Tourist tours of New York
Hamburger woman circles around the Statue of Liberty every day
May 16, 2022, 6:02 p.m
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To fly over New York in a helicopter is a dream for many people. Jacqueline Sellmann does this several times a day. The young woman from Hamburg is a helicopter pilot in the US metropolis – and wants to go even higher.
It all started with a gift. For her 18th birthday, Jacqueline Sellmann received a voucher for a twenty-minute helicopter trial flight from her mother. “After the flight I was tied up. That was what I wanted to do,” says the native of Hamburg. “I already registered at the flight school for the private pilot license next week.”
The 30-year-old later trained as a professional helicopter pilot in Hawaii – and now works in what is probably the most exciting airspace in the world, directly above Manhattan. Sellmann flies groups of around six tourists around New York up to 25 times a day. Depending on the tour booked, 12, 17 or 25 minutes long, always with Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty on the program, on the longest tour straight from Staten Island in the south to the north in the Bronx.
Flying is a “very liberating feeling,” says the native of Hamburg.
(Photo: Kirk Reuben / Jacqueline Sellmann / dpa)
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For many passengers, these tours, which cost around $200, are a lifetime dream and the highlight of their New York visit. For Sellmann, however, they are now routine. “The first year I flew here it was really nice. It’s still very nice too, but it’s not really that wow moment anymore. Sometimes when the sun goes down it’s still like that. But it gets very dry at some point, and you’re very used to it.”
During the flights, Sellmann is the pilot and tourist guide, who explains to her passengers what they see down there on the ground. “You have to report that because all buildings look different from the air.” She likes to do this at sunset. “If you fly south again you can see the sun reflecting off all the buildings – orange, red, that looks really nice.” At the same time, of course, she has to keep an eye on her surroundings and communicate with all the responsible authorities – and that, as Sellmann says, in the busiest and thus most complicated airspace in the country next to Los Angeles.
Complicated Airspaces
“When they showed me the plane ticket at the interview back then, I almost ran out. I came from Hawaii, where there’s an airport on every island and almost no communication. You can basically fly wherever you want to go. The first few months in In New York I was really overwhelmed just because there’s so much communication on the radio and there’s all the different airspaces – from LaGuardia airport, John F. Kennedy airport and Newark airport, and they’re all overlapping, but now it’s not like that bad. You really just have to get used to it and know who to talk to.”
Luckily nothing has ever happened. “There have been a few situations where you thought maybe I shouldn’t do that again. But nothing worse than this thought has happened.”
Countless airplanes and helicopters populate the sky over New York every day – and the noise of the helicopters in particular, whether they are used by the police, to transport business people or for sightseeing flights for tourists, repeatedly causes complaints from residents. According to the city authorities, thousands of calls are received every year.
Sellmann is aware of the problem. “You try to fly over water so you don’t disturb the people who are at home, because there’s really a lot of helicopter traffic over New York. They’re very loud, especially when they’re flying over houses,” she says hamburger Sometimes, though, you have to “fly over houses because there’s no other route, but you try to keep the tours over the Hudson River so you avoid the houses as best you can.”
Hardly any female pilots
She herself wears noise-cancelling headphones against the noise – in the helicopter anyway, but often outside as well. “You have to try to protect your ears as much as possible, because otherwise you’ll have problems sooner or later. That comes with the job.” The world of pilots in the US is “100 percent a man’s world,” says Sellmann. “I’m told again and again that only one percent of all pilots in America are women. At the beginning you have to assert yourself a little bit more, show a little bit more that you can really fly.” There are still people who think that she only got this far because she is a woman.
Flying gives her a “very liberating feeling,” says Sellmann. Planes would also appeal to her, but at the moment she prefers the helicopter. “Of course it’s much smaller and you don’t get that far. But an airplane isn’t quite as flexible either. With a helicopter you can circle around the Statue of Liberty, around the Freedom Tower, you can slow down a bit, you can land anywhere , there are just a lot more options.” And also “a lot more fun”, as the pilot adds.
In addition, there are many different career opportunities in the industry that she could well imagine for the future, says Sellmann, who is also trained as a paramedic: rescue pilot, for example, control oil platforms, fly police helicopters or bring their employees to larger airports on behalf of companies. Only one thing excludes Sellmann: passenger. “I feel better when I fly myself. I don’t like to fly with other people, it’s like driving a car, I’m not a good passenger. When I fly myself, I know that if something goes wrong, it’s my fault. “
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