Replacing Helicopters with Low-Carbon Maritime Shipping at Downtown Manhattan Heliport – Center for Post Carbon Logistics

April 11, 2024 – While the 2023 RFP for Pier 6 includes provisions for some marine freight usage at the site, the service is secondary to existing heliport operations. In pursuing this vision the City is foregoing the opportunity to realize Pier 6’s full potential as a marine freight terminal while still preserving heliport capacity for essential flight operations. This plan is a perilous departure from the City’s purported green freight and sustainability objectives. Read more…

A Noise Tax Can Ground City Helicopters – Streetsblog

April 18, 2024 – Here’s a surefire way to curb helicopter noise over New York: tax it. Not the noise, per se, but the flights that generate it. State bills by Sen. Kirsten Gonzalez and Assembly Member Bobby Carroll (S7216B and A7638B) would sock a new $400 “noise tax” on “nonessential” flights departing or landing at the city’s heliports — a deserved fee that, like cigarette taxes, soda surcharges and alcohol excise fees before it, will dramatically reduce flights. The concept is known as externality pricing. Nonessential sightseeing and “commuting” helicopter flights would be subject to the tax, but not medical, news-gathering or, sorry to say, NYPD flights. Read more…

City Council Considers Limiting Non-Essential Helicopter Travel as Noise Complaints Surge – NY1

April 17, 2024 – Years of noise and pollution complaints have caused City Council members to introduce several pieces of legislation that would limit the use of nonessential helicopters in the city’s airspace. Residents living near the city’s helipads told NY1 chopper noise has grown particularly bad in recent years. According to city officials, nearly 30,000 tourist trips originate from the Pier 6 heliport near Wall Street in addition to thousands of other nonessential flights — and noise complaints to 311 have more than doubled in recent years, topping 59,000 in 2023. Read more…

A Citizens Initiation in NYC Ending All Non-Essential Helicopter Flights in the Five Boroughs – Philips Turner

April 17, 2024 – If you live in New York City, you’ve probably noticed the growing plethora of noisy helicopters flying above our five boroughs, often taking wealthy people to area airports and to second homes in the Hamptons and Upstate. I engaged in some local civic activism on April 16, going to a rally and testifying at a City Council hearing, advocating the end of all non-essential helicopter flights. Read more…

Resolutions Cracking Down on Helicopter Noise, Safety Heard By NYC Council – CBS News

April 16, 2024 – “New York City needs to be at the forefront of the electrification movement for the sake of our neighbors, our planet, and to remain an industry leader in climate action,” Majority Leader Amanda Farías said in a statement. The resolutions are sponsored by Farías and councilmembers Gale Brewer, James Gennaro and Lincoln Restler. They were joined at a press conference Tuesday by a number of other New York lawmakers and supporters, including Comptroller Brad Lander, Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine and actor Amy Schumer. The city says more than 59,000 helicopter noise complaints were made to 311 in 2023, compared to over 26,000 in 2022. According to city data, there have been over 8,000 helicopter noise complaints so far this year. Read more…

Helicopter noise complaints surge in New York City – NBC News 4

April 16, 2024 – It has long been a source of frustration for thousands of New Yorkers, and now helicopter noise complaints have really taken off. City Council is taking a closer look to the problem, considering taking action to make things a little quieter. NBC New York’s Andrew Siff reports. Read more and see video…

NYC Residents Fume at ‘Hellish Helicopter Highway’ as Lawmakers Seek To Ban Non-essential Choppers – NY Post

April 16, 2024 – Big Apple residents are fuming at the city’s so-called “hellish helicopter highway” they say is causing excessive noise and pollution as lawmakers seek to ban “non-essential” chopper flights. “We can’t take it anymore, It’s too much,” Dororta Lukaszynska, who has lived in Tribeca for two decades, told The Post on Tuesday.  “Noise pollution is a proven health hazard and we’re subjected to these non-essential helicopter flights — the tourists and the commuter flights — seven days a week, at all hours,” Upper West Side resident and chair of Stop the Chop, Melissa Elstein added. Read more…

NYC Lawmakers Seek To Ban Non-Essential Chopper Flights From City Heliports – AMNY

April 16, 2024 – “We can no longer enjoy a peaceful day in our parks, along our waterfronts, or in our homes,” added Melissa Elstein, an Upper West Sider who chairs anti-whirlybird advocacy group Stop The Chop NY/NJ. “Many if not most of our parks and waterways have become hellish helicopter highways instead of providing a peaceful respite from the busy city streets.” Read more…

City Council Hearing on Unnecessary Helicopters Flights Next Tuesday – Brooklyn Heights Blog

April 10, 2024 – Stop The Chop NY NJ advises us that on Tuesday, April 16 starting at 10:00 AM the New York City Council will hold a hearing on proposed legislation that would ban unnecessary (tourist and charter) helicopter flights, including all such flights to or from the Downtown Heliport directly accross the East River from Brooklyn Heights, and the 34th Street (East Side) Heliport, which generates much traffic that passes above or near the Heights. There will be a 9:00 AM rally in City Hall Park before the hearing. You may testify in person at the hearing, participate by Zoom, or, if work or other commitments prevent it, submit written testimony. Read more…

Manhattan Downtown Heliport Aims To Be Country’s First Electric Air Hub – Crains

November 14, 2023 – Melissa Elstein, board chair of Stop the Chop NY/NJ, who has long-advocated for quieter skies told Crain’s she is ‘cautiously optimistic’ about the electric aircraft but stressed that the Adam’s administration should not solely pin its hopes on eVTOLs to replace raucous, fossil-fuel helicopters. ‘We support anything that will make the current situation better with some caveats,’ said Elstein. ‘We don’t know at the moment how many of these eVTOLs would be allowed, what their flight paths would be, how low they would be flying— so there’s still a lot of unanswered questions.’ Read more…

City Plans to Transform Downtown Manhattan Heliport Into Electric Transport Hub – West Side Spirit

November 14, 2023 – “We will not only put New York City at the cutting edge of sustainable flight technology while addressing a persistent quality-of-life issue with helicopter noise, but also get trucks off the road and make our streets safer,” (Mayor) Adams boasted at the heliport, where he held a press conference on November 14. Read more…

Brooklyn May Get Reprieve From Manhattan’s Noisy Helicopters – Brooklyn Eagle

November 14, 2023 – Mayor Eric Adams and New York City’s Economic Development Corporation President and CEO Andrew Kimball announced a plan Monday to create a hub for sustainable electric helicopters. Read more…

If You Take a Helicopter to Long Island You Look Like an Asshole – Hellgate

August 1, 2023 – The assertion in this headline should be a relatively uncontroversial one. We are living through a climate crisis, Long Island is served by an excellent commuter rail system, helicopters are very loud. Read more…

HAI-FAA symposium seeks to address citizen concerns in NYC-NJ region – Vertical

June 23, 2023 – Operators, FAA, law enforcement, airport representatives, Helicopter Association International (HAI), and other stakeholders from the New York City–New Jersey region met last week at a joint FAA-HAI Helicopter Symposium to proactively address the concerns of residents with helicopter operations in their area. Read more…

Rob Menendez introduces bill to discourage air tours over areas like Liberty State Park – Hudson County View

June 14, 2023 – The bill would require the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and National Park Service (NPS) to consult with communities under air tour routes and take into consideration the impact on them when entering into Air Tour Management Voluntary Agreements with helicopter operators. Read more…

Noise Could Take Years Off Your Life, Here’s How – NY Times

June 9, 2023 – We used a professional sound meter to measure the din of daily life and talked to scientists about the health risks it can pose. Read more…

NY Senate OKs ‘Noise Tax’ On NYC Helicopter, Seaplane Rides – Law360

June 8, 2023 – New York would impose a “noise tax” on certain helicopter and seaplane rides in New York City under a bill the state Senate approved Thursday. Read more…

Amid fight over helicopter noise, private heliport coming to Jersey City waterfront – NJ.com

May 30, 2023 – In Jersey City’s Newport neighborhood, private helicopter transportation might be either the new amenity that attracts people into the luxury waterfront community, or one that becomes an annoyance to those who live there. Read more…

New York politicians urge Gov. Hochul to end non-essential helicopter flights – Quiet Communities

Spring 2023 – Rep. Jerrold Nadler was joined by Representatives Dan Goldman, Adriano Espaillat, Yvette Clarke, Nydia Velazquez, Jamaal Bowman and Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez in his letter to Gov. Kathy Hochul and Mayor Eric Adams directing them to end non-essential helicopter flights from several New York City heliports.  They noted that over the past several years, non-essential flights have increased, bringing increased noise and other environmental hardships to many New York residents. Read more…

Representatives Nadler, Goldman Lead Letter to Governor Hochul and Mayor Adams Calling for the End of Non-Essential Helicopter Flights from New York City Heliports – Press Release

May 24, 2023 – While we work to secure meaningful solutions to these concerns in the 2023 Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Reauthorization Act, we request that you move to end non-essential helicopter flights from New York City’s West 30th Street Heliport, East 34th Street Heliport, and Downtown Manhattan Heliport. The West 30th Street Heliport is owned by Hudson River Park Trust, a partnership between New York State and New York City. The East 34th Street Heliport and Downtown Manhattan Heliport are owned by New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC).” Read more…

