Luis Folgueira, owner and pilot of Professional Helicopter Services, along with Joe Reyes, Operations Manager, spoke to the Village Council, about their service, which is right off the Grove shore.
The Village Council did not know Luis and Joe were present, when they brought up the subject, so as they spoke of the service and how there may be problems with it, Luis and Joe listened quietly in the audience, when Luis finally stepped up the mic.
Luis explained the good things about a helicopter service, like how at this very moment, the sound of a helicopter is the sound of heaven to people in Haiti and how a helicopter saved Luis' life in the past, when he needed to be transported to the hospital after a nasty car accident when he raced cars for a living.
Presently, there is no helicopter service in the area since the city pulled the tour services from Watson Island, so in case of emergency for anyone, the closest helicopter could be as far away as Tamiami Airport.
Professional Helicopter Service has one helicopter that lands in the bay on a platform that is rigged to be a boat. It moves around and so far, has not disturbed anyone. In fact, most heard about it when we wrote a story in December, before that, most did not have a clue that it existed.
Ironically, it seems that the snobs at the Yacht Club and other places along the water are the only people against the service, but Shake-A-Leg used their services once to drum up wind for their sailors, on a day when there was wind.
One legitimate concern brought up by Village Council member Michelle Niemeyer, is that if the helicopter service can just work rent free from from a barge, what would stop others from doing the same, you know, like a jet ski service or hang gliding, which may be setting up from the shore right now in the area. Is the Yacht Club going to complain about people flying overhead from kites now and looking down on them sunning at the pool?
The service currently brings tourists to the Grove and if the service is not wanted, they can easily move the boat/barge to South Beach or another area, taking the tourists and convenience with them. As Luis said, "Helicopter rides are not just for the rich anymore." They are affordable and convenient and it would be nice to have them around if needed.
Hopefully a solution can be found.
Cartoon by Joe Reyes
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