Michael Joseph Williams, the floating pad was "floated" many years ago to get around the NIMBYs. it would be mobile, to ensure that the movement limits for any one area would not be exceeded; it had to be kept 500m from the nearest residence, and that meant that only a section of harbour near Middle Head could be used; it was big enough to land 2 B206, it had an under-deck section for a guest lounge, because people needed to wait for the water taxi or for the barge to dock at Darling Harbour or Garden Island or wherever.
However, comma,
It was going to be expensive to build and operate. It needed boat crew to drive and maintain it, it needed helicopter crewies to load and supervise pax, it needed to be small and manoeuverable to get into docks, but it needed to be quite big and stable to allow 2 x B206.
It could dock to pick people up from the shore, but then had to steam out to the designated part of the harbour to launch or land the helo.
We couldn't get any sponsors to help build it, despite it being an innovative way for Navy and Army pilots to gain some boat experience, and the limited use it would get from civilian machines ($100 landing fee) made it not economically viable. Yet another "brilliant" idea filed in the round filing cabinet.
