The now crowded airspace over the Hudson River has been split into a low altitude and a high altitude. These two zones came about in order to split the airspace into a zone for local traffic and a zone for longer distance flights. Of course, the local traffic will use the low zone and the longer distance flights will use the higher zone. This new rule came about just after nine people died when a small plane hit a sightseeing helicopter.

This brand new rule helps to provide some structure to the Hudson River airspace. Some pilots have compared this airspace in the past to being a lot like the wild west. This is due to the fact that helicopters loaded with commuters and sightseers and private planes are all traveling this same area.

These changes, which come just following the recommendations in a Federal Aviation Administration task force report, were complied after the August 9^th collision. These new changes will take effect as of Thursday this week. The Federal Aviation Administration chief, Randy Babbitt, said what they have done with the airspace over the Hudson River is simplified it. The area now has very clear requirements for how people are gong to operate over this area.

The local planes and the helicopters will be restricted to an altitude of 1,000 feet or less. Those passing through the New York City area on longer flights and other destinations will need to operate between 1,000 and 1,300 feet. This is all set to be monitored by air traffic controllers to make sure that everyone plays by the rules.