Tourist flights emanate either from the city-owned heliport at Downtown Manhattan Heliport, operated by NYC EDC, or from other heliports in New Jersey and Westchester. Most of these flights pass over the NY harbor and up and down the Hudson and East rivers. Certain city-level regulations are in place for tourist flights originating at the NYC heliports (see 2016 Agreement below), but these regulations do not apply to flights from outside NYC. Non-NYC based tourist helicopters can tour anywhere, including over Central Park, the Empire State Building, and the Brooklyn Bridge, to name a few common sights.
STC supports legislation in the NYC Council that would mandate the city halt use of its heliports for nonessential use. NYC taxpayers pay to fund the maintenance of these heliports that are hosting these noisy and polluting fossil fuel-based helicopters.