26 January 2006: Cape Times
Noisy helicopters leave outraged residents in a spin
By Leanne Raymond
Outraged residents and the Table Mountain National Park have had enough of noisy helicopters which they said were flying "irresponsibly" low over protected areas and Cape Town suburbs.
Fiona Kalk, park spokesperson, said: "Under the Protected Areas Act, all aircraft must be 1 500ft above the highest point of the park. In the park that is McClear's Beacon on top of Table Mountain."
Although helicopter companies insist they do keep to this regulated height, Kalk said, helicopters in fact do not abide by this regulation.
JP Smith, ward councillor for the Atlantic Seaboard, said: "Some helicopter operators are unsafe, irresponsible and fly too close to Table Mountain."
He said they were an incessant irritation to residents of his ward.
Steve Gordon, a "born and bred" resident of Clifton, said helicopters fly low over the bay.
"The volume has increased so rapidly there is a need for air traffic management for issues of safety and because these are Marine Protected Areas (MPA)," he said.
However, Kalk said, Marine Protected Areas are controlled by the Marine Living Resources Act, which does not specify a general height restriction for aircraft. She said the park would like to have the height restrictions that apply to the park territory extended to the MPA.
According to the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) helicopters must be 1 000 ft above the highest obstacle on land, but there are no height restriction when flying offshore. However, helicopters without flotation devices must be within safe auto-rotation distance from shore.
According to Neil Petrie, a pilot and a manager of Base4 helicopter company, that means helicopters must be high enough to glide to a landing area should something go wrong out to sea.
According to Smith, there are regular low-flying offenders, "but the Huey is the worst".
"It breaks every rule in the book and continuously undermines the culture of civil aviation."
The controversial Huey is owned by businessman Gary van der Merwe and has been under grounding orders from the CAA since December 2003. The CAA has handed the case over to the police, who are investigating the matter.
Liz Berry, DA ward councillor for Milnerton and Table View, said residents of these areas had also complained about the Huey.
"I have photos of the Huey flying lower than the kitesurfers' kites. One shows people's hats flying off because the Huey was so low over the beach.
"The noise of the Huey is intense."
Sean Puotz, a manager of Helicopter and Marine Services, which runs the Huey Extreme Club, said although the Hueys did not fly over the park, they flew about 15 metres above the sea off Blaauwberg and Table View.
"From a safety point of view, that is within auto-rotation distance from the beach," he said.
Petrie, however, said: "Base4 pilots are not permitted to fly that low as it takes the helicopter beyond its operating limits in the event of an emergency."
CivAir said its pilots stayed above 305m for safety reasons.
Kalk said helicopters flying low over national parks and Marine Protected Areas disturbed birds, animals, whales and dolphins.
"Sea birds nesting on cliffs are disturbed and other birds come and eat their eggs. Other nesting birds get so traumatised they don't go back to their nests," she said.
"Small family groups of animals, such as klipspringers, scatter when they are disturbed.
"The young often lose their parents and are vulnerable to predators. Herds, like eland, suffer continuous stress from the noise and eventually leave a popular grazing area because of it."