New York Airways

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New York Airways Inc.
Sikorsky S-61 of New York Airways
IATA code : NY
ICAO code : NY
Call sign : NEW YORK
Founding: 1949
Operation stopped: 1979
Seat: New York City
Home airport : LaGuardia Airport
Company form: Incorporated
IATA prefix code : 332
Number of employees: 185 (1978)
Passenger volume: 282,546 (1978)
Fleet size: 2 helicopters
Aims: national
New York Airways Inc. ceased operations in 1979. The information in italics refer to the last status before the end of operation.

New York Airways was an airline in the United States that primarily operated helicopters . It called itself the first helicopter transport company in the world. The company carried passengers, cargo and mail between and between New York City and New York airports. In addition, some lines were operated in the New York area. The society was a member of IATA .

history

1950s

New York Airways was founded in August 1949 and initially marketed charter flights departing from LaGuardia Airport . In 1951, the company applied to the US Civil Aeronautics Board for an Air Operator Certificate to conduct helicopter flights between the three airports Idlewild , LaGuardia and Newark . A corresponding operating license was issued on December 5, 1951.

The helicopter flight operations, subsidized by the Civil Aeronautics Board , began on October 15, 1952 with three Sikorsky S-55s between the airports, with the company initially exclusively performing mail flight services. On July 18, 1953, scheduled transport of passengers between the airports took place for the first time. New York Airways became the first helicopter passenger airline in the USA. The company put two more S-55s into service the following year and concluded contracts with the Belgian Sabena and the Dutch KLM by the end of 1953 , so that their passengers could use the connections for transfer flights. Even Pan Am entered into an appropriate co-operation with the company on 2 October 1955th New York Airways began scheduled services from New York Airports to New Brunswick and Trenton (both New Jersey ) on August 4, 1954, followed by connections to Bridgeport on September 2, 1954 and Stamford (both Connecticut ) on October 10, 1954. On some of these routes, in addition to mail and daily newspapers, passengers were also carried. In April 1955, the company offered scheduled passenger flights from the three airports to New Brunswick, Stamford, Teterboro , Trenton and White Plains .

On August 4, 1956, New York Airways put their first of a total of four Sikorsky S-58 helicopters into service and then retired some of the previously used S-55s. From December 15, 1956, there were scheduled passenger flights from the three airports to the Manhattan district . Initially, only one landing platform on the Hudson River (West 30th Street Heliport) could be approached there. From May 28, 1958, all S-58s and the last S-55s were gradually replaced by five Vertol 44s that offered space for 15 passengers. With the new helicopters, the company also carried out sightseeing flights over New York from August 24, 1958 . In early 1959, the company ordered five combination aircraft of the type Fairey Rotodyne , the manufacture of which was rejected by the manufacturer. The fleet at that time consisted of five Vertol 44s and one Bell 47 . In 1959 the company carried around 120,000 passengers and employed 206 people.

1960s

A Boeing-Vertol 107-II of the New York Airways in 1967

After the opening of the Downtown Manhattan Heliport on December 8, 1960, New York Airways mainly used this landing site in the city. In the same year, the company ordered ten Boeing-Vertol 107-IIs , but initially only accepted five of them. This type was used in regular service from June 28, 1962 and replaced the older Vertol 44 by early 1963. For the first time, the company employed flight attendants on board the new helicopters . In the spring of 1964, another Boeing-Vertol 107 was taken over to replace a crashed machine (see incidents), but the four other orders were canceled. Instead, the company leased in the same year by the manufacturer Sikorsky three factory new Sikorsky S-61N because for the World's Fair New York World's Fair (1964-65), additional capacity was needed. The three machines were primarily operated for TWA . In the run-up to the world exhibition, Pan Am also intensified its cooperation with the company and acquired two brand-new Boeing-Vertol 107s, which they leased to New York Airways and had them operated by them. Both helicopters were initially used to fly trade fair visitors from the airports to the heliport on the exhibition grounds. The long-term plan was to set up a connection with them from the Pan Am Building to John F. Kennedy Airport . For this purpose, the first test flights were carried out on March 3, 1965. Scheduled traffic from the Pan Am Building began on December 21, 1965.

