But can I ask you, if you were a control tower officer on duty with light traffic and you had a helicopter coming into your heliport in bad weather and if you didn't have much else to do because of low traffic levels, would you remind the pilot of the obstruction?
Yes if possible. However, the information would be in the form of 'caution crane 2 miles north west of airfield operating to a height of 400ft' or similar phrase to that. Whilst that is good generic data theres no gaurantee that the information would be sufficient for a pilot to readily see the obstruction, particularly in poor visibilty or at night. As it was a 'see through' crane jib that would have made the pilots job even harder.
Not only are my thoughts with the relatives and friends of the deceased and injured, but with ATC at EGLW, it'll be a tough time for them too.
Last edited by jumpseater; 16th Jan 2013 at 11:54.