NYC Scraps Manhattan Helipad Contract – Daily News

April 20, 2023 – The New York City government’s economic development arm has scrapped a downtown Manhattan heliport contract and is launching an entirely new bidding process for operating the pad — an unusual move that comes after conflict of interest concerns began whirling over the aviation firm initially picked for the lucrative deal. Read more…

Menendez Joins Forces With New York Officials in Demanding Answers on Tourist Helicopters – NJ.com

March 15, 2023 – A New Jersey congressman joined forces with New York state officials in Manhattan Wednesday morning on an issue that made itself apparent every five to 10 minutes or so — the constant stream of tourist helicopters and the noise they rain down on both sides of the Hudson River. Read more…

Hearing on NYC helipad contract award cancelled amid conflict of interest concerns – NY Daily News

March 3, 2023 – New York City’s economic development arm abruptly cancelled a Friday hearing on awarding a contract for operating a downtown Manhattan helipad — after the Daily News reported that conflict of interest concerns have emerged about the aviation company in line for the lucrative deal. Read more…

Two bills seek to quiet choppers ferrying tourists and Hamptons denizens – Crain’s NY Business

February 28, 2023 – Members with advocacy group Stop the Chop NY/NJ, which has been a key player driving the push for regulation, say they are optimistic that the bills and other measures will move forward.“We’re really heartened that the elected officials at the city, state and federal levels are really starting to pay attention to this issue,” said Adrian Benepe, a former New York City parks commissioner and a member of Stop the Chop. “And I would say it’s largely because they’re really hearing from their constituents, who are fed up with helicopter noise and air pollution that seems to be getting worse every day.” Read more…

Congressman calls for helicopter ban over Liberty State Park after federal flight plan is finalized – NJ.com

February 28, 2023 – The serene setting of Liberty State Park is about to get noisier, and not from a sudden influx of some loud migratory birds or wildlife. No the buzz will come from the whirling blades of tour helicopters, the collateral damage from agreements between a group of tour operators and the National Park Service and the FAA. Read more…

Rotors Over Waiheke, or Paradise Drowned Out – Newsroom (NZ)

January 12, 2023 – In New York City, helicopter noise complaints about helicopters went from around 1000 a year in 2018 to 23,000 in 2022, according to an article in Bloomberg last month. The problem is twofold: more flights (tourists checking out the Statue of Liberty, rich business people heli-commuting from holiday homes out of town, and busy executives going from downtown to the city’s JFK airport); plus more people working from home, meaning they are less likely to be in sound-proofed offices, and more likely to be in their apartment with the windows open. “The noise of helicopter taxis…is so loud Lara O’Brien has to keep her Zoom calls on mute when she works from her Brooklyn home,” the article says. “‘They rattle our apartment. The floor shakes’.”  Read more…

Sound Off On Helicopter Noise, Says Park Slope Assembly Member – NY Patch

December 28, 2022 – “The Air Tour Voluntary Agreement for National Parks of New York Harbor seeks to set new management rules for flights around federally owned sights, like the Statue of Liberty and Governor’s Island, namely by setting a new, 1,000 foot aerial setback for tourist flights. Many groups, including the anti-helicopter advocacy group, Stop The Chop, says the plan will increase noise and helicopter traffic, according to a sample letter the group published in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle.” Read more…

NY Legislators Push To Close West 30th Street Heliport – AINonline

December 19, 2022 – New York state and city legislators said Friday that they plan to introduce legislation to permanently close New York City’s West 30th Street heliport (KJRA) in response to Gov. Kathy Hochul’s veto of the “Stop the Chop” act. In a written statement, State Sen. Brad Hoylman (D-27) said, “I plan to redouble my efforts to limit chopper flights over our communities. I will be introducing legislation to amend the Hudson River Park Act to close the West 30th Street heliport in the Hudson River Park. Read more…

Hochul Vetoes Bill Letting New Yorkers Sue For Helicopter Noise – STREETSBLOG NYC

December 16, 2022 – “The legislation by West Side lawmakers State Sen. Brad Hoylman and Assembly Member Dick Gottfried would have allowed New Yorkers to bring legal action against helicopter companies for unreasonable and sustained noise, with fines ranging between $1,000-$10,000 per day.” Read more…

New Yorkers Are Fed Up With Helicopter Noise – Bloomberg

December 14, 2022 – As New Yorkers settled into work-from-home routines during the pandemic, many began noticing the relentless drone of helicopters from tourist charters and wealthy air commuters. They rattle apartments and disrupt Zoom calls, and New Yorkers are fed up. Thousands have complained to the city, with 311 calls about the noise skyrocketing from 3,332 in 2019 to nearly 26,000 last year.  Read more…

Going in Circles: Laws to Tame Helicopters Struggle to Take Off – STREETSBLOG NYC

December 12, 2022 – Helicopters are like the weather: Everyone complains about them, but no one fixes the problem. But [Melissa] Elstein, of Stop the Chop [NY/NJ], said that the city is clearly not willing to use that control in any serious way, since officials have shown no intention of cutting more trips via the upcoming new contract at the Downtown Heliport like they did in 2016. “They’re maintaining that same number that’s way too high,” she said. “It’s the status quo. This is a perfect opportunity, they could reduce the number of sightseeing tours in that agreement, and they haven’t.” Read more…

NYC’s Proposed Private Helicopter Ban Is One Of The Best Ideas In Years – Jacobin

December 11, 2022 – “Local environmentalists — especially a single-issue coalition called Stop the Chop— have been advocating for the helicopter ban for several years, and they have some powerful allies.” Read more…

Hellish Heliports: NYC’s Chopper Complaints Nearly Top Rat-Related Gripes – West 42nd Street.NYC

December 6, 2022 – The New York City Council held a special hearing with the Economic Development Corporation (EDC) on Tuesday to discuss solutions for the future sustainability, safety and quality of life issues surrounding the city’s heliports. Council members stated that after rodent-related complaints, helicopter noise was the second-most documented source of stress for constituents. Read more…

Tainted Fuel Could Have Caused Choppers To Crash in NYC – NYPost

December 5, 2022 – More than 10 of the helicopters that carry tourists and executives around the Big Apple were gassed up with fuel containing metal particles that could have caused them to fall from the sky, The Post has learned. Read more…

Live on Newsline w/ Brigitte Quinn – 1010 WINS

November 30, 2022 – Eric Katzman with Stop the Chop NY/NJ joins Newsline to discuss their push to have non-essential helicopter flights banned in NYC. Read more…

Helicopter Noise Over NYC Frustrates Residents – WPIX 11

November 30, 2022 – The constant buzzing of helicopter traffic over New York is getting in the way of the holiday spirit. Complaints about chopper noise flooded the city’s emergency phone lines during Thanksgiving. A City Council committee met to discuss the matter Tuesday about the issue that’s been hovering over the five boroughs for years. Many want to end non-essential flights and shut down three city-owned heliports. Read more…

Swap The Chop? – The Broadsheet

November 21, 2022 – “Friends of Liberty State Park opposes the plan because it would send loud and environmentally destructive helicopters directly over the park. Stop the Chop NY/NJ also opposes the plan—and, in general, any non-essential helicopter traffic over Lower Manhattan—from environmental and security perspectives.” Read more…

Liberty State Park Friends Fight Against Commercial Air Tour Agreement – Hudson Reporter

November 21, 2022 – Friends of Liberty Park , NYC-based Stop the Chop and many other LSP activists have rallied against against the newly drafted plan. “Routing helicopters for tourists over our urban oasis–Liberty State Park—is unacceptable,” tweeted out newly-elected congressman Rob Menendez. Read more…

NYC gave helipad operators $1.4 million in COVID rent breaks – NY Post

October 19, 2022 – The city gave the two companies tasked with running the Big Apple’s heliports — primarily used by high rollers and well-off tourists — at least $1.4 million in breaks on rent payments during the coronavirus pandemic, The Post has learned.

