Clamps Down On Medical, Police, News Aircraft Flights

ANN April 1 Special Edition

The City of New York announced April 1 that it is seeking to expand its restrictions on helicopter operations to include emergency medical transportation, Police helicopters, and news aircraft.

“Those noisy choppers continue to disturb the peace and quiet that embodies New York City,” said New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio over the blare of 10,000 car horns on a nearby street. “So we have asked medical transport companies and news operations to cut the number of flights they make in half, with no operations on Sunday. The NYPD has been informed that they can no longer conduct aerial patrols on Sundays, and nighttime operations have also been put on hiatus. We think this will make New York a much more liveable city for everyone concerned.”

The move was hailed by New York U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer, who has long championed the reduction of helicopter operations not only in the city, but on nearby Long Island as well.

“How can you expect hard-working people to sleep at night when there are noisey medical and police helicopters buzzing around their homes. And the news guys? They’re the worst,” Schumer said in a news conference. “The police can make the shift to drones, which normally I’m against except when it suits my purpose. The TV stations will just have to accept that there are other ways to gather the news that are not nearly as intrusive and disruptive to people's lives,” he said.

A New York City Police Officer who requested anonymity because she was not authorized to speak to the media said that banning helo flights at night and on Sunday would almost certainly lead to a surge in the crime rate. “We’ll see what happens when somebody is trying to break into Schumer’s house and we can’t respond quickly,” she said.  “He’ll be screaming for a helicopter then.”

Mayor de Blasio said that the helicopter ban was just the beginning in his fight against noise in the city.

“We’re working on legislation that will require the removal of the horn from every car, truck, motorcycle, and other vehicle in the city, as well as an ordinance that would ban outdoor music. When we’re through, New York City will be as quiet as the Kansas prairie in winter.”

(Public domain image)

FMI: http://council.nyc.gov