KIYC: Bayonne helicopter hard landing renews scrutiny of Kearny heliport

The helicopter involved in this morning's hard landing left from a heliport in Kearney, and that heliport is already the focus of controversy. While crashes are uncommon, some analysts say the heliport is located in such a densely populated area and so close to Newark Airport that any time an incident does occur, there's the potential for disaster. Aviation analysts say the pilot of a Nyon Air helicopter deserves credit for averting disaster in Tuesday's hard landing in Bayonne. Still, they say the incident should serve as a wake-up call. Had this happened at Jersey City, had this happened a little further west in Bayonne, had it happened in Hoboken, This would have been an entirely different conversation. It would have been a conflagration. It would have been catastrophic. In fact, several New Jersey communities are currently suing Nyon Air, along with the HHI heliport in Kearney, trying to limit the number of flights that take off and land. The lawsuit requests the court ban flights before 8 a.m. or after 7 p.m. from March to October and before 8 a.m. and after 5 p.m. during the winter season. It's not any one specific flight. It's the groups. It's the number. If you do something once a day or you do something 50 times a day, Clearly the hazard is much greater as the volume increases. Tuesday's hard landing in Bayonne isn't the first time Nyon Air has been in the news for a crash. In 2018, a Nyon helicopter flight crash-landed into the East River. Five passengers were trapped inside and died. The company was sued because the harnesses used were said to be difficult to detach. Nyon and two other companies eventually settled that lawsuit for $90 million. Kane in your corner reached out to both Nyon Air and the operator of the Kearney Heliport looking for comment, but so far, neither company has responded. In your corner, I'm Walt Kane, News 12.