|
Mar
02
2026
|
|
Posted 5 hours ago ago by Admin
|
|
In the bustling sprawl of New York City and its surrounding empire, time is life. The difference between minutes and hours can equate to millions of dollars, missed opportunities, and even critical lifesaving support. The airspace surrounding it has grown and evolved to accommodate the desire to save time and make the unpredictable predictable and attainable. Zip Aviation has been a player in that evolution since 2005.
“Zip Aviation is a lot of things,” says Dillon Schroder, chief pilot for Zip. “We operate under Part 135; we conduct sightseeing tours of New York City, on-demand charter operations, we do organ transportation, and a a little bit of film work as well.” Standing in the Zip Aviation hangar in Caldwell, New Jersey, the diversity of Zip’s operation is on full display. The fleet consists of six Bell 407s, two Bell 206L4 LongRangers, and two Sikorsky S76 helicopters. The 407s do most of the heavy lifting for the company as they are primarily tasked with tours from downtown NYC, while the S76s stay busy with on-demand charters anywhere from the surrounding NYC airports to Boston, Washington DC, and the Hamptons depending on what the customer is looking for.
Currently Zip employs 25 pilots on a 7-day-on / 7-day-off schedule divided into two different shifts. In addition, there are eight full-time mechanics, plus management and tour personnel to help with ground operations at the downtown heliport, bringing the company up to around 60 people in total. Pilots are typically hired when they reach 1,000 hours PIC time, which is typical for entry level, turbine tour positions across the country. The majority of the current pilot pool comes from major Part 141 flight schools like the University of North Dakota (UND Aerospace) and Southern Utah University (SUU). “Collegiate programs generally provide a stronger background in systems, regulations, airspace and provide more standardization, which really goes well with how we’re operating here,” says Schroder. “If you went to UND, where it’s a very busy class delta, that translates very well into the airspace here. Or if you went to SUU and did mountain flying, that translates into more technical flying, getting into heliports and operating the aircraft closer to max. gross weight.”
Indeed, when you meet the crew at Zip, you realize how young and professional the team is. Most have been with the company for less than three years, as you’d expect from a high-turnover industry like helicopter tours. Even the leadership is young with the director of flight operations, chief pilot, and assistant chief pilot all under 40. “Since COVID, we’ve had a complete rebuild of the company from the ground up on a lot of things” reflects Schroder, who has been with Zip for five years. The COVID pandemic shattered many areas of the tourism industry as well as large metro areas like New York. Zip found a way to reform and revise their company in the wake of potential disaster. With nearly 100% turnover since then, new safety standards, training procedures and maintenance standards have been implemented. As a result, the company was able to bounce back stronger and rebuild its reputation at the same time.
Sierra Hadley is the new training captain for Zip; she’s been there a little over a year. “We take our initial new-hires and train them to understand the general New York airspace as well as what it’s like to work within a charter operation,” she says. “We take them through around 50 hours of ground training and some flight training in order for them to understand how to fly in one of the world’s busiest airspaces.”
All pilots start conducting tours in the Bell 407, but there are lots of opportunities for advancement and diversification beyond that. “They’re going to do tours until they get comfortable with the New York airspace, then move into charters,” Hadley said. Beyond Bell 407 tours and charters, Zip has eight pilots that are qualified to fly the Sikorsky S76 as well as the 407.
Laura Douvier is the safety officer at Zip Aviation and a line pilot in the S76. She’s been with the company for three years and has seen lots of opportunities to advance, including getting checked out in the Sikorsky. “My favorite aircraft is the S76,” she says. “I like to go IFR, get in the clouds and always just have an out if needed.” The flexibility of the far more advanced and IFR-capable S76 offers a relief valve for charter operations, giving an option when the 407 may be unable to fly due to weather, albeit at a greater expense. Besides the busy airspace, the weather is the greatest risk in Zip’s area. Especially around Long Island near the ocean, the weather can change pretty fast. Pilots have to learn the different fronts and systems and what to expect.”
The IFR capable S76 gives pilots and customers more flexibility to complete charter flights in less optimal weather conditions.
As safety officer, Douvier oversees the employee safety reports as well as the risk assessment tools to help pilots make go/no-go decisions as they learn the complexity of the environment. Zip Aviation uses Complete Flight for their pilot risk assessments, which helps remove the guess work and greatly simplifies the decision-making process for pilots. It can also send notifications to the appropriate personnel if a pilot or operation is flagged as a higher risk. In addition to these risk-assessment tools, the aircraft are equipped with ADS-B in and out, which greatly enhances situational awareness in the busy metro environment.
Beyond tours and charters around the NY/NJ metro areas, Zip has had the exclusive rights to provide helicopter passenger services to the Ryder Cup international golf tournament since 2016. In 2025, the Ryder Cup was held in New York, which provided a special opportunity for Zip pilots and staff. Almost their entire fleet descended on Bethpage Black for the three-day event. Nearly 245,000 people attend the competition, which rotates cities in the U.S. every two years. During last year’s Ryder Cup, Zip coordinated more than 300 flights and flew over 2,000 passengers in support of the event.
All of Zip’s sightseeing tours take place at the Downtown Manhattan Heliport. Half of the heliport terminal belongs to Zip’s tour operations. Many passengers are walk-ins, though Zip would prefer booking ahead of time to guarantee a spot during busy tour seasons. The 14 different helipads at the heliport are mostly occupied at any one time, even during the slower seasons, with tourists wanting to see a once-in-a-lifetime view of the “Big Apple” that can only be achieved by helicopter. Zip aircraft conduct 30-40 tour flights per day alone from downtown with customers from all over the world.
The future of the Downtown Heliport and heli tourism in New York in general is always in contention and ready for the next evolutionary step. That next step appears to be the emerging advanced air mobility (AAM) sector. The previously city owned heliport was acquired in April 2025 by the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) and renamed the Downtown Skyport in anticipation of future e-VTOL and AAM aircraft sharing the pads. The site will be upgraded with electronic and marine infrastructure to bolster operations. Joby Aviation also recently acquired Blade’s passenger service, which is one of Zip’s largest booking partners. This postures the e-VTOL manufacturer for rapid passenger growth as they inch towards certification of their aircraft.
What does this mean for Zip Aviation and the helicopter industry in New York? For now, it’s business as usual and fulfilling the demand that their services can uniquely provide. If nothing else, Zip has proved that it’s a company that can embrace change and evolve for the better as new challenges present themselves.
READ JAN/FEB ISSUE OF ROTOR PRO
READ MORE ROTOR PRO: https://justhelicopters.com/Magazine
WATCH ROTOR PRO YOUTUBE CHANNEL: https://buff.ly/3Md0T3y
You can also find us on
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/rotorpro1
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/rotorpro1
Twitter - https://twitter.com/justhelicopters
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/rotorpro1