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NEW
YORK
CONTINENTAL
DRIFTER
Exploring “Upper” Manhattan by
Elliott Hester
click
on photos for more images of Manhattan
All photos courtesy of Liberty Helicopters
I
could have toured New York City in a horse-drawn carriage,
a double-decker bus, or on a swanky boat cruising
the Hudson River. Rather than embark on one of these
traditional sightseeing tours, I decided to see the Big
Apple from a bird’s-eye view.
I took a ride in a helicopter.
 Liberty Helicopters, which bills itself as “the
largest helicopter sightseeing and charter service
in the Northeast,” boasts a fleet of eight Eurocopter
EC-130 single- and twin-engine helicopters. From two
busy heliports in Manhattan and one in Jersey City,
New Jersey, the company offers panoramic tour excursions.
Alternatively, the charter service provides quick access
to JFK, LaGuardia, Newark, White Plains, and other
New York-area airports.
After arriving at the VIP Heliport on West 30th Street
and 12th Avenue, I passed through the heliport security
checkpoint, watched the mandatory safety video, and
buckled a lifejacket around my waist. Through the window
of the departure lounge, I watched helicopters land
one after another. Passengers disembarked. New passengers
climbed onboard. Like huge mechanical insects, the
helicopters took flight again.
When my turn had come, I marched onto the tarmac with
six other passengers. Ducking beneath the rotating
blades of a waiting helicopter, we opened the doors
and climbed in.
Crammed together in two rows of seats, we fastened
our seat harnesses and donned headsets that helped
drown out the thunderous main rotor.
“Anybody nervous?” The pilot’s voice
crackled in my headset. He threw a look over his shoulder,
his
eyes hidden behind dark sunglasses.
As
a matter of fact, I was a little anxious. After all,
rotary-wing aircraft seem more fragile that the
fixed-wing aircraft in which I’ve flown countless
times. Moreover, a single-engine helicopter has one
unmistakable drawback—a single engine. No backup.
Without asking whether the helicopter was a single-
or double-engine model, I shook my head in response
to the pilot’s question, and gave him a “thumbs
up.”
In the next instant we were airborne. Climbing high
on a bumpy current of air. Rising above the Hudson
River and the ferries and tugboats that plied the dark
waters.
This particular helicopter tour—“The Big
Apple” (one of six scenic routes offered by Liberty)—would
last only 10 to 12 minutes. But the breathtaking images
will probably last forever.
 The helicopter suddenly banked left, flying south above
the Hudson toward Ellis Island and Liberty Island.
Because my seat was adjacent to the right-hand-side
of the aircraft, I had an unobstructed view of Hoboken,
New Jersey, and the flat misty landscape beyond. But
as we swooped farther south, the Statue of Liberty
came into view.
“There she is,” said the pilot, his voice
faint and perfunctory in my headset. I looked down
at America’s
most recognizable national monument, gazing from a
unique point of view. Lady Liberty seemed close enough
to reach out and touch.
After a sweeping left turn that made my stomach drop,
Manhattan came into full view. The skyline was a veritable
mountain range of skyscrapers. A postcard image of
a metropolis brought to life. Tiny cars scuttled along
the perfect grid of streets. Perfectly sculpted buildings
leapt toward a perfect blue sky.
As I looked down at jam-packed Battery Park, and the
empty patch where the twin towers of the World Trade
Center once stood, the pilot made mention of “Ground
Zero” and continued toward Midtown.
 The
pilot, our airborne tour guide, pointed out Manhattan’s
famous skyscrapers: the 1,250-foot-high Empire State
Building, New York’s tallest edifice by default;
the Chrysler Building, an art-deco masterpiece with
its unmistakable stainless steel spire; the MetLife
Building; One Chase Manhattan Plaza; the G.E. Building,
and the Trump Building. These architectural masterpieces
help make up what is arguably the world’s most
stunning skyline. There’s no better way to see
it than by helicopter.
The slow-moving chopper flew directly over the USS
Intrepid Air Craft Carrier. From our lofty perch the
fighter jets seemed to sit on the deck like toys positioned
by a child.
Before flying back to the VIP Heliport, we got an aerial
glimpse of the oasis that is Central Park. On an island
overrun with brick and concrete, the 2.5-mile long,
0.5-mile wide park is a godsend. The giant swath of
green sprouts magically from the city center.
Although I lived in Manhattan for five years, and have
returned many times to visit, the Liberty Helicopter
tour allowed me to appreciate the city in a way I had
never imagined. My only wish is that I would have taken
flight after sunset. The twinkling lights of the skyscrapers
would have been spectacular up close at night.
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