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In the News: A Helicopter Took Off from North Cove Marina
••• The Broadsheet is once again going after Brookfield’s management of North Cove Marina. Today, it reports on a helicopter taking off from a yacht moored there, which “appears to violate the terms of the Request for Proposals under which the Battery Park City Authority selected Brookfield Properties to operate the facility earlier this year” and “more importantly […] may violate rules established by the Federal Aviation Administration.” (Brookfield says the FFA OKed it, but the FAA couldn’t or wouldn’t confirm it.) The yacht is “owned by Tilman Fertitta, a restaurant and casino magnate who is best known as the proprietor of the Bubba Gump Shrimp Company restaurant chain, Mortons Steakhouses, and the Golden Nugget casino and hotel empire.” (The photo is courtesy Mars Cyrillo.)
••• Soccer player “Andrea Pirlo’s stay at Juventus looks to be over as his son told classmates he will be leaving for New York City FC. […] According to the Sport Mediaset, Pirlo has invested in an apartment in the Tribeca area of New York City, and will receive a salary of €12 million a season.” —Forza Italian Football
••• The New York Times looks at the story of “Dream House,” La Monte Young and Marian Zazeela’s sound-and-light installation; the Dia Art Foundation “recently acquired a version of ‘Dream House’ as a work for its collection. From Tuesday to Oct. 21, that version will operate at 545 West 22nd Street.” It’s unclear whether the version at 275 Church—the building where the artists also live—is affected by this. UPDATE from Dia: “Dia acquired a unique version of the Dream House titled, Dia 15 VI 13 545 West 22 Street Dream House. The version at 275 Church Street will remain in operation.”
••• “The frigate Hermione is coming to the South Street Seaport on July 1, and what a sight she will be with her three tall masts supporting 19 sails. She will be docked at Pier 16 until July 4, and will be open for tours.” —Downtown Post NYC
••• Steve Cuozzo of the New York Post calls Le District “a four-star jewel” and says that the area (I think he means FiDi, not Battery Park City) is “Manhattan’s most exciting neighborhood in which to work and live.” Look, I’m a booster, but really?
••• Photos and the menu for Houseman, opening Sunday at 508 Greenwich. —Eater
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I am a commercial helicopter pilot who lives in Tribeca, and I am thoroughly versed in the FAA rules, which in this case is “14 CFR 91.119 – Minimum safe altitudes” https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/14/91.119
The entire regulation is prefaced by the phrase “Except when necessary for takeoff or landing…” otherwise, 747s wouldn’t be able to overfly Queens to land or take off.
And if the Broadstreet’s reading of the regulation were correct, the Wall Street heliport would also be in violations since it is within 2,000ft horizontally of 111 Wall Street, which is 527 feet tall.
I know people don’t like facts, but those are them.
As a pilot for over 40 years and former FAA Safety Team Lead Representative, I am confident that a takeoff clearance was never issued by Air Traffic Control since it would be in violation of FAA’s own orders and the airspace which the helipad is located is designated at Class G Airspace which is uncontrolled. Consequently, Air Traffic Control has no responsibility or authority in that airspace. It is possible that an enroute clearance was issued only after helicopter reached an altitude which is not designated as Class G Airspace. This is not the same as a takeoff clearance. I have written a more detailed response to the Broadsheet which they may publish.
I agree with Commercial Copter Pilot that there is no violation of 14CFR 91.119 with respect to the takeoff of the helicopter.
A take-off clearance isn’t required unless operating at a towered airport. None of the heliports in Manhattan, or the 23rd Street Seaplane Base have towers, and none of the aircraft landing or taking off rom those facilities require a clearance.
The Broadsheet has never really been known for dealing in hard facts or fact checking. Their stories usually need to be taken “with a grain of salt”.
Just to make it clear that I only provided the photo upon request of the editor after he saw it on my Google+ feed. None of the quotes in the article are mine.
Most exciting…probably for a displaced NJ mall rat ;)
Kidding aside.
Le District is really nice and despite my general apprehensions against the big boxification and Mallification of NYC, I would have to say it is worth a visit