Saunton Sands question

[Old and Horrified]

Hi Guys,

Mrs O&H and I have just come back from a weekend break at the Saunton Sands hotel, and very nice it was too. We were half way through Sunday lunch and were interrupted by what sounded like quite a large helicopter. So I made my excuses and got up to have a look and watched a black AS365 land in the garden of the hotel just to the west of the pool. It shut down, one passenger got out and went into the hotel and then it took off again heading south.

My first thought was that it was a rather extravagant way to go to the pub for Sunday lunch and then I remembered a discussion on Pprune a couple of years ago about operating under an AOC and someone said that a PPL with 100 hours could land at the Saunton Sands hotel, but an AOC aircraft could not because of the small take off run at the hotel (with a westerly wind its basically a hedge, a cliff and then the ocean).

Now an AS365 is not normally operated by a PPL, so what am I missing?

Just curious,

[misterbonkers]

Or the Pilot could be the owners 'Gardener' with a PPL(H). Or he could be just plane wealthy and own an AS365 and dropped his mate off.

[heli1]

Abject apologies... it was me just celebrating my lottery win.

[Wizzard]

Did the passenger have long hair and a "Pancho Villa" mustache? Was he carrying a holdall with no zip? :oh:

[jeepys]

You are missing the fact that it was a helicopter and that is what helicopters do!

[misterbonkers]

Hereford to Saunton Sands for lunch...

[Hughes500]

twin engine so can do what it wants !

[212man]

Wizzard and Mr B are thinking the same as me

[SilsoeSid]

My first thought as I read the opening post was that I would probably think the same as O&H, "... that it was a rather extravagant way to go to the pub for Sunday lunch..."
My first action would then be; smartphone, G-INFO (http://www.caa.co.uk/application.aspx?catid=60&pagetype=65&appid=1&mode=searchnoresult) :ok:

[Pofman]

If the people had turned up in Rolls Royce you would have said "smart car". If in a Fire Engine "eccentric".But in a helicopter you have become "Old and Horrified"! For the hotel it is just business, for most of the guests it is another talking point. If I could afford to run a helicopter then why should I not use it as it was intended?:D
Have we become so mean spirited that we automatically think that if somebody does something different that they are doing something wrong or illegal?:*

[SilsoeSid]

...of course for cars I use MyCarCheck (http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/mycarcheck/id344478255?mt=8) ;)

[SilsoeSid]

... and if really didn't have much else to do, I would see if it was insured using askMID (http://ownvehicle.askmid.com/) :eek:

[John R81]

I am not so sure about these, Sid. I put in my EC120 reg and it came back as a silver Vauxhall Astra :eek:

[SilsoeSid]

I am not so sure about these, Sid. I put in my EC120 reg and it came back as a silver Vauxhall Astra :eek:
LoL

Aaah, but was it insured? :suspect: