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Could Amazon Actually Get A Helipad In Crystal City?
DEC 20, 12:32 PM
Could Amazon Actually Get A Helipad In Crystal City?
Martin Austermuhle, WAMU
Alexa, what does it take to fly a helicopter in Washington’s airspace? ... If Jeff Bezos were to ask his popular virtual assistant that very question, he might end up stumping her. But Amazon’s lawyers are probably hard at work trying to find out, chasing after one of the quirkier asks made by the internet retailer when it agreed to build two new campuses in Long Island City and Crystal City: a helipad at both.
Amazon has enlisted the help of government officials in both places to navigate what’s known to be a thicket of regulations that came after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. There are local, regional and federal restrictions and obstacles that severely limit — if not outright prohibit — commercial helicopter traffic in the airspace above much of the Washington region, especially around downtown D.C.
Some helicopter pilots, aviation experts and elected officials have their doubts that Amazon will ever be successful, but they also concede that if any company could get through the red tape, it would be Amazon.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if they told them, ‘Hey, you just have to fly out of [Reagan National Airport],’” says Seth Clute, the chief operations officer and chief pilot at Monumental Helicopters, a Maryland-based helicopter tour and charter company. “But then again, Amazon as an organization has a different level of political capital. And so it seems like they are willing to work with them on getting things done where historically other organizations or businesses haven’t been able to make that happen.”
....
Could Amazon Actually Get A Helipad In Crystal City?
Martin Austermuhle, WAMU
Alexa, what does it take to fly a helicopter in Washington’s airspace? ... If Jeff Bezos were to ask his popular virtual assistant that very question, he might end up stumping her. But Amazon’s lawyers are probably hard at work trying to find out, chasing after one of the quirkier asks made by the internet retailer when it agreed to build two new campuses in Long Island City and Crystal City: a helipad at both.
Amazon has enlisted the help of government officials in both places to navigate what’s known to be a thicket of regulations that came after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. There are local, regional and federal restrictions and obstacles that severely limit — if not outright prohibit — commercial helicopter traffic in the airspace above much of the Washington region, especially around downtown D.C.
Some helicopter pilots, aviation experts and elected officials have their doubts that Amazon will ever be successful, but they also concede that if any company could get through the red tape, it would be Amazon.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if they told them, ‘Hey, you just have to fly out of [Reagan National Airport],’” says Seth Clute, the chief operations officer and chief pilot at Monumental Helicopters, a Maryland-based helicopter tour and charter company. “But then again, Amazon as an organization has a different level of political capital. And so it seems like they are willing to work with them on getting things done where historically other organizations or businesses haven’t been able to make that happen.”
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