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’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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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 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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

​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…

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…