NYC Helicopter Crash Exposes Deadly Loophole for Aerial Sightseeing
- NTSB holds meeting on risks from sightseeing, other flights
- More than 40 deaths since 2016 trigger calls for tighter rules
Search and rescue operation in New York City's East River on March 11, 2018.
Photographer: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images
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The five people who signed up for a helicopter sightseeing flight above New York City three years ago might have expected that aviation regulators were looking after their safety.
But the reality of that fatal flight on March 11, 2018, was very different. The operator had declared that it was an “aerial photography” flight that made it exempt from stricter commercial rules.