I haven’t yet talked much about helicopters. Today is a good morning to do so, given that it’s only 7ish in the morning and two HeliFlite copters have already flown by. If I wasn’t already awake this morning, the noise from these helicopters would surely have done the job.
So what is HeliFlite? It is the company most responsible by far for the helicopter traffic on Long Island. They describe themselves as a “personalized,” “luxury helicopter service,” charging a ludicrous $10,300 “plus taxes and fees” for a one-way chartered flight from Manhattan to the Hamptons. You can tell who their main clientele are by the fact that they have a dedicated “Executive Terminal” serving the East Hamptons. Their Instagram account advertises the company as “An exclusive, luxury travel experience that says you’ve arrived.”
According to Business Insider, HeliFlite is basically a private jet company on steroids. They write, “HeliFlite works like a private jet company, but with a lot more route flexibility as helicopters can land in harder-to-reach places like city centers and private golf courses.”
Each helicopter seats up to 8 passengers, and the maximum speed is 178 mph. The helicopters fly at 1,000-3,000 ft, and they fly slow enough (usually between 100-200 kts, according to Flightradar) that the sound is really drawn out as they are passing by. It sort of sounds like being in a war zone, and the grating noise can be heard for miles around. I can usually hear them approaching from over 10 miles away.
The below image shows the regular flight paths of the helicopters. They pretty much hug the coastline, meaning that people who live along the shores get the worst of it. When I used to live further inland, the more common source of helicopter traffic was hospital helicopters. At least those flights are necessary.
