NEW YORK – New York helicopters have been cultivating the sky around New York City landmarks for decades. However, the company suffered some difficulties before one of the choppers plunged into the Hudson River this week, with all six on board.
In 2013, another helicopter suddenly lost power in the air and received a close call as the pilot piloted it to safely land on the Hudson Pontoon.
And over the past eight years, the company has gone bankrupt and faces ongoing lawsuits over alleged debt.
In January this year, it was sued by the company for more than $1.4 million for halting Chopper’s lease payments.
Cash Advance lenders sued in February, saying the company blocked repayments on a loan a week ago, owing more than $83,000. New York helicopters have not yet submitted responses in either case.
My mobile phone was not answered at my office on Friday. A person who answered the call at owner Michael Ross’s home Thursday night said he had not commented on the Associated Press. He told the New York Post he was confused and destroyed by crash.
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“This is horrifying,” the newspaper quoted Ross as saying. “But you need to remember something. These are machines and they break.”
Founded in the 1990s, Roth’s Business is known by names such as New York Helicopter Charter and New York Helicopter Tour LLC, providing tourists with bird’s-eye views of the Statue of Liberty, Central Park and Manhattan skyline. One of the few companies that allow you to fly near major New York City landmarks also offers charter flights such as shuttles to the airport and executives.
The airspace around Manhattan is busy, tricky, and sometimes fatal. Over 30 people have been killed in tours and other helicopter crashes in New York City over the past half century. Just a few weeks ago, the $90 million settlement concluded an illegal death lawsuit filed by relatives of one of five passengers killed in the crash of a tourist helicopter run by another company.
Mayor Eric Adams said in a television interview Friday that tens of thousands of flights are safely operated annually from the helipad under Manhattan, where Thursday’s tour began. He was asked if he had any specific concerns about the New York helicopter, but he said investigators were looking into what happened.
The Democratic mayor told Fox 5/WNYW-TV he would not try to stop such flights. “Air travel is important for this city.”
The New York helicopter website claims “an industry-leading safety record,” but it wasn’t entirely without dings. The National Transportation Safety Board believes the 2013 blackout was partly attributable to “improper maintenance decisions” regarding hydraulic issues.
Two years later, the New York helicopter ship spun, hovering low from the helipad, landing safely with the pilot alone. At that time, the NTSB denounced the unknown who was portrayed in the bad parts on the chopper that New York helicopter had recently leased from someone who had just bought it. The new owner advised that the portion had arrived with fresh paint.
The New York helicopter was struck by financial difficulties in 2017 after New York City cut traffic touring helicopters by half, according to a filing in the 2019 bankruptcy case.
The flights were cut, but revenues fell from $4.5 million in 2017 to $3.9 million in 2018, as landing fees rose, according to bankruptcy documents. A New York helicopter said it had cut staff from 30 employees to 13.
By 2019, we listed $6 million in assets and $1.6 million in liabilities.
The business was born out of bankruptcy in 2022, but it was clearly continuing to face financial headwinds.
Last June, the company filed a lawsuit over what it called “ruthless” terms of a 2018 loan obtained from another Cash Advanced lender. The helicopter company dropped the incident this month.
The message was sent to an attorney representing the company.
Jennifer Peltz
