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 primary 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all risk, transitioning to quieter, lower-emission aircraft will help reduce the dangers posed by the noisiest, most outdated helicopters,” Amanda Farias, the invoice’s sponsor, stated at a press convention forward of the Council vote.
That invoice is accompanied by separate resolutions to name on state lawmakers to ascertain 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 kids 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 business to adapt and for the town to replace its contracts with heliport operators, Farias stated. About 9% of plane flying out of two of the Manhattan heliports — at E. thirty fourth St. and within the Monetary District — will not be at the moment in compliance with the invoice’s noise laws.
Autumn Cabaniss, a board member of the Japanese Area Helicopter Council, a regional consortium of pilots, stated in a press release 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 stated. “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 stated he opposes such a transfer, emphasizing that the tourism and enterprise sectors could be impacted by such a ban.
Farias stated that she labored with the administration to craft the invoice. A spokesperson for Mayor Adams stated the mayor will assessment the laws, and referenced Electrical Vertical Take-Off and Touchdown autos, or eVTOLs.
“[The] City Council’s legislation signals the city’s thoughtful transition to eVTOLs, maintaining and upgrading the economically vital transportation network while improving the quality of life for New Yorkers — from the air they breathe to the noise above their heads,” Seth Schuster, a spokesperson for the Financial Improvement Company, stated in a press release.
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 firms has been tasked with getting ready the ability to function electrical helicopters in anticipation of FAA approval of the know-how.
Throughout the previous 5 years, 311 complaints for helicopter noise have skyrocketed by 2,329%, metropolis knowledge exhibits. The extreme noise can inflict a slate of detrimental well being impacts, together with insomnia, hypertension, impaired cognitive perform and long-term reminiscence loss.
Initially Printed: April 24, 2025 at 5:17 PM EDT
