As a barge crane on Monday retrieved more wreckage from the tourist helicopter crash just off the Jersey City shoreline last week, local voices from New Jersey are stepping up their calls for such tourist flights to be banned.
Said state Assemblywoman Jessica Ramirez (D-Hudson), who lives in a nearby high-rise: “The boom was so scary. I had no idea what happened. I ran out and I saw chaos. It was tragic. But thank God it happened in the water, and not over a building, not over a daycare, not over a hospital. And especially in densely populated areas, it’s a huge risk.”
Ramirez is co-sponsoring legislation to ban tourist and non-essential helicopters from lifting off in New Jersey. The downed aircraft’s operator — New York Helicopter Tours — shut down on Sunday, but tourist helicopters still filled the skies. And they fly over residential neighborhoods on the Jersey side, including from a heliport in Kearny.
“When I’m at the park and a helicopter flies over my head at 350 feet while I’m playing with my daughter, I don’t feel safe. Especially after an incident like this,” said Hoboken resident Corey Davis, an organizer with the local group, Stop the Chop.
Investigators continued searching for the cause of the crash that killed a family of five and the chopper pilot. The 21-year-old Bell LongRanger helicopter that crashed passed inspection March 1. But The New York Times cited FAA records that indicated bits of metal in the helicopter’s transmission oil back in September, a possible sign of old or worn parts. New York Helicopter Tours had reported two prior chopper incidents but no injuries. It filed for bankruptcy in 2019.
“This particular chopper —and the fact it wasn’t being maintained as it should — makes you wonder about our other tour companies also not maintaining their helicopters the way they should be,” said Jersey City resident Nick Wierda.
“It’s an accident waiting to happen,” said Norrice Raymaker, another Stop the Chop organizer. “Thirty-seven people have died in helicopter crashes in joyrides since 1977. And how many more people have to die?”
The FAA has already been investigating what it calls helicopter “hot spots” in different areas of the country, and it said it will hold a safety panel on April 22 to discuss risks and additional mitigation.
The National Transportation Safety Board has also long-registered its concern over sight-seeing flights, noting, “These operations are not subject to the same maintenance, airworthiness, and operational requirements as other commercial flight operations.”
Across the river, New York City Mayor Eric Adams said he does not want to shut down the helicopter flights altogether.
“That is part of the attraction of business in the city. People come into the city — see the city from the air — it’s part of the attraction,” Adams said. “What we must do is make sure it’s safe, make sure it’s done correctly.”
A trade group that represents helicopter operators also opposes a ban: “Some well-meaning but misguided leaders are using this tragedy to exploit and push their decades-old agenda to ban all helicopters … We need to learn more from the investigation.”
The owner of New York Helicopter Tours did not respond to NJ Spotlight News’ requests for comment.