The broad outlines of the sweet arrangement between the Economic Development Corporation and one of the operators, Saker Aviation, were quietly disclosed in a recent company filing with the federal Securities and Exchange Commission. Read more…

Hey, Air Taxi! Why You Will Soon Hail a Cab to the Sky – The Observer

June 24, 2022 – eVTOLs are near ready to take off in the nation’s busiest cities. But they suffer from the same problem as helicopters: they’re noisy. Read more…

New Yorkers are Fed Up with Helicopters Noise from Tourists and the Rich Flying to the Hamptons. A New Law May Curb It. – The Observer

June 23, 2022 – Complaints about the city’s non-essential helicopters — used for sightseeing and trips to the Hamptons — have risen dramatically. New legislation looks to ban the flights. Read more…

‘My Apartment Vibrates’: New Yorkers Fight Noisy Helicopter Rides – Barron’s

June 12, 2022 – After a period of blissful silence overhead due to the Covid-19 pandemic, New Yorkers are dealing again with a familiar problem: noisy helicopters. Read more…

In New York They Are Fed Up With Helicopters: A Law Could Leave Them on the Ground – Zyri

June 10, 2022 – “With the biggest helicopters, my apartment vibrates“ complains Melissa Elstein, one of those responsible for Stop the Chop NY/NJ (Stop the Helicopters), an organization of noise-affected volunteers fighting to ban helicopters: non-essential flights such as the tourist ones and those used by millionaires.“ Read more…

First Bill To Curb Helicopter Noise and Reduce Non-Essential Flights Passes Both Houses of State Legislature – West Side Rag

June 5, 2022 – “It is our hope that the threat of a lawsuit will stem the plague of sightseeing flights coming from New Jersey that hover over Central Park and ruin the park for thousands of residents and tourists for the enjoyment of a select few,” Assembly Member Gottfried said. “Our ‘Stop the Chop’ Act will also prohibit use of the Hudson River Park heliport by helicopters that engage in sightseeing.”Both he and Senator Hoylman thanked “the numerous New Yorkers, advocates, our colleagues, and other elected officials who helped get us this far, especially ‘Stop the Chop NY/NJ’ for its unrelenting advocacy on this important issue.” Read more…

Bill Allowing New Yorkers To Sue For Loud Helicopter Noise Passes State Legislature – amNY

June 5, 2022 – The airborne travel mode also spews an outsize amount of pollution into the air, noted a statement by the advocacy group Stop the Chop NY/NJ. “This landmark bill is the first legislative effort in New York State or New York City to address the serious quality of life, health, climate and economic impacts of this unnecessary polluting industry. It is time the small group of profiteers pays for their negative externalities,” the advocates said. Read more…

Are Helicopters Eco-Friendly? Their Carbon Emissions Speak for Themselves – Greenmatters

May 20, 2022 – “Are helicopters eco-friendly? Groups such as Stop The Chop have a long list of arguments against helicopter travel, not limited to noise and air pollution.” Read more…

‘Stop the chop’: Manhattan elected officials push for helicopter noise reduction legislation – AMNY

May 15, 2022 – “They just want to clear the air — of helicopter noise. Congress Members Carolyn Maloney, Jerrold Nadler, and Nydia Velázquez banded together at the 34th Street Heliport, on the East River waterfront in Midtown, Sunday to pitch new legislation that would see the skies over the Big Apple grow a little more peaceful by reducing non-essential aircraft.” Read more…

Helicopters vs. Homeowners: A Very Hamptons Fight – NY Times

May 13, 2022 – “Loud, fast, pay-per-seat helicopters have indeed changed commuting to the Hamptons for a growing number of people wealthy enough to spend upward of $700 one way for the convenience of zipping to the beach. But as more of the aircraft whir over the dunes, they have also changed a way of life on the ground, according to some people who live beneath their flight path.” Read more…

Addabbo Co-Sponsors Bills Aimed at Addressing Helicopters Flying over Area Neighborhoods – The Forum

March 24, 2022 – “Many area residents recently have been dealing with an increase in helicopter activity, which is why State Sen. Joe Addabbo, Jr. (D-Howard Beach) said he’s co-sponsoring four pieces of legislation aimed at regulating helicopters in the Empire State.” Read more…

They Want To Stop The Chop – The East Hampton Star

March 17, 2022 – “Mr. Rosenthal and Ms. Elstein of Stop the Chop are not looking forward to the busy summer ahead. Even as the East Hampton Town Board looks to rein in air traffic by shifting the airport to a private-use facility with advanced authorization required for takeoffs and landings, for them, hope rests with the passing of the Improving Helicopter Safety Act, a federal bill introduced by Congress members Carolyn Maloney, Jerry Nadler, and Nydia Velazquez that will prohibit nonessential helicopter travel over large cities such as New York.” Read more…

Shoe-selfie New York helicopter trips face chop – The Sunday Times

February 12, 2022 – The growing traffic prompted Elstein and her fellow activist Andy Rosenthal to revive Stop The Chop. The group is backing a bill introduced by congressional representatives that would bar non-essential flights over New York. Including the shoe-selfie flights. Read more…

Brewer Urges Governor and Mayor to Chop Heliport from Hudson River Park – w42st.nyc

February 1, 2022 – Council member Gale Brewer has set her sights on removing helicopters from the skies over Manhattan. In a letter this evening (Tuesday), Brewer formally urged New York Governor Kathy Hochul and Mayor Eric Adams to chop the West 30th Street Heliport and its “deafening noise” from Hudson River Park. Read more…

The Choppers That Ate New York – The New Yorker

January 24, 2022 – Complaints about helicopter noise have increased sevenfold since the pandemic began, and a citizen army called Stop The Chop NY NJ isn’t going to take it anymore. “We’re all volunteers,” Melissa Elstein, Stop the Chop’s chair, said. “You have people like me spending, I would say, all of my free time on this. People are suffering. Their homes have become uninhabitable.” Read more…

Apocalypse Now: Can Eric Adams End The Helicopter Onslaught – Gotham Gazette

November 24, 2021 – Despite a 2010 ban by the New York City Economic Development Corporation on helicopter tour flights over Central Park, the Empire State Building, Governors Island, and Brooklyn, a prohibition on all Sunday tour flights, and a 2018 ban on doors-off tour flights, flights over scenic areas continue and complaints are higher than ever. Read more…

Helicopter’s Unauthorized Landing In Crown Heights Vacant Lot Prompts High-Altitude Police Pursuit – Gothamist

November 5, 2021 – A private helicopter made an unauthorized landing in a Brooklyn vacant lot on Thursday, police said, prompting an aerial police chase that ended in New Jersey. Read more…

Ban Tourist Helicopters Elected Officials Say – West Side Rag

November 4, 2021 – “But it isn’t just about quality of life, or the disruption of events like Shakespeare in the Park, a summer symphony, or the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. This is a safety issue, a security issue, a health issue, and an environmental issue—it’s a multi-faceted problem created by a niche industry that’s [causing] suffering for thousands, if not millions,” Melissa Elstein said. “It impacts our neighborhood except when it’s stormy or raining. We’ve gotten to the point where we’re praying for inclement weather!” Read more…

Alliance of Elected Officials Seeks to Ground Helicopters – The BroadsheetDAILY

November 1, 2021 – Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer has brought together a coalition of City, State, and Federal elected officials from New York and New Jersey to fight the rampant proliferation of tourist helicopter flights over the greater metropolitan area. Read more…

The Gotham Cacophony: More and More New Yorkers Find Noise A Threat To Livability – City Journal

November 1, 2021 – New Yorkers complain—a lot. In 2019, the last year before Covid-19 hit, residents made nearly 2.4 million complaints or requests to 311, the city’s nonemergency help hotline and website. Concerns ranged from blocked fire hydrants and “rough, pitted or cracked roads” to “rat sighting” and “pests.” But the biggest category, by far, was noise.In 2020, New Yorkers made 10,359 complaints about helicopter noise, compared with 3,332 in 2019; the total for 2021 is 16,771. Few areas saw improvement. Read more…

Elected Officials Join Residents to Call for Regulation of Tourist Helicopters – TapInto

October 29, 2021 – Helicopter flights transporting tourists from Lower Manhattan and New Jersey are increasing up and down the Hudson and East Rivers, and as a result, helicopter complaints are soaring to new heights. That’s why a group of elected officials from New York and New Jersey gathered today near a heliport on the West Side to announce the first-ever dual-state, multi-city, multi-borough coalition calling for urgent federal action. Read more…

Lawmakers Call For End Of Non-essential Helicopter Flights – PIX11

October 29, 2021 – Citing air and noise pollution and safety concerns, a coalition of New York and New Jersey lawmakers called for the end of tourist and commuter flights. See more…

Complaints About Helicopter Noise Skyrocket In NYC – 1010 Wins

October 21, 2021 – Complaints to 311 have skyrocketed around New York City as helicopter traffic in and around the five boroughs has grown exponentially. Adrian Benepe, president and CEO of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden and former NYC Parks Commissioner, often documents the loud helicopters going overhead, disrupting the peace of the gardens daily. Read more…

What’s Noisy, Loved By Tourists and Comes From New Jersey? – NY Times

October 21, 2021 – Melissa Elstein, the secretary of Stop the Chop, an organization seeking to limit helicopter flights, said that she had initially assumed the helicopters passing above Central Park and the Hudson and East rivers were police or military aircraft. She was outraged to learn that most are carrying sightseers. “It’s insanity that this is happening over New York City,” she said. Read more…

Washington Heights, Inwood Groups Join Citywide Anti-Noise Coalition – Patch.com

August 31, 2021 – “The press conference on Tuesday to announce the new coalition was held at Union Square Park. Here are the other groups joining the anti-noise coalition: Cedar Avenue Block Association (Bronx), The Chinatown Core Block Association (Manhattan), The Coalition United for Equitable Urban Policy (NYC), Orchard Street Block Association), Stop the Chop NY/NJ.  The coalition mentions illegal fireworks, cars, motorcycles, illegal ATVs, exceedingly loud music, house parties, unpermitted gatherings in city parks, and helicopters as the main contributors to excessive noise in New York City.” Read more…

Hudson County’s State Legislators Push To Limit Helicopter Flights – NJ.com

August 15, 2021 – Five state lawmakers from Hudson County are pushing legislation to limit helicopter flights amid a surge of noise complaints from residents. State Sens. Brian Stack, Sandra Cunningham and Nicholas Sacco, along with state assembly members Raj Mukherji and Annette Chaparro, have introduced two bills that would ban all tourist helicopter flights in New Jersey and cut down on all helicopter departures from state facilities.