The flight operations of New York Airways were in serious deficit from the beginning and had to be subsidized by the Civil Aeronautics Board by increasing amounts . The public funds that the three helicopter airlines Chicago Helicopter Airways , Los Angeles Airways and New York Airways received were capped at a total of 4.3 million US dollars in 1964, of which the New York company received 1.9 million US dollars The biggest part. In January 1965, US President Johnson announced that the helicopter companies would be subsidized until the end of 1967. However, the US Congress decided in May 1965 to suspend all payments in the following month. In order to avert the impending end of operations from New York Airways , Pan Am and TWA took over 40% of the company shares on June 25, 1965 and then supported the company financially.

New York Airways then continued its operations mainly for the partner airlines, transporting their passengers from the Downtown Manhattan Heliport or the Pan Am Building to the respective terminals at John F. Kennedy Airport. In addition, shuttle services were flown between New York airports and the surrounding area. In the 1967 financial year, the company carried 538,000 passengers, setting a national record among helicopter airlines. Due to aircraft noise and safety concerns, the Civil Aeronautics Board extended the route rights to the Pan Am Building for the last time in the same year, so that operations from this building had to be terminated on February 15, 1968. On April 25, 1968, TWA stopped making aid to the company. Pan Am then took over 45% of the company shares and became the main shareholder. Pan Am ordered five Sikorsky S-61Ls for New York Airways , which were to replace the Boeing-Vertol 107 from spring 1970. To reduce operating costs, from November 15, 1968, leased De Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otters were used on the connections between New York's airports.

1970s

In March 1970, the New York Airways fleet consisted of four Boeing-Vertol 107-IIs, two De Havailland DHC-6s and two Sikorsky S-61Ls, which they had put into service in the same month. Due to the high operating costs, the company reduced the number of its daily flight frequencies and the size of the fleet. The four Boeing-Vertol 107-II were replaced by only two Sikorsky more S-61L until May 1971. In fiscal 1971, the company carried 332,112 passengers but made a loss of $ 234,749. At that time, the company offered half-hour instead of quarter-hour connections between the three New York airports and ran scheduled flights from the Downtown Manhattan Heliport to John F. Kennedy Airport, LaGuardia Airport and Morristown (New Jersey) . After the last De Havailland DHC-6 was taken out of service, New York Airways continued its operations with the four existing S-61L from late 1971. In 1973 the route network covered eighty kilometers. In the 1975 financial year, the companies recorded an 18% decline in booking numbers and carried 281,199 passengers.

After the suspension of flights from the Pan Am Building, New York Airways and Pan Am had tried several times to reopen the heliport from December 1968 onwards, but did not receive any corresponding approval. It was not until December 1976 that the New York City Board of Estimate and the Federal Aviation Administration agreed to restart operations. The regular service from the Pan Am Building began again on February 1, 1977, but had to be finally abandoned on May 16, 1977 due to an accident (see incidents). The aircraft accident led to a further decrease in passengers, so that the crashed machine was not replaced by a new helicopter.

After another accident on 18 April 1979 (see incidents), the company terminated the operations in the following month and applied for the same bankruptcy protection after the Chapter 11 of the US Bankruptcy Code . Due to the two technical flight accidents, a legal dispute lasting several years was conducted against the manufacturer Sikorsky during the insolvency proceedings . The lawsuit ended in a settlement on May 29, 1983 , with Sikorsky undertaking to pay an amount of $ 6 million. This enabled New York Airways to settle almost all of its creditors' claims.

