S Jones - Re the car park, as an irregular regular in the Clutha (maybe 1-3 gigs/month depending on who is playing), very few folk drive to/from the pub. At that time of night on a Friday the north end of the car park (nearest the yuppier venues round King St) would be have a few cars. No way have I seen that carpark ever be more than 25% full at night. There would be very few if any to the south. Plenty space to put down if the pilot had a choice.
As for the chopper course, I saw a report from a police source that it was eastbound along the river NOT heading west to the base.