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."

FMI: www.faa.gov, www.ntsb.gov