The hum of a hundred helicopters

The future of transportation is in the sky, apparently, but there’s something to keep in mind while soaring with the birds…

… It can be really annoying for everyone on the ground.

Studying the Blade

In New York, the Blade app has simplified the experience of chartering a chopper, per Business Insider.

• It’s so common among the Big Apple’s elite that “Blading” has become a verb.
• It’s sometimes cheaper and faster to take a Blade than an Uber.
• Especially with Blade’s $95 trips from Long Island and New Jersey into Manhattan, which avoid tolls, parking fees, and the city’s congestion pricing.

A Blade may sometimes be cheaper than an Uber, but a regular taxi is also often cheaper than an Uber, and a train is even cheaper than a taxi.

• BI notes that Blade’s $95 trip into the city would cost you less than $3 on a train.
• Like air taxis, the problem being solved here has already been solved by trains.

But there’s a greater cost…

… and the Bladers aren’t paying it. Helicopters are loud, and when you have lots of helicopters buzzing over a city that is already densely packed and noisy, it becomes very loud.

• In just two years, helicopter noise complaints in NYC jumped from ~3.3k in 2019 to ~26k in 2021. That’s a 678% increase.
• Loud noise can be detrimental to physical and mental health.

The city has tried to help by closing and restricting heliports, but only the FAA can restrict air traffic.

• Many heliports moved to New Jersey, but flights over New York didn’t stop.

That said…

… if you regularly default to helicopter travel over a car or train, you probably couldn’t care less about what the people on the ground think.