Graham Warwick/ATLANTA
THE CREATION OF A New York heliport, using a retired helicopter-carrier moored off Manhattan, is financially feasible, according to a study completed by Intrepid Heliport.
The plan calls for the USS Guadalcanal to be converted to a full-service heliport and moored to the veteran aircraft- carrier USS Intrepid, centrepiece of New York's Intrepid Museum.
The financial-feasibility study will now be submitted to the US Federal Aviation Administration and Intrepid Heliport will embark on an "expedited" environmental-impact study, according to chief executive Don Gault.
He says that the project is "on schedule" to begin operations in January 1997.
The feasibility study proved that the heliport would financially benefit the Intrepid Museum Foundation, which is funding the project. Plans call for the Guadalcanal to be moored perpendicular to the Intrepid. This would place the heliport some 300m (1,000ft) from land, Gault says. All approaches and departures would be over the Hudson River.
The Guadalcanal would provide a 180 x 24m flight deck, with operating elevators giving access to the hangar deck for maintenance and storage. One of New York's four heliports would be closed if the Guadalcanal becomes operational, but the new heliport would have the same capacity as any two of the existing sites, Gault says.
Source: Flight International
