Landing in London

[Goldenhawk]

Hi Folks,

Just a quickie..I have permission from an owner of a 6 acre site, south of Greenwich (Blackheath)to land a twin engine 109 on Monday next....spoke with Special branch and customs (arriving from Dublin)...do I need permission to land from the CAA for this one off landing? subject to Rule 5?...London City airport ?

thank you

[Spunk]

Hi Goldenhawk,

...still cruising around Europe, aren't we? :ok:

[headsethair]

Rule 5 (3)
(c) Special VFR clearance and notified routes
(i) Any aircraft shall be exempt from the 1000 feet rule when flying in a control zone under a special VFR clearance issued by the appropriate air traffic service unit, or when operating in accordance with the procedures notified for the route being flown.
(ii) When flying in accordance with this exemption landings may not be made at other than a licensed or Government aerodrome, unless the permission of the CAA has been obtained.

And some of Blackheath is in R160,

[MightyGem]

We occasionally get asked this by the bobbies when one lands in Liverpool. Last time I got the following info:

Having had yet another call from one of our control rooms, regarding a helicopter landing in the centre of Liverpool, I spoke to Bob Jones at Flight Ops to get the definitive answer.

A private pilot requires permission to land in a congested area for each occasion.
A commercial company can obtain permission for each occasion or obtain a “block booking” if it’s a regular occurrence.
For both, the landowner’s permission is reqd. They are required to inform the local Police, not to obtain their permission, but purely in case Mrs Jones calls to say that she thinks a helicopter’s just crashed. The Police have no say as to whether the aircraft can land or not.

Hope that's of help.

[puntosaurus]

Try asking for an annual permission anyway, even if it's for a private flight. Technically the £94 is an admin charge for processing the application and if you ask, you may get. Good to see that Bob's wife is taking an interest in her husband's work Mightygem :E

[headsethair]

The interesting thing here is that City is Class D - and therefore only gives Special VFR in IMC. And we don't know if your site is in a "congested area" - some of that part of SE London is definitely non-congested.

And another complication: there's a lot of interest in helicopter activities around Blackheath at present. The area is a World Heritage site and the Blackheath Society have been successfully lobbying to get the unnofficial "Blackheath hold" removed from H4/IoD procedures.

CAA Flight Ops are aware of this.

[DBChopper]

The area is a World Heritage site and the Blackheath Society have been successfully lobbying to get the unnofficial "Blackheath hold" removed from H4/IoD procedures.

One wonders if they are also going to try to prevent the tens of thousands of motor vehicles that cross Blackheath every day to switch off their engines and coast...

:rolleyes:

[Billywizz]

I have flown over that area and on a couple of occasions have picked up a pirate radio station transmiiting on the same frequency as Thames radar!

[old heliman]

Headsethair, it doesn't matter whether the site itself is congested or not, it's whether it is situated within a congested area that matters. If you had a park that was empty of people etc but totally surrounded by (for example) buildings within a town or city, then it would still need CAA permission as it would be within a congested area.