In April we noted that the City Council was considering 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 generate much traffic that passes above or near the Heights.
Now, The Eagle reports that two bills pending in Council, one of which would ban “non essential flights” from the Downtown Manhattan Heliport directly across from Brooklyn Heights and the East 34th Street Heliport, and the other which would require flights using these heliports to have less noisy propulsion mechanisms, are, if enacted, unlikely to have much effect on the noise level. The Eagle story cites the city’s Economic Development Corporation as finding that only four percent of flights that drew 311 complaints started or ended at those heliports. The EDC, which operates the two heliports in question (see Gothamist article cited below) may have its own agenda on this matter, perhaps considering the economic benefits from helicopter tourism, or the benefit to the city’s most affluent residents of having fast and seamless transport to airports or to their summer homes, to outweigh the negative effects of noise.
The Eagle also cites Gothamist, which “tracked helicopter flights over Memorial Day weekend … and found that a majority did not take off from [either of the two city owned heliports]. Instead, a majority originated from airports either in New York or New Jersey. The city has no authority to regulate such flights, which fall under federal jurisdiction, nor can it enforce the Federal Aviation Administration guidelines requiring helicopters to maintain at least 1,000 feet of cruising altitude. Gothamist quotes City Councilmember Gale Brewer:
“New Jersey makes a lot of money,” Brewer said at a Council hearing in April, referring to profits generated by helicopter operations there. “I tried to stop it. It ain’t going to happen by itself without the federal government.”
Nevertheless, according to Gothamist, the two U.S. Representatives whose districts include areas heavily affected by helicopter noise: Dan Goldman, whose 10th District includes Brooklyn Heights both now and after the redistricting that takes effect in 2025; and Jerry Nadler, whose 12th District includes Manhattan from about 14th Street through Midtown and the Upper East and West Sides, have endorsed passage of City Council legislation on the grounds that, in Nadler’s words, “Something is better than nothing.” Also, the Gothamist article includes a pie chart that shows the distribution of flight origins on Memorial Day weekend. It shows the Downtown Manhattan Heliport as the source of 26 percent of the flights, the largest source except for “Other” (29 percent). Under he chart is this note: “The Downtown Manhattan Heliport is closed on Sundays, and the East 34th Street Heliport is closed Saturdays and Sundays, so they may be underrepresented in this data.”
Photo Credit: Stop the Chop NY NJ
