West 30th Street Heliport

West 30th Street Heliport
IATA: none – ICAO: KJRA – FAA LID: JRA
Summary
Airport type	Public
Owner	Hudson River Park Trust
Operator	Abigail Trenk, Brian Tolbert
Serves	New York City
Location	New York City, New York
Elevation AMSL	7 ft / 2.1 m
Coordinates	40°45′17″N 74°00′25″W / 40.754626°N 74.006808°WCoordinates: 40°45′17″N 74°00′25″W / 40.754626°N 74.006808°W
Helipads
Number Length Surface ft m 1 44 13.4 Asphalt 2 44 13.4 Asphalt 3 44 13.4 Asphalt 4 44 13.4 Asphalt 5 37 11.3 Asphalt 6 37 11.3 Asphalt 7 37 11.3 Asphalt 8 44 13.4 Asphalt 9 44 13.4 Asphalt 10 37 11.3 Asphalt 11 37 11.3 Asphalt
Source: Airnav:[1]

The West 30th Street Heliport (ICAO: KJRA, FAA LID: JRA) is a heliport on the west side of Manhattan in New York City. The original heliport opened with two landing pads on September 26, 1956 and in December New York Airways began scheduled passenger flights, the first airline flights to Manhattan.^[2] It is owned by the Hudson River Park Trust and operated by Abigail Trenk and Brian Tolbert.

Operations

Since this is a heliport and not an airport, there are no Instrument Procedures. Boating traffic in the Hudson River requires care in the approach to the heliport's landing pad.

Tourist flights out of the 30th Street Heliport are scheduled to move to Downtown Manhattan Heliport on March 31, 2010 and the heliport itself is scheduled to relocate by on December 31, 2012 as a result of a court agreement between helicopter operators and Friends of Hudson River Park who took action to enforce the Hudson River Park Act which banned tourism flights from that location.^[3]

Airlines

Charter

Airlines	Destinations
JetSmarter	Seasonal: East Hampton, Southampton

Statistics

73% of the flights are air taxi, 16% general aviation, 10% commercial, and less than 1% military.^[1]

Accidents and incidents

• On June 25, 1968, a Brantly 305 on a sightseeing flight crashed into the Hudson River shortly after takeoff from the West 30th Street Heliport. The pilot and all five passengers were rescued.^[4]
• On December 31, 1997, an Aérospatiale AS-355 returning from a sightseeing flight crashed into a building at the West 30th Street Heliport. Eight people were injured in the accident.^[5]
• On July 7, 2007, a Eurocopter EC130 B4 returning to the West 30th Street Heliport from a sightseeing flight had an engine malfunction and made a controlled landing in the Hudson River, deploying its emergency pontoons. The pilot and seven passengers were rescued from private boats.^[6]
• On August 8, 2009, nine people were killed when a Liberty Helicopters sightseeing helicopter collided with a private plane shortly after takeoff from the West 30th Street Heliport. Both aircraft were operating on visual flight rules.

See also

• Downtown Manhattan Heliport
• East 34th Street Heliport
• Aviation in the New York metropolitan area

References

1. AirNav: JRA - West 30th Street Heliport
2. "Heliport to Open Sept. 26". New York Times. 1956-08-27. Retrieved 2009-08-25.
3. Friedman, Marcy. "Settlement Agreement" (PDF). US Supreme Court. Archived from the original (PDF) on January 6, 2009. Retrieved 2009-08-09.
4. "POLICE RESCUE 6 IN COPTER CRASH; Swim Out to Get Pilot and Passengers in Hudson". New York Times. 1968-06-26. Retrieved 2009-08-25.
5. Rohde, David (1998-01-01). "Eight Injured as Helicopter Hits Building". New York Times. Retrieved 2009-08-25.
6. Fernandez, Manny (2007-07-08). "Copter Crashes in Hudson, but No One Is Hurt". New York Times. Retrieved 2009-08-25.

External links

• Resources for this airport:
  • FAA airport information for JRA
  • AirNav airport information for JRA
  • FlightAware airport information and live flight tracker
  • SkyVector aeronautical chart for JRA