Firstflight Heliports operates the lower Manhattan heliport and the city’s Economic Development Corp. said it has made an amendment to its agreement with Firstflight to bar the doors-off flights.
EDC oversees the heliport.
Currently, no doors-off helicopter tours depart from the Downtown Manhattan Heliport, and the “new amendment ensures that practice will be codified as permanent policy,” the EDC said.
EDC president James Patchett said in a statement: “It is our hope that by officially banning doors-off helicopter flights out of New York City, we will help improve air safety within the five boroughs.”
“We are thankful for the leadership and advocacy of the City Council on this important issue.”
On March 11, a chopper used for a doors-off sightseeing tour with the company FlyNYON plunged into the East River, killing all five passengers on board. The pilot survived.
The helicopter had taken off from a heliport in Kearny, New Jersey.
Helicopter tours that take off outside the city can still do so with doors off as the EDC doesn’t have jurisdiction elsewhere.
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