Every year, tens of thousands of tourist helicopter flights depart from heliports in and around New York City. These tours, which generally cost several hundred dollars, advertise seeing many of the city’s iconic sights from above — Central Park, One World Trade Center, the Statue of Liberty — in as little as 15 minutes.
The helicopter crash on Thursday was the tourism sector’s third fatal one in the past two decades. In 2009, a sightseeing helicopter carrying Italian tourists collided with a private plane over the Hudson River, killing nine people. In 2018, a helicopter flying with its doors off fell into the East River and flipped over. Five sightseers drowned, and only the pilot survived.
Most of the helicopter activity in the New York City region is made up of tourist, charter and commuter flights, according to Stop the Chop, an organization seeking to limit the flights around the city, citing noise complaints and climate concerns.
Tours often advertise a path flying up the Hudson River and back to the tip of Lower Manhattan, with views spanning many landmarks and the Manhattan skyline.
Some 30,000 tourist helicopter trips each year originate from the Downtown Manhattan Heliport at Pier 6. The New York City Economic Development Corporation, which has managed the Downtown Manhattan Heliport, has said that the tourism helicopter industry contributes about $50 million “in annual economic impact” to the city a year.
The activity was once double this amount; in 2016, the number of tourist helicopter flights was halved, after decades of rising complaints about excessive noise and air pollution from opponents.
Other tourist helicopter operators depart from heliports in New Jersey, in Kearny and Linden.
Christine Chung is a Times reporter covering airlines and consumer travel.
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