“It’s become a quality-of-life issue,” Jersey City assemblyman Raj Mukherji said. “And we get complaints from Jersey City, we get complaints from Hoboken.” Low-flying helicopters have long been a fact of life in the country’s most-populated metropolitan area. But during the pandemic, complaints about noise have risen on both sides of the Hudson River, according to local officials.

In response, Hudson County legislators are moving to limit those flights — especially those of tourist helicopters, which are seen as non-essential and dangerous. Read more…

Rich People Cannot Have The Right To Combust Others To Death – Carbontax.org

July 28, 2021 – “It wasn’t July’s climate chaos outbreaks — Oregon’s Bootleg fire, New York’s submerged subways, floods sweeping away picturesque German villages. Those came after July 4^th.  Believe it or not, helicopters may have been a factor. The incessant thwack-thwack of tourist and “commuter” heli flights pervades every lower Manhattan sanctum — Governors Island, the Hudson River piers, even my apartment rooftop. The noise is universally loathed, yet, unsurprisingly, earnest entreaties by local anti-heli advocates haven’t moved the needle. With luxury helicopter pollution impervious to public outcry, might it be time to move to direct action?” Read more…

Helicopters Are Ruining Shakespeare In The Park: Patrons, Pols – NY Post

July 18, 2021 – Fair is foul, and foul is fair: Hover through the fog and filthy air. It’s as if the centuries-old words of William Shakespeare could have predicted the nightly annoyance that occurs as his play is performed in Central Park — helicopters buzzing above the stage. One week into the performance of the Bard’s “Merry Wives” at the open-air Delacorte Theater, patrons are banding together to stop — or at least divert — the incessant chopper traffic overhead. “It’s distracting, disruptive. Every time a helicopter is hovering, your eyes switch from the actors on the stage to above you. … It’s alarming,” fumed Upper West Sider Melissa Elstein, who told The Post she counted six low-flying helicopters on opening night at the 1,800-seat venue July 7. Read more…

Helicopters Ruining NYC’s Shakespeare In The Park – Quiet Communities.org

July 8, 2021 – “Stop the Chop member Melissa Elstein, who was attending the opening night offering at Shakespeare in the Park, told the NY Post that “she counted six low-flying helicopters on opening night at the 1,800-seat venue July 7.” Another theater attendee called the clamor of the helicopter “a slap in the face.” He said the noise drowned out the “emotional remarks from the stage about finally performing in front of a live audience and thanking essential workers.’” Read more…

Blade helicopter boss admits he impersonated communications director who didn’t exist for three years and constructed whole fake alter-ego around picture of dashing 1960s British racing hero – Daily Mail UK

June 18, 2021 – The company dubbed the ‘Uber for helicopters’ has admitted the man who served as its communications director for three years doesn’t actually exist. Blade CEO Rob Wisenthal confessed to inventing company spokesperson. Read more…

Chopped! CB4’s WPE Wants Public Park’s Poor Player VIP Heliport Grounded for Good – Chelsea Community News

June 10, 2021 – On the evening of Thursday, June 10, after a lengthy meeting, Community Board 4’s Waterfront, Parks & Environment (CB4’s WPE) Committee announced they would begin the process to shut down the West  30th Street Air Pegasus V.I.P. Heliport, which is owned by Hudson River Park Trust (HRPT, the Trust). The meeting can be viewed on CB4’s YouTube channel. Click here to do so. Read more…

New York City’s Growing Helicopter Problem – Quiet Communities

June 2, 2021 – Stop The Chop NY/NJ, a non-profit, volunteer led organization and wide based coalition that has been calling for the passage of introduced legislation that would stop the noise, as well as the air pollution, emanating from these non-essential tourist and commuter helicopters. The organization has stressed that noise and air pollution are hazardous to health and well being, which is supported by a growing body of research linking noise to adverse health effects. They also point to the risks to life and property with so many low-flying helicopters over the country’s most densely populated city – not to mention the security and terrorism risk of a possibly hijacked helicopter beying used as a weapon of destruction as tragically happened on 9/11 with airplanes. Read more…

NYC Mayoral Candidate Makes Noise An Issue – Quiet Communities

June 1, 2021 – In addition to promising to ban nonessential helicopter flights, Stringer added that he would also work to “crack down on illegal dirt bikes” and advocate for quieter ambulance sirens. One hopes that Stringer’s comments will lead other candidates in the mayoral race to comment on their plans to reduce noise in a city that has seen its already high noise complaints rise even more during 2020. With noise complaints high on the list of calls to 311, and the finding by New York State Comptroller DiNapoli in his 2018 report that most New York residents who call 311 are dissatisfied with the way their noise complaints were handled, it is essential that the next mayor pay greater attention to the noise issue. Read more…

Quality-of-life Issues Take On Growing Importance – NY Times

May 31, 2021 – Mr. Adams was hardly the only candidate to take on quality-of-life issues in recent days — in fact, the problems are increasingly occupying the spotlight in this year’s mayoral race. Last week, Scott M. Stringer, the city comptroller released a proposal to reduce noise pollution, in part by banning nonessential helicopter flights and promoting efforts to “curb rampant drag racing and get ATVs off the streets.” The proposal was called “Hear Our Noise Complaints!” — or “H.O.N.C.!” Read more…

The View From Above And Below: The Helicopters and Our Commons – Gotham Gazette

May 28, 2021 – “Like many of my neighbors on the UWS I profoundly dislike and resent the tour helicopters that seem to unceasingly harass us on beautiful days, lining up equidistantly over the Hudson as if they were jets ready to land at JFK. Only they don’t land. They tremble and hover and circle stridently.” Read more…

How Low Can A Helicopter Legally Fly? (Civilian, Police, Military) – Executive Flyers

May 25, 2021 – The “chop chop chop” sound of a helicopter as it flies overhead can appear deafening to many homeowners and any other people in the area, even more so than airplanes. This is easily explained considering that helicopters, especially those used by law enforcement and emergency medical service agencies, are able to legally fly lower than aircraft.But precisely how long can a helicopter fly? Read more…

Uptown Politician Releases Plan To Combat Noise: What To Know – Patch

May 25, 2021 – A residential parking permit program, the banning of any nonessential helicopter flights, and an update to the NYC noise code are just three of the steps an Upper Manhattan politician says he would take to combat growing noise pollution issue across the city. On Tuesday, Council Member Mark Levine, who is also running for Manhattan Borough President, released 10 steps he would take if elected to the position that would “curb excessive noise pollution and noise nuisance in our communities.” Read more…

Quiet! NYC Mayoral hopeful Scott Stringer promises to Crack Down On Annoying Noise – NY Daily News

May 23, 2021 – “Stringer said he wants to ban “nonessential” helicopter flights, starting with an executive order to get the city Economic Development Corp. to take steps to enact a prohibition.” Read more…

There’s No One In Charge Of New York’s Noisy Helicopters – Curbed

May 17, 2021 – “Any place you have these tourism helicopters, and this density of flights in the air, is a dangerous situation,” Robert Gottheim (district director for Congressman Nadler) says. “The FAA doesn’t want to regulate, so that’s why Congress needs to step in.” Read more…

Elected Officials Push Again To Curb Helicopters As UWSer Says She ‘Literally Cannot Get Any Rest’ – West Side Rag

April 7, 2021 – “The community is fed up with the issue, which has been brought up during CB7 meetings as far back as 2013.” “The frequency of these helicopters, 7 days a week, is so high I literally cannot get any rest,” said one local resident in the April meeting, whose livelihood as a sound engineer is being impacted by the constant noise. “I just don’t understand how this has been allowed to happen.” Read more…

NYC Copter Crash Exposes Deadly Loophole For Aerial Sightseeing – Bloomberg

March 23, 2021 – The five people who signed up for a helicopter sightseeing flight above New York City three years ago might have expected that aviation regulators were looking after their safety. Read more…

New York City Helicopter Access War Heats Up – AIN Online

March 17, 2021 – New York City has had a troubled relationship with the helicopter industry ever since the Sikorsky S-61 accident atop the Pan Am building in 1977, killing five. But what had been an uneasy détente for decades now appears on the verge of total war, with leading city officials pushing to purge civil rotorcraft from Gotham’s skies—forever. Paul Vallone is leading the charge. The chairman of New York City Council’s Committee on Economic Development (CED) has little sympathy for the helicopter industry there. Read more...

