Int. No. 26
By Council Members Farías, Louis, Restler, Gutiérrez, Hudson, Marte, Hanif, Yeger, Brewer, Holden, Avilés, Rivera and Abreu
A Local Law to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to restricting non-essential helicopter operations at city heliports to helicopters powered fully by electric engines
Be it enacted by the Council as follows:
Section 1. Subchapter 2 of chapter 8 of title 22 of the administrative code of the city of New York is amended by adding a new section 22-827 to read as follows:
§ 22-827 Heliport operations. a. Definitions. For the purposes of this section, the following terms have the following meanings:
Covered helicopters. The term “covered helicopter” means a rotary-wing aircraft powered by a combustion engine capable of vertical takeoff and landing. Such term does not include helicopters powered fully by electric engines.
Heliport. The term “heliport” means a designated land area used for helicopter operations and any appurtenant areas, including fueling facilities, terminal buildings and maintenance and repair facilities.
Non-essential flight. The term “non-essential flight” means any helicopter flight not conducted by or on behalf of (i) the United States armed forces, (ii) the fire department, (iii) emergency services, including any air ambulance, (iv) the police department or other law enforcement entity, or (v) a newsgathering organization.
Newsgathering organization. The term “newsgathering organization” means an organization or entity that gathers and reports the news by publishing, broadcasting, or cablecasting articles, commentaries, books, photographs, video, film, or audio by electronic, print, or digital media such as radio, television, newspapers, magazines, wire, books, and the internet.
b. The commissioner shall require any contracted entity operating, managing or otherwise responsible for a heliport on any property owned by the city of New York to prohibit covered helicopters from conducting non-essential flights to or from any city-owned heliport.
§ 3. This local law takes effect 180 days after enactment.
Session 13
LS # 12730
01/10/2024
Session 12
ARP
LS # 12730
11/2/2023