Originally Posted by
rotorspeed
Shy - I normally agree with pretty much all you say, but whilst it would be great to have proper city heliports, even if we do get a few more, it won't make much of a dent in the accident rate - most happen where helicopters usually go - to ad hoc landing sites. It's not going to happen, at least on any scale. The vast majority of us can fly around perfectly safely to such ad hoc sites. It's not that difficult - and that's the virtue of a helicopter. Back to pilot competence......
Rotorspeed,
I posted to indicate how far we are from the "ideal" situation Nick mentioned, that of being able to fly to and from IFR equipped heliports. We don't even have heliports, or the government will to consider them. In fact the opposite. One only has to look at what is happening to Battersea - London's only licensed heliport - it's gradually being made less safe because it's becoming surrounded by cranes and ever taller high rise buildings. So much for planning permission input with regard to protecting the airspace close to aviation sites.
Obviously without licensed sites (and great numbers of them), we will always have to use ad hoc sites. The ideal is obviously never going to happen. I've used quite a few in my time, btw!