New York Representative Calls Corridor The "Wild West"
In the aftermath of the tragic mid-air collision involving a
Piper Saratoga and a sightseeing helicopter over the Hudson River
Saturday, some aeronautically ignorant New York officials are
predictably calling for an end to uncontrolled flights under 1,100
feet in the region.
Hudson VFR Corridor Chart
New York television station CBS2 reports that Congressman
Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) has likened the corridor to the "Wild West,"
and places the blame on the FAA. "It is unconscionable that the FAA
permits unregulated flights in a crowded airspace in a major
metropolitan area," he said. "And it is ridiculous that private
planes and helicopters flying through a crowded area are dependent,
while in flight, on visually sighting other aircraft and
communicating with them. The real-life repercussions of these
non-existent regulations have been disastrous."
Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer called for at least a
temporary end to uncontrolled flights in the corridor. "We must. We
must suspend much of these flights below 1,100 feet until we put
safety first," he said.
The New York Times reports that newly-appointed NTSB Chair
Deborah Hersman said NTSB had made dozens of recommendations to the
FAA and the helicopter tour indsutry concerning sightseeing
flights, but many had not been put in place. “We believe that
if those recommendations were to be implemented, aviation safety
would be improved,” she said at a news briefing in Hoboken,
N.J., but was not specific about the nature of the
recommendations.
NTSB Chair Deborah Hersman
There are other problems to controlling the airspace. One former
air traffic controller told the Times that tall buildings limit the
effectiveness of radar below 1,100 feet in the corridor. He also
said there were not nearly enough controllers to handle the
increased work load should it be determined that those aircraft
need to be under positive air traffic control.
A variety of plans are being considered, including separating
aircraft types by altitude or time of day, but some question the
need for additional regulation. AOPA spokesman Chris Dancey told
the Times that the last mid-air collision in the Hudson corridor in
their records was back in 1963.
NextGen technology may also play a role. The system will
eventually allow pilots to have traffic displayed on a moving map
in the cockpit. FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt was very bullish on
this technology in a speech given at AirVenture 2009, and has
highlighted it in other venues.
FAA Administrator Randy
Babbitt
FAA spokeswoman Lauren Brown told the Times that closing the
corridor to GA traffic would require large detours for aircraft
transiting the area, either far over water or far west towards
Pennsylvania.
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, himself a pilot, said in a
news conference that he would not lobby the FAA for tighter
restrictions on the corridor. "They know what goes on there," he
said. "They are professionals."