Air taxi helicopter pilot reported JFK Tower issued them a clearance to cross Jamaica reporting point at 500 feet which placed them in unsafe proximity to newly constructed buildings. The reporter could not verify their clearance with JFK Tower due to frequency congestion.

ACN 2110800 2024-04 Helicopter Controlled Flight Toward Terrain

CruisePart 135

What is ASRS?

The Aviation Safety Reporting System is NASA's voluntary, confidential, non- punitive incident-reporting system, established 1976. Pilots, controllers, dispatchers, and maintenance technicians file reports describing safety- relevant events. NASA de-identifies every report before adding it to the public database. Reports are not investigated by NASA, the FAA, or the NTSB — they represent the reporter's perspective.

Pilot narrative

Verbatim from the de-identified NASA record. First-person account by the reporter. NASA strips identifying details (names, company, specific time); anonymization placeholders are ZZZ, X, Y.

Flying eastbound from JRB to ZZZ via helicopter TRACK route with class B clearance from JFK Tower, [frequency] XXX.X. Normally when JFK is landing Runway 22, clearance issued is maintain 1000, cross BELMONT at 500. On this flight, the clearance issued and read back was to cross JAMAICA station at 500 ft. Upon realizing this clearance didn't seem to allow for adequate separation from the newly constructed buildings charted at 386 ft., I attempted to contact the Tower but due to frequency congestion was unable. Also there was another helicopter traffic behind us that we had on TCAS but not visually, so slowing or turning around was not practical. We had to deviate south of course and up to approximately 700 ft. (about 200 ft. above clearance limit) to maintain a safe distance from obstacles. There was no traffic above, and we were an adequate distance west of the Runway 22 corridor with no other traffic in sight. After safe passage, we immediately returned to cleared route and altitude without further incident. Due to the ongoing frequency congestion, was unable to discuss with JFK Tower, they made no mention of it either. Also I attempted to reach the Tower by phone to discuss, but both numbers were constant busy signals. I have traveled this route often, and have never been issued a clearance limit of 500 ft. at JAMAICA. Also it seems that either the buildings are higher than charted or there is an altimeter discrepancy between JFK and that area. I think 500 ft MSL is too low for safe transition in that immediate area, going forward I will not accept that clearance and take an alternate route if that is to become the norm.

NASA classification — Anomalies

ATC Issue
Deviation - Altitude
Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural
Inflight Event / Encounter

NASA classification — Assessments

Contributing Factors / Situations: Airspace Structure · Chart Or Publication · Environment - Non Weather Related · Human Factors · Procedure
Primary Problem: Procedure

ASRS reports are voluntarily submitted, de-identified by NASA, and represent the reporter's perspective. The presence of reports on a topic cannot be used to infer prevalence in the National Airspace System. The authoritative source is the NASA ASRS Database Online at asrs.arc.nasa.gov ↗.