New York Skyports Inc. Seaplane base is a seaplane

Seaplane

A seaplane is a fixed-wing aircraft capable of taking off and landing on water. Seaplanes that can also take off and land on airfields are a subclass called amphibian aircraft...

 base on the lower East River

East River

The East River is a tidal strait in New York City. It connects Upper New York Bay on its south end to Long Island Sound on its north end. It separates Long Island from the island of Manhattan and the Bronx on the North American mainland...

 in New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

, located at the foot of East 23rd Street

23rd Street (Manhattan)

23rd Street is a broad thoroughfare in the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is one of few two-way streets in the gridiron of the borough. As with Manhattan's other "crosstown" streets, it is divided at Fifth Avenue, in this case at Madison Square Park, into its east and west sections. Since...

 between Waterside Plaza

Waterside Plaza

Waterside Plaza, formerly a Mitchell-Lama Housing Program-funded rental apartment complex, is located on the East River in the Kips Bay section of Manhattan, New York City.- Overview :...

 and Stuyvesant Cove Park

Stuyvesant Cove Park

Stuyvesant Cove Park is a public park on the East Side of the New York City borough of Manhattan that runs from 18th Street to 23rd Street between the FDR Drive and the East River...

. 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

Instrument approach

For aircraft operating under instrument flight rules , an instrument approach or instrument approach procedure is a series of predetermined maneuvers for the orderly transfer of an aircraft under instrument flight conditions from the beginning of the initial approach to a landing, or to a point...

es for this airport as it is a seaplane base. Pilots must file a flight plan with a member of the North East Seaplanes Pilot's Association and are not permitted to fly over the Queensboro Bridge

Queensboro Bridge

The Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge, also known as the 59th Street Bridge – because its Manhattan end is located between 59th and 60th Streets – or simply the Queensboro Bridge, is a cantilever bridge over the East River in New York City that was completed in 1909...

.

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

Fire Island, New York

Fire Island is one of the outer barrier islands adjacent to the south shore of Long Island, New York. It is approximately long and varies between broad. Fire Island is part of Suffolk County. It comprises a number of hamlets, census-designated places , and villages, all of which lie within the...

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

Accidents and incidents

• On July 5, 1976, a Cessna 185E
  Cessna 185
  -Specification for differing configurations:-References:* Jan Churchill, Hit My Smoke: Forward Air Controllers in Southeast Asia, Sunflower University Press, Manhattan KS, ISBN 0-89745-215-1...
  
  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.