The New York Metropolis Council handed a invoice Thursday that might lower down helicopter use within the metropolis by placing harsher noise restrictions on nonessential flights.
The invoice, which handed by a 46-1 vote with one abstention, blocks helicopters that don’t meet essentially the most stringent Federal Aviation Administration noise requirements from flying out of the principle Manhattan heliports in Midtown and close to Wall St., starting in 2029.
This comes after the vacationer helicopter crash within the Hudson earlier this month that killed a household of 5 and their pilot.
The mangled wreckage of a helicopter is lifted from the Hudson River in Jersey Metropolis, New Jersey, on Thursday, April 10, 2025. (Gardiner Anderson / New York Each day Information)
“While no legislation can eliminate all risk, transitioning to quieter, lower-emission aircraft will help reduce the dangers posed by the noisiest, most outdated helicopters,” Amanda Farias, the invoice’s sponsor, mentioned at a press convention forward of the Council vote.
That invoice is accompanied by separate resolutions to name on state lawmakers to determine a noise tax and prohibit sure flight operations, and to name on the FAA to ban all nonessential helicopter journey.
Agustin Escobar, his spouse, Merce Camprubi Montal, with two of their three youngsters are pictured in an undated photograph. The household was killed in a helicopter crash on Thursday, April 10, 2025. (Fb)
The invoice’s prolonged timeline is to permit for time for the trade to adapt and for the town to replace its contracts with heliport operators, Farias mentioned. About 9% of plane flying out of two of the Manhattan heliports — at E. thirty fourth St. and within the Monetary District — usually are not at present in compliance with the invoice’s noise rules.
Autumn Cabaniss, a board member of the Jap Area Helicopter Council, a regional consortium of pilots, mentioned in an announcement Thursday that the invoice amounted to overregulation.
“Rather than regulating the industry out of existence, we should be working together to create a framework that ensures safe, quiet and sustainable operations,” she mentioned. “The helicopter community stands ready to work with the City Council to pass common-sense regulations that works for everyone, keeps the economy strong and ensures New York remains the world’s safest and preeminent destination.”
After the tragic April 10 copter crash, some metropolis lawmakers renewed requires an outright ban on nonessential helicopter flights. Mayor Adams has mentioned he opposes such a transfer, emphasizing that the tourism and enterprise sectors could be impacted by such a ban.
Spokespeople for the mayor didn’t instantly reply to a query of whether or not he plans on signing the invoice into regulation, however Farias mentioned that she labored with the administration to craft the invoice.
The Adams administration has been a booster for changing to electrical helicopters, making the nascent — and ostensibly quiet — know-how a key a part of its rebranding of the Wall St. heliport.
With the Decrease Manhattan heliport now redubbed the “Downtown Skyport,” a three way partnership made up of French and British aviation corporations has been tasked with getting ready the ability to function electrical helicopters in anticipation of FAA approval of the know-how.
Through the previous 5 years, 311 complaints for helicopter noise have skyrocketed by 2,329%, metropolis knowledge reveals. The extreme noise can inflict a slate of detrimental well being impacts, together with insomnia, hypertension, impaired cognitive perform and long-term reminiscence loss.