Have You Heard That Buzzing? – Our Town

March 12, 2021 – Maybe you’ve heard them hover overhead as you jog through Central Park, relishing in a much-needed dose of fresh air. Maybe their buzzing drives you toward the brink of insanity while you attempt to work from home, stuck in the same apartment where you peruse Netflix each night before falling asleep. Or maybe, like New Yorker Melissa Elstein, you find the helicopters bothersome enough that you’ve considered leaving the city for good. “It’s detracted so much,” she explained of her and her husband’s outlook, “that, you know, at times we have contemplated moving.” Elstein is an organizer and secretary for Stop the Chop NYNJ, a local group committed to ending non-essential helicopter excursions over New York City. Read more…

Brooklyn Reps Reintroduce Bill To Curb Noisy Helicopter Flights – Brooklyn Eagle

March 11, 2021 – In the face of continuing complaints about helicopter noise in waterfront areas, from Brooklyn Heights to Manhattan’s West Side, three U.S. representatives with Brooklyn districts have reintroduced the Improving Helicopter Safety Act, which expired at the end of the last Congressional session. While the bill’s impact would be almost completely local, federal legislation is required because any air traffic is regulated by the Federal Aviation Administration. Read more…

In Hudson County, A Renewed Push To Ground Helicopter Tours – The Jersey Journal

March 8, 2021 – From Hudson County’s waterfront, you can’t miss the helicopters. The aircraft are out every day, cruising low over the Hudson or circling the Statue of Liberty so tourists can snap photos. Some choppers also ferry the wealthy to and from New York City and to area airports. Now, two pieces of proposed federal legislation could put an end to those flights. Read more…

NYC Congressional Reps Will Try Again To Ban Non-Essential Helicopter Flights Over NYC – The Gothamist

March 7, 2021 – Manhattan’s congressional representatives are still fighting to ban non-essential helicopter traffic over the five boroughs, they announced during a press conference on Sunday. Rep. Carolyn Maloney, who represents parts of Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens, announced alongside Rep. Jerry Nadler and Rep. Nydia Velazquez that they would re-introduce legislation on Monday that would cut down on helicopter traffic and noise pollution by barring non-essential helicopters from flying over NYC. The bill, called the Improving Helicopter Safety Act, was first introduced in 2019, according to the lawmakers. Read more…

Lawmakers re-introducing legislation to ban non-essential helicopters over New York City – ABC7 New York

March 7, 2021 – There is a renewed push to ban non-essential helicopter flights over New York City. Congressional lawmakers announces plans to re-introduce the Helicopter Safety Act on Capitol Hill Monday. Read more…

As Commuter ‘Copter Service Gets Set to Start Up, the “Helicopter Highway” Over the UWS Could Get More Crowded – West Side Rag

March 2, 2021 – Upper West Siders have been growing more stressed about helicopters hovering over the neighborhood for the past year, and now it looks like a whole new fleet may be on its way. Two companies — Blade and Ross Aviation — are teaming up to offer commuter helicopter rides between New York City and Westchester County Airport. Read more…

Tuesday’s Headlines: Helicopter Misery Addition – StreetsblogNYC

February 23, 2021 – After a few days of helicopter coverage, we asked Mayor de Blasio why the city even allows helicopters — with their noise and pollution — when the total benefit to the city coffers is a mere $2- to $3-million in rent at two city-owned heliports. Read more…

Lander: City Must Study Whether the ‘Benefit’ of Helicopters Covers Their Egregious Health Costs – StreetsblogNYC

February 22, 2021 – A Brooklyn council member is demanding that the city investigate whether the economic benefit of helicopter travel to, from and simply around the city outweigh the horrendous, but harder-to-calculate, deleterious affect of the noise and pollution created by the wheezing whirlybirds. Read more…

Northeast Queens Lawmaker Introduces Legislation To Mitigate Helicopter Noise – QNS

February 18, 2021 – In a concerted effort to mitigate helicopter noise across the city’s skies, Councilman Paul Vallone chaired a hearing of the New York City Council Committee on Economic Development, during which he introduced several new pieces of legislation. Read More…

Stop the Chop NY/NJ announces widespread community opposition to expansion of helicopter commuter flights between NYC and Westchester – Brooklyn Daily Eagle

New flight path threatens to increase adverse noise and environmental impact that non-essential helicopters pose to NYC and surrounding areas . Read More…

Stop The Chop Coalition Gains Support of Central Park Conservancy, Presents to CB7 – I Love The UWS

February 7, 2021 – Recently, members of Stop the Chop NY/NJ – Andrew Rosenthal (President) and Melissa Elstein (Secretary) – connected with members of Community Board 7’s ‘Parks & Environment’ and ‘Transportation’ committees over a Zoom conference to discuss the banning of non-essential helicopter flights over the NY metropolitan area. Read more…

Fed Bill Hits Hard On Commercial Helicopter Routes – Brooklyn Daily Eagle

January 25, 2021 – “In the latest legislative move to curb noisy helicopter and other flights over Downtown Brooklyn, other areas adjoining New York Harbor and elsewhere, U.S. Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-Brooklyn-Manhattan) has introduced “The Safe and Quiet Skies Act,” along with several representatives from other areas of the country. The bill, according to Nadler’s office, would mandate strict regulation of commercial air tour operations to address defense risks and community disruption, including no overflights of defense, parks, cemeteries, and other sensitive installations and minimum altitude maximum noise limits on all flights.” Read more…

Hoping to Make Whirlybirds an Endangered Species – The Broadsheet Daily

Save Our Waterfronts from Our Open Skies: New York & New Jersey – Gotham Gazette

January 11, 2021 – The coalition put together by Stop the Chop includes both United States senators from New Jersey, U.S. Congressional Rep. Abio Sires, and mayors of Bayonne, Edgewater, Guttenberg, Hoboken, Jersey City, Weehawken, and several more. Cohen and Pesin are voicing a parallel grievance to that published by former New York City Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe and Governors Island Alliance executive director Merritt Birnbaum in the New York Times in 2016. Read more…

Norton, Bass Lead Letter to President-Elect Biden on Combating Aircraft Noise – Press Release

December 31, 2020 – Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), co-chair of the Quiet Skies Caucus, and Congresswoman Karen Bass (D-CA) led a letter this week urging President-elect Joe Biden to appoint Federal Aviation Administration officials who will use creative approaches to solve noise problems from aircraft. Norton has long led the effort in the House to combat airplane and helicopter noise in the nation’s capital and across the country.  Read more…

Op-Ed | Is Mayor Pete the answer to NYC’s big noise problem? – AMNY

December 16, 2020 – New Yorkers are no strangers to noise – ambulance and firetruck sirens, the honking of horns in congested traffic, car alarms, and construction are hallmark sounds of our great city – but a more concerning noise has become a daily presence, helicopters. Read more…

Audit Slams FAA Oversight of Supplemental Harnesses For Open Door Flight Operations – Vertical Mag

December 14, 2020 – More than two-and-a-half years after the drowning deaths of five FlyNYON passengers on a doors-off helicopter tour flight, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) still lacks an effective process for ensuring the safe use of supplemental restraints for open-door helicopter operations. Read more…

East Hampton contemplates airport closing in move that could impact other towns – Riverhead News Review

December 12, 2020 – “Realistically, it is the only viable solution to eliminating, or even reducing, the impacts of helicopter traffic on our residents,” he said. “It is a bold step by the Supervisor which underscores the scope of the problem and the lack of authority municipalities have to regulate activities in our towns’ authority — seized by federal agencies who are nothing more than taxpayer-funded lobbyists for the very industries they are supposed to regulate.” Read more…

How human-made noise affects animals – Silencity

December 8, 2020 – As I have written in previous posts, human-made noises have not only adversely affected the health and well being of people, but these noises also affect the well being of many species with whom we share this planet. Human-made noise forces the increased volume of urban bird calls, resulting in stress to some species, and deep-sea mining interests may have disrupted the lives of sea creatures for many years to come. Read more…

Helicopter Noise Complaints Soar On Parts Of Upper East Side – Patch

December 1, 2020 – Complaints about noisy helicopters have risen by nearly 50 percent on the Upper East Side this year, according to 311 data from the city. Read more…

Noise Is Driving Stuck-At-Home New Yorkers Nuts, 311 Data Shows – Yahoo News

November 27, 2020 – Take the chuff-chuff-chuff of whirling helicopter blades flying over high rises. Complaints to 311 about helicopter noise are up more than 130 percent over 2019, as detailed in a report by THE CITY. Read more…

Can the Manhattan Borough President Stop the Chop? – Gotham Gazette

November 26, 2020 -Thanks to an onslaught of out-of-town tourist helicopters and small planes flying over New York landmarks, a quiet weekend day in Central Park or Governors Island or the Brooklyn waterfront has become a thing of the past. Read more…

Stressed New Yorkers File Record Helicopter Noise Complaints – Silencity

November 24, 2020 – Jose Martinez, The City, reports that helicopter complaints to 311 have soared with several thousand more reported through mid-November than were reported for all of 2019–7,758 complaints up to November 15, 2020, versus 4,400 for 2019. Martinez rightfully notes that the noise emanating from the helicopters make New Yorkers feel even worse, now that so many are cooped up in their homes. Martinez quotes one New York resident as saying the “noise just makes you crazy” and another saying that “I have wanted to run into the street screaming.” Read more…

Helicopter Noise Complaints Sky High as Anxious, Cooped-Up New Yorkers Feel Buzzed – The City

November 12, 2020 – Complaints to 311 about helicopters noisily hovering above New York have soared this year — with an analysis by THE CITY showing a more than 130% increase over 2019. Read more…

Ending Aircraft Noise Is a Priority for Community Board 7 – NYC Reopens

October 20, 2020 – Upper West Side residents, fed up with low-flying aircraft, are speaking out. On a two-hour Zoom call last Tuesday, the transportation committee for Community Board 7 spent most of the time airing their grievances about noise and environmental damage caused by private helicopters. Read more…

The FAA Is Enabling Helicopters to Ruin The Outdoors – Outside Magazine

October 3, 2020 – In August 2018, about 250 fed-up Hawaiians filed into a Department of Transportation meeting in Hilo to rail against a steady stream of helicopters passing over their homes—as many as 80 a day—en route to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. Read more…

Sightseeing Helicopter Tours Bounce Back To Disturb New Yorkers’ Fragile Peace – Gothamist

September 23, 2020 – Visitors to Central Park in recent weeks have had their peace repeatedly disturbed by extremely loud sightseeing helicopters hovering low over the park.

