What safeguards are in place during helicopter sight-seeing tours in NYC?
It comes in the wake of a helicopter crash into the Hudson River on Thursday that killed six people, including the pilot and a family of five from Spain.
There have been questions in the days after Thursday’s fatal helicopter crash on the Hudson River about the safety of tourist flights.
News 12 spoke with the Federal Aviation Administration-licensed pilots who run a similar company out of Fairfield about the maintenance, safety and communication that goes on in the sky.
Dennis Leaver, the founder of DEL Helicopters, says the very best team of experts is analyzing what happened on Thursday. Their findings will change how these companies operate.
“They will piece this whole thing together, they'll let us know what happened, and we will use that information to make sure it never happens again,” Leaver said.
DEL operates sightseeing tours, aerial photography and special events. New York City is among the most congested airspace in the nation and pilots must be in constant communication.
“On the Hudson River, we basically follow our predetermined highways in the sky,” said pilot and flight instructor Jordan Schmidt.
Those lanes are responsible for keeping people safe.
“They were at least a quarter mile away from any people where that helicopter landed, and that's the safety part of our flying,” Leaver said. “If something does go wrong, the aircraft won't interfere with people's safety.”
Leaver says things do go wrong sometimes.
“I will admit, the first 1,000 hours that I had this helicopter and was flying it, I had some instances where I had to land unexpectedly,” Leaver said. “I didn’t understand certain vibrations, I didn’t understand certain noises back then. Now I know, from experience.”
DEL Helicopters has long been flying a Schweizer 300C. This aircraft dates back to the 1970s, but it's constantly updated with the latest safety standards and equipment. The crew knows its machine inside and out. They inspect this every 25 flight-hours.
“The engine and transmissions are the only things on here that get rebuilt,” Leaver said. “Everything else goes on new. It's only good for so many hours. So basically, it's almost like a new aircraft all the time.”
An aircraft that brings visitors and their pilots joy.
“Even though it's the same trip we make all the time, we get new passengers, and they make us excited about showing them the sights,” Leaver said.
“It unlocks a new perspective that you're not able to fully comprehend from the ground,” Schmidt said.
