Downtown Manhattan Heliport
Encyclopedia
Helicopter
A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by one or more engine-driven rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forwards, backwards, and laterally...
landing platform at Pier 6 in the East River
East River
The East River is a tidal strait in New York City. It connects Upper New York Bay on its south end to Long Island Sound on its north end. It separates Long Island from the island of Manhattan and the Bronx on the North American mainland...
in Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
.
History
Downtown Manhattan Heliport opened on December 8, 1960, supplementing the existing heliport at West 30th Street which opened in 1956. During the 1960s and 1970s, New York AirwaysNew York Airways
New York Airways was a helicopter airline in the New York City area. Founded in 1949 as a mail and cargo carrier, on July 9, 1953 it became the first scheduled helicopter airline to carry passengers in the United States...
provided scheduled service from the heliport to the city's major airports. Scheduled passenger service was discontinued with PanAm
Pan American World Airways
Pan American World Airways, commonly known as Pan Am, was the principal and largest international air carrier in the United States from 1927 until its collapse on December 4, 1991...
's bankruptcy in the mid-1980s. In 2006, US Helicopter
US Helicopter
US Helicopter was an independent air shuttle service that operated regularly scheduled helicopter flights from Manhattan to Newark and JFK airports. Flights left from Downtown and Midtown Manhattan Heliports to Delta Air Lines Terminal 3 at John F. Kennedy International Airport...
resumed scheduled passenger service with hourly flights to John F. Kennedy International Airport
John F. Kennedy International Airport
John F. Kennedy International Airport is an international airport located in the borough of Queens in New York City, about southeast of Lower Manhattan. It is the busiest international air passenger gateway to the United States, handling more international traffic than any other airport in North...
until November 2009 as US Helicopter
US Helicopter
US Helicopter was an independent air shuttle service that operated regularly scheduled helicopter flights from Manhattan to Newark and JFK airports. Flights left from Downtown and Midtown Manhattan Heliports to Delta Air Lines Terminal 3 at John F. Kennedy International Airport...
ceased all services.
Much of the heliport's traffic is generated by Wall Street
Wall Street
Wall Street refers to the financial district of New York City, named after and centered on the eight-block-long street running from Broadway to South Street on the East River in Lower Manhattan. Over time, the term has become a metonym for the financial markets of the United States as a whole, or...
and the lower Manhattan financial district; top business executives and time-sensitive document deliveries often use the heliport. The heliport is also the normal landing spot for the President of the United States
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
on visits to New York. Michael Bloomberg
Michael Bloomberg
Michael Rubens Bloomberg is the current Mayor of New York City. With a net worth of $19.5 billion in 2011, he is also the 12th-richest person in the United States...
, now mayor of New York
Mayor of New York City
The Mayor of the City of New York is head of the executive branch of New York City's government. The mayor's office administers all city services, public property, police and fire protection, most public agencies, and enforces all city and state laws within New York City.The budget overseen by the...
, frequently used the heliport to fly between Bloomberg L.P.
Bloomberg L.P.
Bloomberg L.P. is an American privately held financial software, media, and data company. Bloomberg makes up one third of the $16 billion global financial data market with estimated revenue of $6.9 billion. Bloomberg L.P...
headquarters and Johns Hopkins University
Johns Hopkins University
The Johns Hopkins University, commonly referred to as Johns Hopkins, JHU, or simply Hopkins, is a private research university based in Baltimore, Maryland, United States...
when he was chairman of both institutions.
The Downtown Manhattan Heliport is a public heliport
Heliport
A heliport is a small airport suitable only for use by helicopters. Heliports typically contain one or more helipads and may have limited facilities such as fuel, lighting, a windsock, or even hangars...
operated by the New York City Economic Development Corporation
New York City Economic Development Corporation
New York City Economic Development Corporation is a non-profit local development corporation that promotes economic growth across New York City's five boroughs. It is the City's official Economic development corporation, charged with using the City's assets to drive growth, create jobs, and...
(NYCEDC) with charter service to Newark Liberty International Airport
Newark Liberty International Airport
Newark Liberty International Airport , first named Newark Metropolitan Airport and later Newark International Airport, is an international airport within the city limits of both Newark and Elizabeth, New Jersey, United States...
, Teterboro Airport
Teterboro Airport
Teterboro Airport is a general aviation relief airport located in the Boroughs of Teterboro, Moonachie, and Hasbrouck Heights in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. It is owned and operated by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey...
, Morristown Municipal Airport
Morristown Municipal Airport
Morristown Municipal Airport is a public airport located in Whippany, three miles east of the central business district of Morristown, in Morris County, New Jersey, USA...
, and other New York-area airports. Public sightseeing and VIP flights are also common.
Facilities and aircraft
The heliport covers an area of 2 acre (0.809372 ha) at an elevationElevation
The elevation of a geographic location is its height above a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface ....
of 7 feet (2 m) above mean sea level. It has one helipad
Helipad
Helipad is a common abbreviation for helicopter landing pad, a landing area for helicopters. While helicopters are able to operate on a variety of relatively flat surfaces, a fabricated helipad provides a clearly marked hard surface away from obstacles where a helicopter can safely...
designated H1 with a 62 x 62 ft (19 x 19 m) concrete
Concrete
Concrete is a composite construction material, composed of cement and other cementitious materials such as fly ash and slag cement, aggregate , water and chemical admixtures.The word concrete comes from the Latin word...
surface. For the 12-month period ending December 30, 2003, the airport had 10,002 aircraft operations, an average of 27 per day: 90% general aviation
General aviation
General aviation is one of the two categories of civil aviation. It refers to all flights other than military and scheduled airline and regular cargo flights, both private and commercial. General aviation flights range from gliders and powered parachutes to large, non-scheduled cargo jet flights...
and 10% military
Military aviation
Military aviation is the use of aircraft and other flying machines for the purposes of conducting or enabling warfare, including national airlift capacity to provide logistical supply to forces stationed in a theater or along a front. Air power includes the national means of conducting such...
.