WHILE SIGHT-SEEING AROUND THE STATUE OF LIBERTY; THE RPTR EXPERIENCED CLOSE ENCOUNTERS WITH 3 HELIS.

Narrative

WAS CIRCLING AT 500 FT AROUND STATUE OF LIBERTY AND ELLIS ISLAND IN NEW YORK CITY HARBOR. ACFT NEED TO STAY AT 500 FT OR BELOW IN THE AIRSPACE JUST W OF THE STATUE TO STAY CLR OF NEWARK CLASS 'B' AIRSPACE. AFTER 2-3 CIRCUITS OF THE AREA I NOTICED A HELI STRAIGHT AHEAD AND QUICKLY TOOK EVASIVE ACTION TO MISS HITTING IT. DURING THE TURN TO MISS THE FIRST HELI I NARROWLY MISSED 2 OTHER HELIS WHICH WERE APCHING THE AREA FROM BEHIND ME. THE HIGH WING DOWN OF THE CESSNA 172 I WAS FLYING RESTRICTED MY VISION IN THE DIRECTION IN WHICH I WAS TURNING. THE 500 PLUS FT BASE OF CLASS 'B' AIRSPACE FORCES ACFT CIRCLING THE STATUE OF LIBERTY; A VERY POPULAR TOURIST ATTRACTION; TO ALL BE AT VERY NEARLY THE SAME ALT IN THE SAME SMALL AREA; WHILE TRYING TO LOOK AT THE STATUE AND OTHER ACFT AT THE SAME TIME. I FEEL THAT THIS IS A VERY DANGEROUS SIT WITH A HIGH POTENTIAL FOR A MIDAIR COLLISION. HAVING A SELF ANNOUNCE FREQ (123.05) IS NOT ENOUGH. I WAS TALKING AND LISTENING ON IT. THERE IS STRONG RADIO INTERFERENCE FROM XMITTERS ATOP THE WORLD TRADE CTR (JUST NE) IN THE AREA; AND XMISSIONS MAY NOT BE UNDERSTANDABLE. I RECOMMEND EXTENDING CLASS 'B' TO THE SURFACE AROUND THE STATUE OF LIBERTY - ELLIS ISLAND AREA AND HAVING NEWARK TWR OR APCH CTL LIMIT AND CTL ALL ACFT IN IT.