US Helicopter Forced to Suspend Wall St Ops: TSA Issues

[Matt Molnar]

NY Times:

Security Issues Shut Down Downtown Copter Shuttle

By PATRICK MCGEEHAN
Published: November 30, 2008

U.S. Helicopter, the only company shuttling travelers from heliports in Manhattan to local airports, was already in dire financial straits, but a decision by city officials has left the air-shuttle operator unable to fly to or from its base of operations near Wall Street.

The problem involves FirstFlight, a small aviation company that city officials selected to manage the Downtown Manhattan Heliport. That company, which had no experience operating an urban heliport or airport, took over operations at the downtown heliport on Nov. 1. But it still has not obtained the federal Transportation Security Administration’s approval of its plan for maintaining security there.

[emshighway]

Every Airport (to include the two federalized Heliports) must have an Airport Security Plan in place and approved by the TSA. The PANYNJ walked away from JRB and basically left FirstFlight holding the bag. The ASP is being worked out (it takes a while when lawyers get involved).

[Matt Molnar]

I'd like to research who the other bidders were, if there were any. Why would the city choose these schmucks who have never run a heliport before? It sounds like the city is at least partially at fault.

[Gerard]

I'd like to research who the other bidders were, if there were any. Why would the city choose these schmucks who have never run a heliport before? It sounds like the city is at least partially at fault.

The Trenk family is politically connected.