Among those aggravated by the chopper activity is Adrian Benepe, the former New York City Parks Commissioner under former Mayor (and helicopter pilot) Michael Bloomberg. On Sunday, Benepe said he noticed a number of helicopters hovering over Central Park’s North Meadow by 100th Street where he was attempting to get some peace and quiet. Read more…

New York City’s Noisy, Dangerous, Open Skies – Gotham Gazette

September 11, 2020 – For New Yorkers living below the flight paths of what helicopter companies consider to be photogenic or interesting neighborhoods, Labor Day weekend was sheer hell. And, ironically, very few of those noisy, polluting, low-flying helicopters flew from New York-based heliports. Read more…

FAA Extends North Shore Helicopter Route – East End Beacon

August 6, 2020 – The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has extend its North Shore Helicopter Route rule, due to expire today, for two years, to to August 6, 2022. The rule, which requires civilian helicopters to use the route when flying along the North Shore, was initially pitched in 2008 as a solution to helicopter noise along the North Shore. It was made mandatory by the FAA in 2012. Read more…

NYC helicopter company in deadly 2018 crash ignores social distancing during coronavirus pandemic – NY Daily News

May 28, 2020 – A helicopter sightseeing company that lost five passengers in a 2018 East River crash is setting aside social distancing rules as it offers big discounts to lure customers in the coronavirus pandemic. Read more…

New York woman sues after she claims she was blown off her bike by a helicopter – WPDH

March 9, 2020 – Read more…

New York’s Wrongly Open Skies – Gotham Gazette

February 12, 2020 – Helicopter crashes in the skies of New York City — two in 2019 —temporarily bring renewed attention to the odd situation by which hundreds of vehicles weighing up to 12,000 pounds each fly low every day over the country’s densest city, a city that was attacked from the air in 2001. Read more…

Kobe Bryant helicopter lacked recommended safety device – AP News

January 28, 2020 – The helicopter carrying Kobe Bryant didn’t have a recommended warning system to alert the pilot he was too close to land but it’s not clear it would have averted the crash that killed nine because the pilot may have lost control as the aircraft plunged into a fog-shrouded mountain, federal investigators said Tuesday. Read more…

New York City helicopter crash in 2018 was ‘survivable,’ secondary harnesses ‘unsafe’: NTSB – ABC News

January 25, 2020 – A tourist helicopter crash in New York City’s East River that killed all five passengers was “survivable,” but a secondary harness system likely preventing them from escaping, according to the National Transportation Safety Board. Read more…

Missing Hawaii Tour Helicopter Found; 6 Confirmed Dead – Patch

December 28, 2019 – A Hawaii tour helicopter missing since Thursday has been found, and authorities have confirmed six people on board are dead and one is missing. The search for the final person resumed on Saturday. There are no indications that anybody survived the crash, authorities said Friday night after the remains of six of the people on board were found, The Associated Press reported. Read more…

Lawmaker Seeks To Permit Airports To Set Noise Restrictions – AIN Online

December 16, 2019 – A Colorado congressman has drafted a bill that would permit general aviation airports to impose a range of operational restrictions—such as type of aircraft that can use their facilities—in response to local noise concerns. Offered by Rep. Joe Neguse (D), the Aircraft Noise Reduction Act is the latest introduced in recent months designed to facilitate local control over operational restrictions with others focused on helicopters and air tours. Read more…

NTSB: Fatal FlyNYON flight was exploiting ‘loophole’ in regs – Vertical Mag

December 11, 2019 – The doors-off helicopter tour company FlyNYON built its business on a regulatory loophole, and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) should step in to close it. Read more…

Brooklynites drowning in helicopter noise since Uber Copter, Blade launch – New York Post

December 7, 2019 – An influx of on-demand chopper services like Uber-Copter and Blade offering airportgoers an alternative to Manhattan gridlock for as little as $95 are flooding the skies over brownstone Brooklyn and lower Manhattan — and assaulting residents’ eardrums. Read more…

The Unfriendly Skies Above New York City – New York Magazine

October 27, 2019 – Earlier this month, Uber made a feature called “Copter” available to all of its users in New York City. Now, for a few hundred dollars, anyone with the Uber app can splurge on a quick, relatively glamorous airborne trip to Kennedy airport. Read more…

Lawmakers Introduce Bill To Ban Non-Essential Helicopter Flights In NYC – WCBS News Radio

October 26, 2019 – After several deadly crashes over the last few years, lawmakers are now looking to ban most helicopter flights over New York City. Read more…

Reps. Maloney, Nadler, Velazquez Introduce Legislation to Address NYC’s Helicopter Safety Needs – Press Release

October 26, 2019 – Today, Representatives Carolyn B. Maloney (NY-12), Jerrold Nadler (NY-10), and Nydia M. Velazquez (NY-07) joined local elected officials and community groups to announce the introduction of their Improving Helicopter Safety Act of 2019. Read more…

NY Lawmakers Seek To Ban Nonessential Helicopters From The City’s Airspace – Uptown Radio

This is a story about a potential helicopter ban proposed by New York City lawmakers. Listen now…

De Blasio Renews Calls To Ban Non-Essential Helicopter Flights In NYC – WCBS News Radio

October 25, 2019 – Mayor Bill de Blasio on Friday called for an end to all non-essential helicopter flights over Manhattan as he hinted that he was leaning towards phasing out all tourist flights in New York City. Read more…

New York Lawmakers Want To Ground Commercial Helicopter Flights – Gothamist

October 25, 2019 – Reps. Carolyn Maloney, Nydia Velázquez and Jerrold Nadler have introduced legislation at the federal level that would ban “non-essential” helicopter traffic in New York City, with emergency services and news organizations still permitted in the city’s airspace. Read more…

Uber Copter Will Be A Disaster For The Environment – Inverse

October 19, 2019 – Uber Copter is a service where New Yorkers can ride in a helicopter from Manhattan to JFK International Airport for about $200. That might sound pretty cool, especially if you’re rich and can actually afford that fare, but it’s really bad news if you’re worried about climate change. Read more…

We pit the Uber Copter vs. public transit in a race to JFK — here’s who won – NY Post

October 6, 2019 – One is a bumpy, deafening and slightly nauseating way to get to John F. Kennedy Airport — the other is public transportation. The Post put Uber’s new helicopter shuttle to JFK to the test, racing the car-sharing company and its chopper from Midtown to the hub against old-fashioned New York City Transit — which proved three minutes swifter at a sliver of the price. Read more…

Passenger alcohol use and ‘shoe selfies’ may have played role in deadly FlyNYON photo flight – Vertical Mag

September 27, 2019 – The passenger who appears to have inadvertently cut off fuel to the engine during a fatal FlyNYON doors-off helicopter flight was under the influence of alcohol at the time, newly released documents reveal. The documents also confirm previous reports that, in the moments before the aircraft plunged toward New York City’s East River, he had been working feverishly to obtain “shoe selfies” — the company’s oft-touted photographic souvenirs from the flights — and that activity likely contributed to the eventual crash. Read more…

Marine Park residents frustrated with helicopters flying over community – News12 Brooklyn

August 4, 2019 – A concerned Brooklyn resident called into News 12‘s Ask the Borough President Show about a heavy helicopter presence in her neighborhood. Read more…

Northeast Queens lawmakers call on FAA to make alternative North Shore Helicopter Route permanent – QNS

August 2, 2019 – Two lawmakers are calling on the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to make an alternative helicopter route permanent following its success in northeast Queens. Read more…

That Noise? It’s the 1%, Helicoptering Over Your Traffic Jam – The New York Times

August 1, 2019 – Helicopter service is blossoming across the New York region, showing how income inequality affects even the basic commute. Read more…

Federal DOT probe into “doors-off” helicopters set to launch as Schumer, Gillibrand laud investigation of dangerous sightseeing flights – NY Daily News

July 18, 2019 – Federal auditors will probe the Federal Aviation Administration’s oversight of “doors-off” tourist helicopters like the one that left five passengers dead in an East River crash last year. Read more…

De Blasio and Chuck Schumer call for increased helicopter regulations after last week’s crash – 6sqft

June 17, 2019 – Following the deadly crash of a helicopter in midtown last Monday, lawmakers are calling for greater oversight on helicopters flying over the city, the New York Post reported. “I think we need a full ban on any helicopters going over Manhattan itself,” Mayor de Blasio said on WNYC’s The Brian Lehrer Show last Friday, noting that “exemptions should be made for emergency responders, first responders, uniform services,” and news cameras. Read more…

Buzzing Howard Beach From Above – Queens Chronicle

July 11, 2019 – State Sen. Joe Addabbo Jr. (D-Howard Beach) said complaints about helicopter traffic began to trickle into his office in early summer. “My concern is that unregulated air traffic will end up like unregulated TLC service,” he said. “We started to regulate [ride-sharing services such as Uber] way too late.”

