St Tropez helipad

[Oogle]

Hi all

Do any PPRuNers have any information regarding a helipad at the beach at St Tropez?

What I would like is the contact person or governing authority (and phone number) so as to ask approval to land.

I understand that the helipad is next to "Club Cinquante Cinq" (Le Club 55).

Many thanks

[ambidextrous]

You could try Heli Securite at Tel: 0033(0)494 433 930 Fax: 0033(0)494 433 960 and ADI-RCE HELICOPTERES (http://www.nova.fr/rce) or 'e' @[email protected]
Alternatively try Heli-Riviera at Cannes-Mandelieu for further info or call Nice Operations, all very helpful.
With fraternal greetings,
ambi:ok:

[singesavant]

Hi folks, it seems that saint tropez has some issues due to the traffic in some helipad...
petition and strike from the people living out there whom want to cease all aeronautical activities!

don't know which helipad are concerned.

davy

[gazelleboy]

yes it is grimaud heliport....it is just of the D61...but its no plage...!!

[RVDT]

Oogle,

I would seriously make sure all the ducks are in a row before you venture in there.

People used to just pitch up into the paddock behind which is privately owned after "greasing a few wheels" and doing a drop and dash before you get nabbed by someone. It could be done because the traffic is so bad no official could get there inside 30 mins! The spot is unprepared and you could easily do some serious engine damage.

St Tropez is a nightmare unless you know somebody with a licensed private pad. And of course those in the know with that amount of coin have one!

Pilon near the old port in St Trop was closed years ago by the mayor of St Tropez who happens to be friends with the mayor of Grimaud, and there are problems of course in Cogolin, Ramatuelle, Gassin etc.

Even the airport at La Mole gets grief from these people and it is miles away.

The organiser of the "Halte Helico" association is Jean-Claude Molho.

Read Le Figaro (http://www.lefigaro.fr/actualite-france/2008/07/18/01016-20080718ARTFIG00499-saint-tropez-declare-la-guerre-aux-helicopteres-.php)

And check out this on TF1 (http://video.aol.com/video-detail/a-saint-tropez-les-helicos-troublent-la-quietude-des-touristes/2077233078)

The thing to be aware of is if you just arrive unannounced you will incur the wraith of the local operators as well.

Talk to Daniel at Heli-Securite at Grimaud +33494433930. Nice guy and very pragmatic about the whole thing. Even using Grimaud can be difficult and you are still 30 mins drive away on a good day. The locals all ride scooters for a reason!

Just park the boat off Pampelonne and stick them in a tender!

PS a primer for the logic behind the whole situation here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXn2QVipK2o)

[Oogle]

Thanks for the info guys. After a couple of phone calls it has become apparent that it is all too hard.

Thanks

[Bomber ARIS]

St Tropez locals declare war on 'helicopter hell' of rich and famous (http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/jul/28/travelandtransport.france)


France: Très fatigués! St Tropez locals declare war on 'helicopter hell' of rich and famous
· Residents say aerial taxis make their lives a misery
· Income and environment clash in luxury resor

Jean-Claude Molho and his wife, Martine, have no need for an alarm clock. Their wake-up call comes almost every day at about 7.30am, when, out of the hills of Font Mourier, a helicopter thunders over their whitewashed villa and makes sleep an impossibility.

It is not the peace and quiet they expected from their retirement, and they are not happy. Along with thousands of other locals, they have begun to mobilise against the celebrities, businessmen and formula one racing drivers who treat private helicopters as a taxi service and have turned the airspace above St Tropez into one of the busiest in Europe.

"It's hellish. They come over every five minutes," Molho said, his lavish grey eyebrows arching as rotor blades droned into earshot over his patio. "It starts in April and goes on until the end of August. At night you have to close all the windows and shutters because it starts when you're still in bed."

Things have got so bad that Molho, president of the pressure group Halte Hélico, handed in a petition this month to local authorities complaining that not enough was being done to protect long-term residents from the summertime pollution of a noisy minority. More than 4,000 people signed it, warning that if no action were taken by August 1, they would block the nearest official landing site, at Grimaud, and stop its well-heeled clientele from boarding their flights.

"We are mad with anger. We are not extremists; we just want them to keep to the rules. We can't stop helicopters and we don't want to stop them. But we want to stop cowboys from flying overhead," said Molho, 76.

He suspects the local authorities are unwilling to upset the helicopter clients because they bring income to the local economy. "Do they really want to privilege those 100-odd people at the expense of an entire population?" Molho asks.

Since Brigitte Bardot cavorted on its beaches in the 1950s, St Tropez has drawn an ever-growing jetset each summer, bringing with it glamour, luxury and lots of cash. Even though the town centre is overrun with tourists and the roads jammed from dawn to dusk in July and August, most local people recognise that without the annual celebrity influx the town would struggle economically. And, while residents may complain about the noise, helicopter operators claim theirs is an essential service.

"St Tropez is one of the most touristy and well-known places in the world. It is a place full of vanity and pretension," said Michel de Rohozinski, director of Azur Hélicoptère, which charges €650 (£511) for the short flight from Nice to St Tropez. "We have to provide these people with the best transportation we can possibly manage."

The residents' gripe is not about the use of helicopters but their hours, altitude and routes. At the Grimaud helipad, four miles from St Tropez, bodyguards in dark-glasses and cars with Monaco number plates gather to whisk away arrivals. One, a chicly dressed Parisian, touched down on Saturday afternoon after the 20-minute journey from Monaco. "It just saves time," she explained, sliding into the awaiting car.

But other landing spots which have sprung up, "helisurfaces" on private land, are regulated so loosely that in effect they are above the law, campaigners say. These sites, set up for the time-poor millionaire who finds a half-hour drive from the official helipad intolerable, are used for flights to and from private beaches, friends' villas and exclusive restaurants.

Residents joke that, if it were possible for the passengers to land directly in their swimming pools, they would.

But for those living near the helisurfaces it is no laughing matter. They claim that, as well suffering from the noise pollution caused by a far greater number of flights every day than is allowed under local regulations, the value of their homes has fallen by as much as 25%.

Last week, the local authorities announced the closure of one such helisurface, at Ramatuelle, after "infringements" were reported by inspectors. Françoise Souliman, a government official, said authorities were working hard to "find a balance between the economic interests of the region and its environment".

But Molho said the closure was mere "gesture politics" in response to Halte Hélico's high-profile campaign. He will keep up the pressure until officialdom accepts "the only solution": a helipad in the sea, where the noise will cause less disturbance. He knows that could take some time. "We will stay for the moment. But if my wife decides she has had enough ... then we will go."