Film Shoot Helicopter Flying Dangerously Close To Roosevelt Island Tram Over East River Says Shocked Residents - Watch Out For The Cables Screams One Witness

Last Friday, Roosevelt Island resident Katherine Yeske Taylor sent me this photo

taken by visitor Pablo Martin and reports:

Have you heard anything about the seemingly very near miss between a helicopter & the tram this week??

Another Roosevelt Island tipster took video of the helicopter and adds:

... video I shot starting at 8:34PM on Thursday, July 19th of a helicopter that was hovering very close to the tram and the Queensboro Bridge.

The start of the video shows the helicopter starting to move away from the bridge. Unfortunately,  I... didn’t get a chance to shoot video of the helicopter that a few minutes earlier was flying much closer to passing tram cabins and the tram cables.



I was shocked that a helicopter got so close to the tram cabins and the cables, and have no idea if the helicopter was filming movie/TV footage, or if it was a military helicopter, or something else.

Click full screen icon on bottom right of video for better view.

According to a third Roosevelt Island resident who saw the low flying helicopter next to the Tram:

... it lasted almost an hour and was clearly co-ordinated with the Tram as they had an empty Tram moving back and forth in the middle of the ER several times. I was surprised they still had the southern Tram with passengers working. The Chopper had a big bulb photo thing up front which we could see moving to follow the empty Tram

The photo shows what I was screaming about for half an hour :..THE CABLES! ... Does that Chopper know those cables are there ....but his first several close-in passes there was no Tram in sight ... I understandably thought/feared he might not know the Tram even existed .... only after 20 - 30 minutes did it become clear the empty (Thank God) Tram came out and it was part of a planned event/show.

Another video of the helicopter seen very close to the Tram.

🚁 stalked 🚠 for 1/2 hour Thursday before dusk. . Must’ve been 🎥 for something, but what: movie❓tourism promo❓

A post shared by ScottyP (@scottpiro) on Jul 22, 2018 at 7:10am PDT

In response to my inquiry, the Roosevelt Island Operating Corp (RIOC) replied that the helicopter was part of film shoot for The Sun Is Also A Star that had a permit for use of the Roosevelt Island Tram

Meteorite Productions LLC

July 18th

3pm to 7pm- Manhattan Tram Plaza/stairs/North Platform

7pm to 8pm- Nonexclusive use of North Cabin

8pm to 9pm- Exclusive use of North Cabin

July 19th

8pm to 8:30pm- Exclusive use of North Cabin

but nothing in the permit authorized a helicopter flying so close to the Tram.

RIOC is seeking guidance from the Federal Aviation Administration on the matter.

On a related note, during the June 28 Roosevelt Island Town Hall Meeting with elected officials (video of full meeting here), Roosevelt Island's Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney talked about legislation to ban tourist helicopters



over Roosevelt Island.

UPDATE 3:55 PM - RIOC Public Information Officer Alonza Robertson reports:

During the filming of “The Sun is Also a Star”, a helicopter was used for a scene at the Tram while the Tram cabin was in motion.

According to information provided by Leitner-Pomo, throughout the filming of this scene, communication was established between the Tram control room, the movie aerial coordinator and the helicopter pilot.

In order to take the Tram shot, the helicopter was hovering in the area at a safe distance with full understanding of the instructions from the Tram control room. The scene was recorded safely and completed without incident.