New York Skyports Inc. Seaplane base is a

seaplane A seaplane is a powered fixed-wing aircraft capable of takeoff, taking off and water landing, landing (alighting) on water.Gunston, "The Cambridge Aerospace Dictionary", 2009. Seaplanes are usually divided into two categories based on their tec ...

base in the East River VFR corridor in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

, located at the foot of East 23rd Street between

Waterside Plaza Waterside Plaza is a residential and business complex located on the East River in the Kips Bay section of Manhattan, New York City. It was formerly a Mitchell-Lama Housing Program-funded rental project. History Waterside Plaza was built on l ...

and Stuyvesant Cove Park. A seaplane ramp was constructed at East 23rd Street in the mid-1930s and the seaplane base became part of the marina that opened on April 18, 1962.

Operations

There are no

instrument approach In aviation, an instrument approach or instrument approach procedure (IAP) is a series of predetermined maneuvers for the orderly transfer of an aircraft operating under instrument flight rules from the beginning of the initial approach to a landi ...

es for this airport. Pilots must receive special training and be approved by a member of the North East Seaplanes Pilot's Association and are not permitted to fly over the

Queensboro Bridge The Queensboro Bridge, officially named the Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge, is a cantilever bridge over the East River in New York City. Completed in 1909, it connects the neighborhood of Long Island City in the borough of Queens with the Upper East ...

. Most operations at the seaplane base occur between May and September, when flights are made for weekend getaways to

Fire Island Fire Island is the large center island of the outer barrier islands parallel to the South Shore of Long Island, in the U.S. state of New York. Occasionally, the name is used to refer collectively to not only the central island, but also L ...

and

The Hamptons The Hamptons, part of the East End of Long Island, consist of the towns of Southampton and East Hampton, which together comprise the South Fork of Long Island, in Suffolk County, New York. The Hamptons are a popular seaside resort and one ...

, although seaplanes can land throughout the year provided that there is no ice in the river.

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

Accidents and incidents

*On July 5, 1976, a Cessna 185E crashed into a boat during takeoff. Although the aircraft suffered substantial damage, the pilot was uninjured. *On July 12, 1998, a twin-engine seaplane flipped over after landing near East 29th Street and became submerged in the river. The pilot and two passengers escaped from the plane's emergency windows and were rescued by the police. *On July 21, 2017, a

Cessna 208 The Cessna 208 Caravan is a utility aircraft produced by Cessna. The project was commenced on November 20, 1981, and the prototype first flew on December 9, 1982. The production model was certified by the FAA in October 1984 and its Cargo ...

aborted takeoff due to mechanical failure and damaged a pontoon in a hard river landing. The pilot and nine passengers were rescued by a police vessel. One of the passengers was TV producer Bill Lawrence.

References

External links

* Airports in New York City Seaplane bases in the United States East River 23rd Street (Manhattan) {{NYC-transport-stub