Tom Ace
I hadn't thought about pipeline surveys. What speed would a helicopter fly at if conducting this work?
At my site we don't have a problem in accomodating the odd helcopter as long as they talk to us. Last month on quite a busy day we got a call from the police helicopter asking if they could land at our field and wait a while in order to extend the time of their sortie. We had a nice chat with the crew and gave them tea. Occasionally we get a call from the Air Ambulance advising that they are attending an emergency nearby and giving us their route. We stay in radio contact with them until they've cleared the area.
The ones we worry about are those that zip through at uncomfortable height and close to the airfield when they could just as easily have tracked a couple of miles further out where there's likely to be less traffic.