The FAA has extended by four years—to Aug. 6, 2020—the expiration date of the rule requiring pilots operating civil helicopters under VFR to continue to use the New York North Shore Helicopter Route when flying along that area of Long Island. The agency expects that four more years will be sufficient time to consider results of noise-mitigation research currently under way in determining appropriate future actions on the rule, which was scheduled to have expired on Aug. 6, 2016.
The rule is based on a voluntary VFR route originally added to the New York Helicopter Chart on May 8, 2008, and made mandatory on Aug. 6, 2012. In 2014, the FAA extended the rule for another two years to provide additional time for the agency to assess the rule’s effect.
Under the rule, pilots are permitted to deviate from the route and altitude requirements when necessary for safety, weather conditions or transitioning to or from a destination or point of landing.