Helicopter raises village anger

[airborne_artist]

I'm not shouting anyone down, but look at it from the existing residents' POV.

Mr G (retired, perhaps bought the house here when he retired) lives in a hamlets (so perhaps 20-30 houses max). A quick look at my OS 50,000 map shows it to be very compact also and a resident says, unconfirmed, that the helo is 100 yards away.

Others (some for as long as 50 years) enjoy the area. OK, there's tractors and lawnmowers, but they are used to them, and they only go along the ground. FYI new lawnmowers now have a legal max noise level, but that's less significant. Tractors don't make a huge din, and they move along, as farmers don't make enough money to do the job at walking pace.

In moves our Mr G, puts up a building without PP (bet you'd be pissed if yr neighbour put up a place big enough to house a helo right next to your conservatory) and proceeds to land his helo.

You've never been near a helo - except perhaps seen the RN/RAF ones on exercise (and where possible they minimise using the same LL routes day in day out), and the idea of one at 150' close to your house is frightening (certainly scared my 3 yr old when a Gazelle landed in his school playing field). You're not a petrol/Jet A1 head either, probably more at home with Bill Oddie than Top Gear.

Mr G then proceeds to use his helo when he likes, say 6-8 times a week - well my grass grows fast, but even my Mrs can't get me to mow it more than every 4 days, and no farmer I know ever goes over the same field that often every week, 52 weeks/yr. If you've got a minute just work out how high he'd be at normal glideslope when 200m out, not very high is it?

Mr G is clearly a clever man, what with buying a nice house, affording a PPL(H) and buying a nice helo, so how come he didn't think to ring the planning officer at the council and say "is it OK if I use my lawn/paddock to land my very qiet helo? and BTW can I put up a big shed to keep it warm and dry?"

He didn't, by all accounts, or if he did he'd have been told what they have said to the BBC - 28 days per year, max, although there may be a loophole, if the spot is actually in his garden, not his field (curtilage is the word).

So he continued, and now he's got a fight on.

Clearly someone who buys a place next to an airfield/pigfarm and then complains about the noise/smell is very foolish, but if the airfield/pigfarm gets put up, with no notice or consultation, they get upset, with some reason.

I hope Mr G does get to use his new helo from home, but I also hope he doesn't spoil it for the rest of the village, who so far have had no choice as to whether he did so.

GA needs to make friends, not enemies, and if that means playing by their rules. regardless of what we think of them, then maybe that's a better way. All you'll do otherwise is fill the lawyers' pockets (see prevous post)