PREVIOUS CRASHES LED TO NEW RULES
Tourist flights seemed like they might be in jeopardy after a disaster in 2009, when a Liberty Helicopters sightseeing flight carrying Italian visitors collided with a private plane over the Hudson River, killing nine.
After that crash, which involved missed radio communications, a distracted air traffic controller and two pilots who didn’t see each other until it was too late, the Federal Aviation Administration created new safety rules for the congested airspace over the city’s rivers.
A few years later, New York City cut the number of flights allowed at Manhattan’s downtown heliport in half, capping them at just under 30,000 a year.
Then, in 2018, five people died when a helicopter offering “open door” flights crashed in the East River after a passenger’s restraint tether snagged on a fuel switch, stopping the engine. The pilot escaped but the passengers couldn’t get out of their safety harnesses and drowned.
That crash prompted more industry scrutiny.
Late last month, the company that arranged that flight, FlyNYON, settled a lawsuit over the crash for US$90 million. FlyNYON’s chief executive, Patrick Day, said it had made numerous changes to improve safety, including changing its passenger restraint system, switching to a different model of helicopter, adding training for pilots and hiring a safety officer.
“The introspection and self-critical analysis we have undertaken in the last six-and-a-half years have shaped our view of what it means to be an industry leader, and we’re a safer, smarter, and stronger company for it,” Day said.
