Originally Posted by
Squawk7700
Isn't the one opposite Crown Casino council owned, but operated by a third party - is it Heliserv, formerly managed by MicroFlite? This is the one I was advised that doesn't allow 44's.
Admittedly the MF pads were far more utilized yesterday than the other one, with a string of mostly foreign tourists lining up for a jolly.
As for risk, I would rather be enjoying my pleasure craft on the river (making limited noise) and not have a helicopter blindly reverse over me 30ft above my head. I'm not an informed aviation participant in this instance.
Note: This video has nothing to do with any reversing "incident"
https://youtu.be/tN3Ejs7mIw8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5Y2LojhEgM
The problem is that people enjoy music as it's entertaining. Some spinning helicopter blades and a turbine engine whining away for 5 minutes at a time plus takeoff is unfortunately only entertaining for those international tourists sitting in the cabin wearing a Bose headset.
I'm a pilot and have been for quite a few years and I can see both sides of the argument. For people here to suggest that air traffic in the CBD is not noisy, are barking up the wrong tree and have probably rarely even been in there.
I've been operating to the Yarra Bank for about 35 years, no idea how many thousands of landings I've done and this is the first time I've been faced with a pilot proposing a misinformed load of twaddle to uphold a beef against the operations.
First, the videos that you link show perfectly safe and standard helipad departures with no intrusion on any river traffic. A helipad takeoff keeping the pad visible through the chin window ensures a safe return to the pad before decision point should an emergency require it, plus the EC130s shown have flotation gear for an emergency landing on the water.
The helipads are owned by the operators: PHS for the Yarra Bank helipad and Microflite for the World Trade Centre pad. When it was a single pad I had an engine failure on finals and plonked it down quite happily, so there is proof that the operations follow a set, standard and safe procedure. The lease for the river is with a number of state government bodies, no council involvement.
As for risk, I would rather be enjoying my pleasure craft on the river (making limited noise) and not have a helicopter blindly reverse over me 30ft above my head. I'm not an informed aviation participant in this instance.
You certainly aren't informed. I have rarely managed to hear a helicopter idling on the YB pad, never on the WTC pad, when across the river at Southbank Boulevard. A limited time when lifting but 99% of people in the area see it as an attraction; you are the first that I have ever heard to consider it as an annoyance. How often are you out on the Yarra in your pleasure craft? If it is often enough to be concerned then haven't you learned to keep to the other side of the river, away from the pads?