Unlike airplanes flying over the city, which must adhere to certain routes, the New York Helicopter Chart, a network of elective helicopter routes, allows helicopters to operate over the city without talking to air traffic control, according to a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration, which administers the control towers at JFK and LaGuardia Airport. “Helicopters voluntarily fly these routes [but] they do not have to fly these routes,” the spokesman said. Read more…

What Would a New York City Ban on Helicopters Look Like? – The Points Guy

July 11, 2019 – Within hours of a dramatic helicopter crash that left the pilot dead atop a skyscraper in Midtown Manhattan, there were calls for helicopter to be banned from flying over New York City. “It’s a tragedy that keeps happening and an even greater tragedy that’s waiting to happen,” said John Dellaportas, president of Stop the Chop NYNJ, a nonprofit organization dedicated to ending helicopter traffic over and around the city. “There is no excuse on God’s green Earth why any nonessential helicopters should be flying anywhere in the New York City metropolitan area, over buildings, over land, over water.” Read more…

A History Of Helicopter Wrecks in NYC – AP News

June 11, 2019 – At least 32 people have died in helicopter accidents in New York City since 1977, when an accident on a skyscraper landing pad led the city to start putting restrictions on where choppers could land. Read more…

In 1977, Five Were Killed In Helicopter Accident Atop Midtown’s Pan Am Building – Gothamist

June 11, 2019 – There are three ways to get from Manhattan to the city’s John F. Kennedy International Airport. All of them are pretty bad. Read more…

Pilot Killed After Helicopter Crash Lands On Top Of Midtown Building – WCBS Radio

June 10, 2019 – A helicopter flying through heavy rain in restricted airspace caught fire after crash landing on the roof of a high-rise building in Midtown Manhattan, killing the pilot and forcing the evacuation of the 54-story skyscraper on Monday. Read more…

Uber Copter Will Only Make New York Transit Worse – CityLab

June 7, 2019 – There are three ways to get from Manhattan to the city’s John F. Kennedy International Airport. All of them are pretty bad. Read more…

Hudson River crash renews helicopter safety concerns – News 12 New Jersey

May 16, 2019 – A crash landing of a helicopter in the Hudson River Wednesday has reignited concerns about helicopter safety along the waterfront. Read more…

An aircraft used by Blade, the ‘Uber for helicopters,’ crashed in the Hudson River – The Verge

May 15, 2019 – A Blade helicopter crashed into Hudson River near the West 30^th Street Heliport after missing the landing pad. The only passenger was the pilot who was able to escape. Video. Read more…

Helicopter bosses’ shady pasts revealed – NY Post

March 14, 2019 – The chief pilot for the company whose helicopter crashed Sunday in the East River — killing all five passengers — spent more than eight years behind bars for repeatedly stabbing a woman during a Long Island robbery, The Post has learned. Read more…

Nadler Talks Neighborhood History, Helicopters and Housing in Wide-Ranging Interview – West Side Rag

February 13, 2019 – Congressman Jerry Nadler has been a ‘West Sider’ since 1965, when he turned down a full scholarship to Yale to attend Columbia. Read more…

FlyNYON changes equipment, but not business model, after fatal accident – Vertical Mag

September 6, 2018 – When five FlyNYON passengers on a doors-off helicopter photo flight drowned in New York City’s East River earlier this year, many of us in the helicopter industry reacted with shock and disbelief. Read more…

Noise exposure is becoming ‘the new secondhand smoke’ – The Baltimore Sun

May 16, 2018 – Washington, D.C.,New York and Los Angeles also have struggled with helicopter noise. In Washington, military flights are to blame; in New York, it’s sightseeing flights; and in Los Angeles, it is filmmakers trying to get the perfect shot. Read more…

Inside the Safety Issues Surrounding the NY Helicopter Crash – Wired

April 8, 2018 – I was a passenger onboard a companion flight on March 11. Locked to the downed craft, the victims didn’t stand a chance. Read more…

FlyNYON knew of safety concerns before fatal doors-off flight – Vertical Mag

April 7, 2018 – Weeks before the recent fatal helicopter crash in New York City’s East River, FlyNYON was warned of safety issues with the harnesses and emergency cutters it was providing to passengers on its “doors-off” photo flights, internal company emails show. Read more…

Helicopter pilot says loose gear may have hit lever to cut off engine, causing deadly East River crash – NY Daily News

March 12, 2018 – The pilot of the doomed sightseeing helicopter that crashed into the East River told investigators that a lever to shut off the engine may have been accidentally pulled in midair, police sources said. Read more…

Thank you, Jerrold Nadler (and Carolyn Maloney and Nydia M. Velazquez and…) – James Armstrong’s Blog

August 10, 2018 – For years now, I have complained about the helicopters that fly over Central Park, especially the ones that love to hover right over the Delacorte Theater during performances of free outdoor plays. If ever there was a case of rich jerks ruining New York City for tons of ordinary citizens, it is these helicopters that sometimes make plays inaudible for hundreds of people, all so some millionaire can look down on the rest of us–literally. Read more…

NYC Lawmakers Request FAA Institute Restrictions on Helicopter Flights Over Shakespeare in the Park Festival – Press Release

August 10, 2018 – Today, New York City Members of Congress, led by Congressman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), who represents the Upper West Side of Manhattan – including Central Park – and parts of Brooklyn, sent a letter to Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Acting Administrator Daniel K. Elwell demanding the FAA institute Temporary Flight Restrictions (TFR) during outdoor performances of The Public Theater’s Shakespeare in the Park Festival.  Read more…

Helicopters are ruining Shakespeare in the Park: theater officials – NY Post

August 10, 2018 – Rep. Jerrold Nadler and officials from the Public Theater pleaded Friday for the FAA to divert helicopter traffic from Central Park because the noise keeps interrupting Shakespeare in the Park, which is currently staging “Twelfth Night.” Read more…

FLYNYON Pilots Seek Legal Protection – Business Jet Traveler

April 1, 2018 – At this time, the New York Attorney General’s office will confirm only that it is conducting a consumer protection-related investigation into the accident. Read more…

NYC Helicopter Crash Puts Spotlight on Doors Off Flights – Business Jet Traveler

March 1, 2018 – Since the crash, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-New York), a longtime critic of the city’s helitour industry, called on the FAA to revoke Liberty’s operating certificate. Read more…

The Helicopter Problem – Tribeca Citizen

February 15, 2018 – Two years ago, an agreement between the New York City Economic Development Corporation and the helicopter tourism industry banned all Sunday flights from the Downtown Manhattan Heliport at Pier 6 (above), and that is being honored. But the deal was also supposed to cut the overall number of flights by 50 percent and stop all helicopters from going over Governors Island and Staten Island. Read more…

The Life and Death of Helicopter Commuting (Video) – Bloomberg Business Week

August 10, 2017 – Fifty years ago, a helicopter company called New York Airways whisked passengers from the rooftop of the iconic Pan Am Building in midtown Manhattan to any city airport in just 10 minutes. A fatal accident in 1977 brought that era to an end. Watch…

What the hel(iport)? Operator to pay $250K for illegal tourist flights – AMNY

August 3, 2017 – The operator of the W. 30th St. heliport has agreed to pay $250,000 to the Hudson River Park Trust after local activists charged that the chopper landing-pad operator had violated a ban on tourist flights. Read more…

How planes, trains and noise pollution affect Chicago real estate – Chicago Tribune

November 23, 2016 – The airplanes soaring — and roaring — overhead don’t rattle Isabella Pitrello. They haven’t for quite some time.A resident of the Schorsch Forest View neighborhood — a stone’s throw from O’Hare International Airport — Pitrello has an informed understanding of what it means to live amongst noise. She and her husband Antonino have lived near O’Hare for more than 30 years, in a midcentury brick ranch with a big picture window and a generous flank of concrete driveway. Read more…

NYC Controller Scott Stringer wants ban on tourism helicopters, says they’re too noisy and don’t help the economy – NY Daily News

July 13, 2016 – City Controller Scott Stringer wants to ban all tourism helicopters from the skies around the Big Apple, saying they are all bang and barely any bucks. Read more…

Local U.S. House Delegation Pens Letter About Helicopter Noise to Defense Secretary – ARL Now

June 9, 2016 – “Following up on frequent resident complaints, last month Beyer added an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act “to study changes to the region’s helicopter flight routes, operating procedures, and even the types of helicopters flown in the national capital airspace to mitigate the effect of noise on the region’s neighborhoods.” Read more…

NYC helicopter deal would reduce but not eliminate tourist choppers – Brooklyn Daily Eagle

February 1, 2016 – Helicopter operators flying tourists over the waterfront will be reducing the number of flights from Pier 6’s Downtown Manhattan Heliport (DMH) by 50 percent, the city said on Sunday. Read more…

Deal Restricts Tourist Helicopter Flights Over New York – The New York Times

January 31, 2016 – After decades of complaints about noise and air pollution from the tens of thousands of tourist helicopter flights that circle Manhattan each year, New York City announced a deal on Sunday that would cut their number in half by January 2017. Read more…

