NYC helicopter flights hit 165 over Manhattan per weekend, says senator urging Gov. Hochul to OK noise crackdown law

Helicopter noise in Manhattan is spiraling out of control, with 165 choppers flying over the island every weekend and noise complaints spiking, says a state senator pushing a crackdown on the cacophony.

Sen. Brad Hoylman (D-Manhattan) wants Gov. Hochul to sign the “Stop the Chop” Act, which the Legislature sent to Gov. Hochul’s desk earlier this week.

Hoylman’s bill, which passed the state Legislature over the summer, would enable New Yorkers to sue helicopter companies for creating “an unreasonable level of noise at ground level.”

“People’s lives are upended on a daily basis with chopper noise, especially since the pandemic with so many folks working from home,” Hoylman, a Democrat, told the Daily News on Wednesday.

The weekend chopper flights were tabulated by a group called Beta.nyc, which crunched numbers from the Federal Aviation Administration.

Almost half of the weekend flights go to and from New Jersey, most of them on quick tourist trips, Hoylman said.

The “Stop the Chop” Act came as 311 noise complaints about helicopters increased nearly sevenfold from 2019, when there were 3,332 such gripes, to 2021, when there were 25,916, according to Hoylman’s office, which cited Bloomberg News.

“The FAA has been MIA on this issue, so it’s time New York takes matters into its own hands,” said the state senator.

A Hochul spokeswoman declined to state whether the governor supports the bill, saying it was still under review Wednesday.

State Sen. Brad Hoylman

The “Stop the Chop” Act is the latest effort from New York City lawmakers to reduce helicopter noise.

Earlier this year, Reps. Carolyn Maloney, Jerrold Nadler and Nydia Velazquez, all Democrats, introduced a bill that would task the FAA with creating a chopper noise-reduction plan. It’s yet to come up for a vote.

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