Sun 18 Oct 2009
Air Tours: Nuisance or Necessity?
Posted by raman under Chelsea
[8] Comments
Ramandeep Singh
Air Tours: Nuisance or Necessity?
Joy Held, 67- President of the Helicopter Noise Coalition
Brian Tolbert, 22- Manager of W 30th Street Heliport
Richard Gottfried, 62- Assembly Member of 75th Assembly District
On August 8, 2009, a small aircraft and sight-seeing helicopter crashed over the Hudson River, claiming the lives of all onboard. This tragedy could have been prevented if tourist flights at the W 30th Street Heliport had been phased out as recommended in Mayor Rudy Guiliani’s 1999 Heliport and Helicopter Master Plan. It would have also saved the breath of Chelsea residents, elected officials and civic organizations who for years have been expressing their outrage over the problems caused by the helicopters, mainly the elevated noise. The loss of nine innocent lives only highlighted security faux pas in the tourist flights industry and there has been greater public outcry to shut down the W30th Street heliport immediately.
Joy Held, president of the Helicopter Noise Coalition, detailed in an interview the problems she experienced first hand while living near the heliport.
“The noise gives people headaches, raises their blood pressure, causes gastrointestinal disorder, makes them depressed- you have no control, can’t live in your apartment, enjoy your property and you definitely cannot get a good night’s sleep!”
Held has been vocalizing her frustration regarding the noise disturbance since the Coalition incorporated in New York in 1997. The organization seeks to reduce helicopter noise impact by eliminating nonemergency helicopters from the land and waterways of the five boroughs. On August 11, Held released a report in which she states that New York City has the highest nonmilitary helicopter traffic in the world, of which tours account for half.
Held explained that Mayor Giuliani had banned helicopter air tours during his term. The W 30th Street Heliport was slated to close when its lease expired in 2001 and the land reverted to the Hudson River Park. However, Mayor Bloomberg decided to keep the heliport open and allow sightseeing flights to continue. The city has been leasing the property on a month-to-month basis since.
“Bloomberg touts that it’s good for business,” Held added, “He’s a pilot himself and execs like flying in and out. He’s on the economic side and doesn’t care about the impact on local people.”
In 2007, the Friends of the Hudson River Park, a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving the Park, filed a lawsuit against the companies operating through the W30th Street Heliport. According to the Hudson River Park Act of 1998, it is illegal for sightseeing flights to operate from the W 30th Street Heliport. On June 20, 2008, the parties involved reached a settlement in which tourist flights will completely end by April 1, 2010 and the current amount of such excursions lowered by thousands. The heliport will be completely closed by December 31, 2012 given that a new location would be provided for helicopter companies to continue certain operations. The land will then be reverted to the Hudson River Park.
Held expressed satisfaction with the result, mentioning that people at the park will finally enjoy the experience without being hassled by unpleasant noise and fumes from helicopters. Since the August 8th crash however, her organization has been petitioning elected official and City Council members to close the heliport immediately. The Coalition lobbied the Federal Aviation Administration to ban air tours right away, due to safety concerns and the unnecessary noise levels.
“There are other ways to see the city, without imposing hearing impairment on the residents and shaking the buildings” Held expressed.
Brian Tolbert, manager of the W 30th Street Heliport, sympathizes with residents living in the area but asserts that measures have been taken to reduce noise. For instance, sound barriers have been installed and really made a difference in the environment outside the gate. However, sound travels over the top and there is nothing the heliport can implement to eliminate the sound when helicopters fly through the air.
In regards to the settlement, Tolbert said that limiting tour flights are reducing the revenue.
“It makes our business much lower because tours are what we run here most of the time,” he clarified, “Charter planes come once in a while but helicopter tours are really popular. They are what bring people and money to this area.”
A component of the settlement was to conduct sightseeing flights only between 9:00am to 6:30 pm. Because of the time restrictions, Tolbert is forced to turn away potential customers, which generates less revenue. He believes that with slower business, some workers might get laid off.
He explained that although air tours end in April 2010 at the W 30th Street Heliport, they would resume at the Wall Street heliport. Held’s organization is working to eliminate sightseeing helicopters completely in New York City.
Assembly Member Richard Gottfried, who represents the 75th Assembly District that includes the W 30th Heliport, testified before the City Council Committee with other elected official regarding the air traffic. He agrees with Held’s views that ending the helicopter sightseeing flights would be beneficial to the community and there are other ways for tourists to enjoy their visit to New York City. He is angered that Mayor Bloomberg lifted the ban on air tours, which could have ended them years ago and thus prevented the tragic crash on August 8. Gottfried supports the decision to terminate such flights at the W 30th Street Heliport but believes shifting them to the Wall Street heliport is a step backward. To appease the tenants living in that area from the disturbances and safety issues, the Assemblyman urged the City Council to ban helicopter tours, a view completely in line with the Helicopter Noise Coalition.
First off, I’d like to say that you did a great job in taking an unbiased stance and trying to reflect both sides equally. I like your opening as well because its intriguing and factual at the same time. Smartly done using a legitimate news story.
I agree with everyone that this is a very well written article. There is a lot of supporting quotes and information. This issue is very serious and I had wanted to learn more about it since last year’s accident.
I agree with Jack that getting rid of the helicopter rides will be very hard because there are a lot of tourists in New York City and helicopter rides have been a very popular aspect of tourism. But some thing should be done to protect the residents.
As previous comments had mentioned, you did a great job on the first paragraph by answering all the five W’s. I like the way you present your article with arguments from both sides, the residents and the Heliport. Regarding the sightseeing Helicopter, I think it would be a difficult task to eliminate it completely since New York City attracts a lot of tourist and it creates tremendous revenue for the Heliport. I find that there could also be a potential problem that if you close Helicopter flight in W 30th street, the company is going to find another location for the Helicopter to land. And the residents in that area would also complain for the noise.
I really like your introduction. It answered the five W’s and made interested in reading the rest of the article. I was actually never aware of this incident and its impacts so good job informing us!
I agree that this is a great start and you provide a lot of information.
However, I do feel as if all of the information is coming directly from sources. Perhaps, I’m completely wrong but I feel that it would also be good to provide other information. So as not to make the whole paper seem like one interview after another.
I really enjoyed reading your article. It was full of really useful information that provided alot of insight into the heliport problem. After reading your article, I felt very well informed about the problem and concerns surrounding it.
I think you did a good job throughout! You incorporated great quotes and provided a wealth of information many people were probably not aware of, myself included. I would work on adding an extra paragraph for a more comprehensive conclusion. You introduce a few new ideas at the end, which makes it feel a bit incomplete.
Good article, had no idea the heliport was such a sensitive issue in that area. You give good information on the past and present and show what steps are being taken to fix the problem so I would say it’s a very well rounded report.