New York City Economic Development Corporation

East 34th Street Heliport: Safety and Security

The East 34th Street Heliport is one of three public heliports in New York City. The Heliport, which is managed by a private company pursuant to a lease agreement with the New York City Economic Development Corporation, is used by sightseeing, corporate and charter helicopter carriers. The New York State Anti-terrorism Preparedness Act of 2004 requires general aviation airports and heliports to file a security plan with the State Department of Transportation. We examined the Heliport’s compliance with this plan as well as other safety and security-related practices. We were assisted by the New York State Office of Homeland Security and the New York City Police Department.

We found that improvements were needed in certain safety and security-related practices at the Heliport. Due to the sensitive nature of our audit, our detailed findings and recommendations are not included in our audit report, but were presented separately to New York City Economic Development Corporation and Heliport officials throughout the course of our audit and were also provided to the appropriate federal, State, and local authorities charged with homeland security and law enforcement.

For a complete copy of Report 2007-S-8 click here.
For a copy of the associated follow-up report click here.