Used aircraft

New York Airways has operated the following aircraft throughout its history :

Incidents

New York Airways recorded five total aircraft losses with a total of 17 deaths:

  • On November 30, 1956, a Sikorsky S-58C ( registration number : N877 ) caught fire after an incident on a training flight. The helicopter was then no longer operated and recorded as a total loss.
  • On October 14, 1963, a Boeing-Vertol 107-II ( N6673D ) crashed shortly after taking off from Idlewild Airport as a result of a fatigue fracture in the main rotor. All six occupants, three passengers and three crew members were killed.
  • On July 15, 1969, a De Havilland Canada DHC-6-200 Twin Otter ( N558MA ) had an accident immediately after taking off from John F. Kennedy International Airport . The machine got caught in the wake turbulence of a previously launched airliner. All three inmates were killed.
  • On May 16, 1977, the right main landing gear of a Sikorsky S-61L ( N619PA ) broke after it had landed two and a half minutes earlier on the roof platform of the Pan Am Building . The helicopter tilted on its side, the running main rotor coming into contact with the ground and splintering. Four passengers who were about to get on were killed by the rotor blades. Several pieces of debris fell from the roof, killing a pedestrian. Another 24 people were injured, two of them seriously.
  • On April 18, 1979, a Sikorsky S-61L ( N618PA ) lost a tail rotor blade shortly after taking off from Newark Airport . At this point the machine was at an altitude of 1,200 feet (about 365 meters). Due to the imbalance, the pilots initiated an emergency descent and decided to return to Newark. As a result of the vibrations caused by the imbalance, the tail rotor detached itself completely from the fuselage at an altitude of 150 feet (about 45 meters). The helicopter then tilted over the nose and went into a steep dive. Three passengers were killed in the impact, ten other passengers and three crew members were seriously injured.

Other aircraft were seriously damaged in incidents. Among other things, had on 16 July and 27 August 1962, two Boeing-Vertol 107 due to technical defects ditch . The helicopters equipped with inflatable auxiliary floats could be recovered and put back into operation.

Web links

Commons : New York Airways  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

literature

  • transpress Lexikon Luftfahrt, 3rd edition, Berlin 1975, p. 442

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ JP airline-fleets international, Edition 78
  2. ↑ a b NTSB, official accident report, Sikorsky S-61L, N618PA, April 18, 1979 NTSB (English), accessed on January 5, 2018
  3. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Worldhistory, New York Air Connection (English), accessed January 5, 2018
  4. ↑ a b c Flight International, March 26, 1970 (English), accessed January 4, 2018
  5. ^ New York Airways, April 1955 flight plan , accessed January 15, 2018
  6. ↑ a b Flight International, April 17, 1959 (English), accessed January 10, 2018
  7. ↑ Flight International, March 19, 1964 , accessed January 4, 2018
  8. ↑ Flight International, November 14, 1968 (English), accessed January 14, 2018
  9. ↑ Flight International, May 6, 1971 (English), accessed January 15, 2018
  10. ↑ The New York Times, Sikorsky to pay New York Airways $ 6 million, May 29, 1983 , accessed January 15, 2018
  11. ↑ JP aircraft markings, various years
  12. ↑ Flight International, issues of various years
  13. ↑ Aerobernie, fleet of New York Airways , accessed on January 14, 2018
  14. ↑ Helis, Sikorsky S-58C, c / n 58-341, N877, October 14, 1963 , accessed January 13, 2018
  15. ^ CAB, official accident report, Boeing-Vertol 107-II, N6673D, October 14, 1963 , accessed on January 6, 2018
  16. ↑ Aircraft accident data and report De Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter 200, N558MA in the Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on January 5, 2018.
  17. ^ This Day in Aviation, May 16, 1977 , accessed January 5, 2018
  18. ↑ NTSB, official accident report, Sikorsky S-61L, N619PA, May 16, 1977 (English), accessed on January 5, 2018
  19. ^ Flight International, July 26, 1962 (English), accessed January 13, 2018