New York City is considering legislation that would effectively shut down heliports there. April 2021 New York City has had a troubled relationship with the helicopter industry ever since the Sikorsky S-61 accident atop the Pan Am building in 1977, which killed five people. But what was an uneasy détente for decades now appears on the verge of total war, with leading city officials pushing to purge civil rotorcraft from Gotham’s skies—forever. Paul Vallone is leading the charge. The chairman of the New York City Council’s Committee on Economic Development (CED) has little sympathy for the helicopter industry there. At a CED hearing last month, Vallone accused the industry of generating noise that is “pillaging through our neighborhoods.” Vallone, an enthusiastic supporter of local and federal legislation that would effectively shut down civil helicopter traffic over New York, said residents of the city need to “reclaim our skies” and predicted the legislation would be passed. “We will have a victory,” he said.