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Hybrid Helicopter Could Sell For $30 Million, And Bloomberg Really Wants One
By
John Del Signore
Published Apr 13, 2012
Modified Apr 13, 2012
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By
John Del Signore
Published Apr 13, 2012
Modified Apr 13, 2012
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Forty fabulously wealthy individuals are on the waitlist to buy the AgustaWestland AW609 Tiltrotor, a hybrid helicopter-plane that is expected to come on the market in 2016 with a price tag between $5 million and $30 million. Near the top of the list is Mayor Michael Rubens Bloomberg, an avid helicopter pilot who already owns a $4.5 million, six-seat Agusta SPA A109S helicopter. One look at this video of the new 609 prototype in action, and you'll get why Bloomerg simply has to have it:
The Times has a fun story today that's all about the mayor's passion for helicopters, and how he's sometimes known to lord it over those lower orders reduced to taking pitiful airplanes. Last month, Bloomberg and other lawmakers were waiting at La Guardia Airport to travel to Albany for a news conference. Heavy fog prevented them from taking off, so Bloomberg offered to fly his guests, who included Staten Island borough president James P. Molinaro and White Plains Mayor Thomas M. Roach, to join him his helicopter instead:
A sense of superiority can creep into the way the mayor speaks about helicopter flying versus other forms of travel. Hours after he arrived in Albany last month with Mr. Roach and the other passengers, he held a news conference and thanked Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo for signing the pension reform legislation. He then singled out two people on his staff: Mr. Lasher, who accompanied the mayor on the helicopter, and Timothy F. Mulligan, the mayor’s fiscal director, who did not.
Mr. Mulligan, the mayor dryly noted, was “still, last I checked, No. 44 in line at La Guardia to try to get off and come here.”
Hey, we don't begrudge the billionaire his little toys—and neither does author Patricia Cornwell, a Bloomberg helicopter buddy who tells the Times, "You take someone like the mayor, this is a really handy thing. It’s a bird’s-eye view of America from your cockpit." Because if there's anything an insanely rich plutocrat needs, it's the ability to look down upon the world from a remote and untouchable vantage point.
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aw609
helicopter
Helicopters
mayor bloomberg
rich people toys
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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