Originally Posted by
helispotter
If there are legitimate safety concerns with how the tour operations are conducted, then by all means address any such issues!
Except if you dig a bit deeper you’ll find the underlying cause for these flight “banning” efforts has more to do with noise issues that have been going on for decades in NYC vs any real safety issues. And to further their noise advocacy efforts various people and groups will latch onto any aircraft accident or incident and make it their battle cry in the name of safety.
The NYC council has systematically restricted downtown helicopter movements for years. However, they always come up short to completely ban any and all aircraft movements even though there are still around 30,000+ helicopter fights per year in the city. They even have a special 3-digit number you can call to report helicopter noise issues which last I checked was 10,000+ complaints per year. So this current move is nothing new. Regardless, there is plenty of public info out there about this ongoing movement which was well established before this recent unfortunate accident:
NYC Council Report
Stop the Chop.
Various NYC articles