Thanks ANOrak, no greater compliment than to receive the accolade of your peers - it was nice meeting with and talking to other PPruners.
Northsouth,
I have nothing to add to 212man’s comprehensive explanation.
However what he has illustrated by his provision of gradients and distances is one of the principle benefits of PC2. Whilst PC1 requires OEI climb performance from the take-off-distance-required (which for a clear area procedure is achieved at 35ft, Vtoss with a positive rate of climb), when using PC2 advantage can be taken of an all-engines-climb to 200ft (with exposure if necessary); hence the OEI climb gradient does not need to be applied until reaching that height.
This permits a two part gradient with the first achieved at twin engine power and the second at OEI - this has the potential to reduce substantially the amount of heliport surface and airspace required. When used in conjunction with Point-in-Space GPS procedures (if an entry point is established at 200ft) a flexible entry into IFR can be established. Although this will be of little use in areas where the obstacles and terrain do not permit such profiles, it will be extremely useful in flatter areas.
It is exactly this principle (and exposure to 200ft) that is needed by the ICAO Annex 14 (heliports) group in order to provide practical solutions to reduce the size of heliports and to make the airspace requirement more pragmatic.
Jim