Aviation authorities are attempting to give the whole city the peace and quiet Brooklyn argued for last year, cracking down on helicopter pilots who flout regulations on where helicopters can fly and how long they can hover there. And Sen. Daniel Squadron couldn't be happier. "This is a big deal," he told the Post. "Residents can’t continue to suffer from the scourge of helicopters."
Of the 444 noise complaints about helicopters logged this fiscal year with 311, over a quarter of them came from Brooklyn, and Judy Stanton of the Brooklyn Heights Association said, "If we had our way, all nonessential tourist helicopters would be eliminated." Last April a court banned tourist helicopters from taking off at the West 30th Street heliport, which the BHA says have forced them all into the Downtown Manhattan Heliport directly across the river from their neighborhood. They write, "DMH now supports an average of 200 takeoffs and landings per day, over 70% of which are tourist flights...That is a significant increase over prior years, and amounts to one takeoff or landing every 5 minutes. Since approach and departure each take a few minutes, the noise to anyone nearby is incessant."
The EDC is now insisting that heliports enforce new regulations, like a ban on four-to eight-minute tours and trips over Brooklyn. A safety officer will also randomly check flight plans to catch those straying into forbidden zones. And once that goes into effect, all that'll be standing between us and a good night's rest will be that damned whistling bellman.
