and ban nonessential flights over the NYC Metropolitan Area.
IMPORTANT HEARING UPCOMING!
On April 16, 2024 @ 10am, the NYC Council will be holding a hearing on legislation to ban nonessential helicopter flights at city-owned heliports. This hearing is critical to our efforts!
actions you can take now
to close NYC-owned heliports to nonessential flights, ban nonessential helicopters & regulate our airspace.
Learn more about nonessential (tourist & commuter/charter) helicopters in the New York City metropolitan region
Bad For Our Cities
Millions of residents live and work along these tourist flight paths. With lax passenger screening, these tourist and charter helicopters pose a serious security and safety risk, as well as diminishes our quality of life. The incessant and loud non-essential helicopter flights over our homes, parks and open spaces detract from the urban oases residents and tourists need as a respite from busy streets. Lastly, we learned during the pandemic, it’s even more important that helicopters don’t pollute our air space with residents working and studying at home.
Bad For Public Health
Excessive helicopter traffic creates extreme noise which is believed to cause a large range of serious physical and mental health issues. It also can impair memory, lower reading and speech comprehension, and reduce cognitive abilities in children and adults. With over 30 NYC helicopter crashes since 1980 (many resulting in serious injuries and fatalities), the risk of bodily harm to residents and tourists by nonessential helicopters flying above our densely populated area is too great a danger to allow.
Bad For The Environment
Each helicopter produces 950 pounds of carbon dioxide per hour. The average car produces 22 pounds per hour. Eight choppers idling on the heliport is like 340 cars idling. Fossil-fuel guzzling nonessential helicopters, such as those used for tourist joyrides, are the antithesis of environmentally-friendly modes of transport. With the extreme negative effects of climate change looming for coastal cities such as NYC (eg., rising sea levels and ensuing floods; deadly heat waves), we must end the use of such carbon-intensive, unnecessary aircraft incessantly flying in our airspace for no good reasons.
Bad For The Economy
Helicopter crashes disrupt businesses and utilize expensive emergency services; helicopter noise likely reduces real estate values and negatively impacts outdoor businesses, festivals and public events. Helicopter companies unfairly externalize their costs to society (eg., environmental, medical and emergency services, reduction of mental and emotional well-being due to the stress of repetitive extreme noise conditions).
Stop the Chop NY/NJ is a 501(c)(3) tax exempt grassroots organization formed with the purpose of educating the public about the dangers to health, quality of life, the environment, and national security presented by the ceaseless non-essential helicopter sightseeing tours and commuter flights that fly over the NY Metropolitan area. We were an active member of former Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer’s “Helicopter Task Force.”
Please help us spread the word about the dangers of these nonessential tourist joyrides and unnecessary helicopter commutes by making a tax deductible donation today.