Detroit tourism impact concerns: Helicopter restrictions to come to major airports

DETROIT (FOX 2) - Helicopter traffic at major airports may look different soon. The FAA announced today that it's restricting helicopter airspace at Reagan Airport in Washington D.C.

Now some are asking if Detroit could be next.

What they're saying:

FOX 2 was at Oakland Pontiac Airport, one of the busiest airports in the state, and spoke with a helicopter pilot who's been flying for a decade and hopes Detroit's tourism industry remains intact no matter what happens in D.C.

Dylan Tent believes Michigan is a great market for helicopter tourism. Tent flies his helicopter mainly for his real estate business but does a little tourism on the side.

"The great thing about Michigan is you run into water before you run out of gas," he said. "What’s fun about helicopters is the view. You can go twice as far, twice as fast as a plane for a lot less money."

By the numbers:

But all that fun may soon be restricted as the Federal Aviation Administration announced Friday that they’ve permanently restricted non-essential helicopter operations around Reagan National Airport in DC. That was the site where a midair crash between a commercial plane and a military helicopter collided in January, killing everyone on board. 

Additionally, the FAA is looking at other airports with "high volumes of mixed traffic", like New York, LA, Chicago, and Detroit.

Tent says Detroit is not like the others.

"Here, you know, if I go do a tour, you know I see my buddy Sergio and we wave. It’s not that much traffic around this area. So, I don’t think we’re causing any type of congestion," Tent said.

He says if the study concludes that some restrictions need to be put in place, it could have dire consequences.

"A friend of mine who has a tour operation in Detroit, they’re breaking ground on a new building right now. ‘MyFlight Tour’, you know they have locations in multiple states. And, if they restricted the airspace for Detroit, it would just completely eliminate their business," he said.

What's next:

Tent says he may not be able to fly all the way into the city. The FAA safety study into the other airports is still going on, but he hopes helicopter tourism isn’t impacted.

"I mean we have a president that owns multiple helicopters. I don’t think he’d want to kill an entire industry of American jobs personally. But hopefully they can come up with a good solution," he said.

The FAA restriction in D.C. and subsequent studies into airport safety stems from the NTSB.

FOX 2 reached out to Detroit Metro Airport and they say at this time, they didn't have a comment on it considering the study is still happening.