A Plague of Helicopters Is Ruining New York – New York Times

January 30, 2016 – IN recent years, New York City has invested over $2 billion in spectacular new waterfront parks. But that investment, and New Yorkers’ enjoyment of their parks and neighborhoods, is being ruined by an invasion of noisy, polluting tourist helicopters. Read more…

Disney Loved Its No Fly Zone – Until It Wanted To Fly Its Own Drones – The Washington Post

January 22, 2016 – An FAA spokesman said the Disney case is related to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, when temporary flight restrictions were issued over all major professional and collegiate sporting events, as well as major open-air assemblies of people. The agency points to laws Congress later passed as making the restrictions permanent. The laws the FAA cites, however, do not specifically mention theme parks. Read more…

NYC Council considers bills banning tourist helicopters – Brooklyn Daily Eagle

November 14, 2015 – In a City Council hearing lasting for hours on Thursday, Brooklyn and Manhattan officials and residents expressed anger and despair over incessant helicopter noise and pollution. Read more…

Man who bribed FBI agent behind push to keep tourists flying over NYC – ​NY Post

October 18, 2015 – A nonprofit fighting a City Council proposal to ban tourist helicopters is backed by a New Jersey family that has a monopoly on the city’s chopper business and skeletons in its closet. Read more…

Bill Sponsored by NYC Councilmembers Menchaca, Chin & Rosenthal Takes Aim at Tourist Helicopters – Brooklyn Heights Blog

July 27, 2015 – Stroll the Brooklyn Heights Promenade and you can hear it day and night: the constant thwapping of tourist helicopters. Read more…

Ban tourist helicopters for a quieter city –  Crain’s

July 24, 2015 – For years, residents have experienced the relentless drone of helicopter flights—at home, walking on the street, and in our parks. Read more…

​Whitestone resident develops website for local helicopter noise complaints – QNS

June 25, 2015 – A Whitestone resident is taking the issue of overhead helicopter noise into the hands of the community by developing a website for residents to digitally submit complaints. Read more…

NYC Council bills to ban sightseeing helicopters receive support at ‘Stop the Chop!’ rally – Brooklyn Daily Eagle

July 23, 2015 – The incessant noise, pollution and disruption from sightseeing helicopters taking off from the Downtown Manhattan Heliport on the East River – the only heliport in the city that still allows them — has become intolerable, advocates said on Thursday. Read more…

​De Blasio’s door is open to lobbyists – NY Post

June 9, 2015 – Mayor de Blasio has met personally with a dozen lobbyists so far this year — most of them campaign supporters and just two shy of the 14 he huddled with in all of 2014, records show. Read more…

This ‘Uber for helicopters’ startup just flew into a fight over noise – Fortune

May 24, 2015 – Some New Yorkers have a great trick to beat Memorial Day traffic: They pull up an app to summon Blade, an Uber-style helicopter service that whisks passengers to posh destinations like the Hamptons. Read more…

Helicopters over NYC are terror weapons ‘waiting to happen’: watchdog – NY Post

October 6, 2014 – Low-flying helicopters are sitting ducks that can easily be commandeered by terrorists posing as tourists or shot down from the ground by fanatics with rifles, a group opposing the flights charged Sunday. Read more…

Tourist Thrill Becomes a Residential Nuisance – NY Press

February 17, 2015 – Residents are incensed by near-constant noise from tourist helicopters. Read more…

Noisy ferries, copters irk Battery Park City Residents – Crain’s 

May 15, 2014 – Read about Congressman Nadler’s efforts to combat noise pollution, including helicopter noise in Manhattan and Brooklyn. Read more…

That Nuisance In The Sky – The New York Times

March 24, 2015 – Taking on New York City helicopters. Read more…

West Side Heliport Can Stay Forever, If An Assembly-passed Bill Becomes Law – Politico

June 20, 2013 – The State Assembly today passed legislation that will allow the West Side heliport to remain in place or at a nearby location in perpetuity, contrary to a 2008 court agreement requiring that the W. 30th Street heliport relocate or close by the end of 2014. Read More…

Community Board 12 Seeks to Curb Uptown Helicopter Noise – DNA Info

March 21, 2013 – Manhattan Community Board 12 took a step to curb excessive noise from sightseeing helicopters Tuesday, passing a resolution asking city and federal agencies to keep chopper flights in the center of the Hudson River. Read more…

Hell-icopters – NY Post

April 22, 2012 – How serious is lower Manhattan’s density of flights? Stefan Friedman, a spokesman for ERHC, dividing up the 62,000 annual flights, e-mailed, “That’s 57 flight per day for each of the three heliports. Assuming all three heliports are open 12 hours a day (West 30th Street is 24/7, but the number of flights coming in and out during the overnight hours are negligible), that breaks down to between four and five ‘ops’ (takeoffs or landings) per hour at each of the heliports.” Read more…

Governors Island Wants Low-Flying Helicopters to Fly Off – DNA Info

December 1, 2011 – Low-flying helicopters are shattering the peace on Governors Island, park advocates and the National Park Service said Wednesday. Read more…

Passenger injured in New York helicopter crash dies – The Telegraph

October 13, 2011 – A New Zealand woman who was seriously injured when a helicopter carrying a group on a birthday celebration crashed into the East River has become the second person to die from the accident. Read more…

Critics Blast Deal for NYC Tourist Choppers to Fly in Plane Space Above Hudson River – Fox News

October 10, 2011 — The U.S. government has struck a secret deal with operators of tourist helicopters, allowing them to fly in airspace over New York’s Hudson River that is supposed to be reserved for small, private aircraft. But private pilots who use the corridor are not being warned by Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) flight briefers to be on alert for the choppers. Former National Transportation Safety Board chairman Jim Hall blasted the deal, noting, “Safety is best served when impactful decisions are made openly and with input from other agencies and the public — not quietly and behind closed doors.” Read more…

Red Hook Chop Stop! City Bans Helicopter Over Neighborhood – Brooklyn Paper

April 21, 2011 – “The city takes the complaints of Red Hook residents seriously,” said Julie Wood, a spokeswoman for the Economic Development Corporation, which oversees helicopter traffic. The agency promised not only the new route, but a “strict enforcement system,” Wood added. Read more…

Lookout, Below! Choppers Over Heights Could Actually Cause Brain Damage – Brooklyn Paper

April 11, 2011 – Prochnik added that the helicopter traffic on top of your average “white noise” can lead to slower brain development in children, and eventually brain damage if not curtailed early.“We’ve seen situations where people were asleep and weren’t woken by the noise, yet all the stress markers in the body elevate,” he said. “Ultimately, there’s also an increased risk for heart attacks. This is not your ears anymore.” Read more…

Hudson Crash Blamed on Controller, Failure to See and Avoid – Vertical Mag

September 14, 2010 – The United States National Transportation Safety Board has determined that an air traffic controller who was distracted by a personal phone call played a critical role in the 2009 crash of a small plane and a sightseeing helicopter over the Hudson River. Read more…

Three bodies recovered after midair collision over Hudson – CNN

August 8, 2009 – Five Italian tourists visiting New York from Bologna are among the nine victims believed killed Saturday in a midair collision of a sightseeing helicopter and a single-engine plane over the Hudson River, a law enforcement source said. Read more…

Legislation that would minimize airplane and helicopter noise over Staten Island proposed – Silive.com

June 5, 2009 – The other amendment calls for the FAA to study helicopter operations over Staten Island and Long Island and their effect on residential neighborhoods, with regard to safety and noise issues. It also asks for an examination of the feasibility of diverting helicopters from residential areas, as well as creating specific air lanes for them and establishing altitude limits. Read more…

No-Fly Zones Shield Disney’s Resorts – Orlando Sentinel

May 11, 2003 – Disney officials insist they did nothing wrong in persuading lawmakers to order the Federal Aviation Administration to give the entertainment giant special protection for the foreseeable future. “The sole and exclusive motivation for seeking these restrictions is for the safety and enjoyment of our guests,” said Disney spokeswoman Leslie Goodman, explaining that “enjoyment” meant everything from keeping out “banner ads from trial lawyers” to pilots “buzzing the parks.” Read more…

Giuliani Plans To Reduce Copter Flights – The New York Times

April 30, 1997 – Responding to a cascade of complaints about noise and safety, the Giuliani administration said yesterday that it would scale back the number of helicopter flights in New York City by closing one heliport and evicting from another heliport a company that has long stirred the ire of neighborhood groups. Senior administration officials said they would shut the heliport at 60th Street and the East River, leaving the city with three heliports and reducing the number of helicopter flights by 30 to 40 percent. Please read…

The Chopper-Blocker – The New York Times

March 2, 1997 – In an apartment on a side street near the East River, a small dark-haired woman named Joy Held is getting, as she puts it, ”very, very angry.” Last September, she started flinching as the basso profundo rumble of helicopters flying over her East 65th Street apartment building grew louder, like a giant malevolent neighbor aiming stereo speakers at her walls. Read more…

ESCAPE BY COPTER FOILED AT U.S. JAIL IN MANHATTAN – The New York Times

January 26, 1981 – An armed man and woman hijacked a sightseeing helicopter and flew to the Federal detention center in lower Manhattan yesterday morning in an unsuccessful attempt to pluck an inmate from a rooftop recreation area. Read more…