The City Council has passed a bill that cracks down on the commercial helicopter industry. The measure, known as Intro 26 A, passed the Council with a 46-1 vote with one abstention Thursday.

The April 10 crash of a touring helicopter, which killed a family of five and the pilot when it went down in the Hudson River, renewed calls to crackdown on non-essential helicopter flights in city airspace.

“Intro 26 is personal,” said City Council Majority Leader Amanda Farias, who is also the bill’s sponsor. “It’s personal for the residents of Manhattan, Queens and Brooklyn who live directly in the common flight paths. It’s personal for the families who’ve lost sleep, peace of mind and, in some cases, their health to the constant disruption of non-essential helicopter noise.”

Farias said the legislation bans non-essential chopper, luxury and tourism flights from the city-run East 34th Street and Downtown Manhattan heliports unless they meet the most strict noise standards.

Noise pollution is a big complaint of residents near commonly trafficked areas by helicopters, such as those living in the South Bronx and Lower Manhattan.

Farias says 311 received more than 50,000 noise complaint calls in 2023.

“The noise pollution degrades our quality of life, as well as reducing our property values,” Melissa Elstein of Stop the Chop NY/NJ said.

The legislation does not impact non-essential chopper flights, including police and other emergency response flights, news and film production.

Advocates said the 30,000 tourist helicopter flights that take place around the city from Monday-Saturday also cause environmental harm. Councilmembers said they’re the most carbon-intensive, emitting up to 950 pounds of carbon dioxide per hour. That’s more than 40 times the average car.

“This meets also our climate goals in this city,” Council Member Keith Powers said, “converting many of these to electric helicopters, to give them the ability to convert.”

The legislation, however, does not address safety issues. The City Council can only regulate noise levels and has no authority to outright ban non-essential helicopters, which can only be done on the federal level.

A coalition of aviation experts, including Vertical Aviation International, have come out against the legislation, saying the city overstepped its authority.

Josh Rousseau, who is with the group, said the FAA hasn’t even approved electric helicopters, which the bill pushes the industry to use.

“It’s good to think outside the box, however, if it’s unworkable, and it’s unenforceable, because, again, the ultimate law of the land for airspace and its jurisdiction is the federal government than what are we doing?” he said.

Advocates, on the other hand, believe the bill is just the beginning of a federal push to ban commercial helicopter flights in city air space.

“We do hope that this will be a first step toward a total ban of non-essentials,” Elstein said.

Councilmembers said the legislation would impact about 10% of commercial helicopters that use the city-run heliports and that it’s really meant to push the industry to electric helicopters. For that reason, the bill doesn’t take effect until 2029 in order to give the aviation industry time to make the necessary changes.

While the legislation had broad support in the City Council, it still has to be signed by Mayor Eric Adams to become law.

It’s not clear if he’ll sign it as Adams has been supportive of the commercial helicopter flights.