Heliport, the point is that if you land so closely to a hotel that your downwash affects people sitting outside then YES you will annoy them. Perhaps, now call me old fashioned, you should land a little bit further away so that people don’t have to dive on the table to prevent their salad from getting airborne without clearance! If you participate in aviation then you should be aware of the hazards to other people. I’m surprised that you think that I’m wrong to criticise what was inconsiderate and unprofessional flying. How would you like it if you were eating your lunch minding your own business and some helicopter lands alongside filling the air with dust and fumes, come on….. have a bit of consideration for other people. Who knows, they may be your future clients. He landed his helicopter in an area which adversely affected people on the ground.
Hoverman, he admitted flying his helicopter negligently and so YES I still have no sympathy for him. Had he given a bit more thought and consideration to where he was landing then this discussion may never have happened. . .“He had a professional pilot with him. BOTH failed to see the hazard.”. .So that makes it alright then does it? How about a little common sense here. They were landing at a hotel. Hotels have guests, maybe some of the guests might be outside – having lunch even. As you pointed out a twin squirrels downwash isn’t going to blow a women 20ft in the air but to do the damage they did they must have been pretty close. I’ve landed larger aircraft in hotel grounds. I know what downwash can do, so guess what - I chose to land in an area far enough away so as not affect third parties. I accept that there are hidden hazards in this but I don't accept hotel guests having lunch at a hotel are one of them. I know we all make mistakes and I have certainly have in my flying career but to call the incident 'a simple mistake' is very wrong. What next? I've run out of fuel - oh never mind it's a simple mistake! Can we be a little bit more open minded about this rather than just CAA bashing.. .Just out of interest..... and since you criticised me for not knowing all the facts so you're obviously an authority on this case - did they do a recce?
However, I do accept your point about the CAA going over the top with the prosecution with regards to the ‘flying lady’ <img src="smile.gif" border="0"> .
Safe flying,. . <img src="cool.gif" border="0"> <img src="wink.gif" border="0">
[ 01 February 2002: Message edited by: Inspector Lestrade ]</p>