helicopter flying in portugal

[md 600 driver]

any one help with details of air law relating to landing at private sites in portugal in a n reg single turbine heli.

steve

[misterbonkers]

I take it you won't be flying the Hiller on this trip!

James

[md 600 driver]

any one know what the eqiv.caa/faa in portugal and if poss any links to there air law section
regards steve

[Draco]

How about calling the CAA?

We're all supposed to be part of Europe and the JAA, so let them do the work.

That's what they are paid (by us) to do!

[JohnJ]

Not sure how up to date this is

JAA - Portugal

Minesterio das Obras Publicas Transportes e Communicações,
Rue B. Edificio 4, 5 e 6, Aeroporto de Lisboa, Lisboa Cedex, Portugal

[John Bicker]

Steve,

Find someone in the UK with a Jeppesen Bottlang Airfield manual set. There is a breakdown of the general rules and regs for each country in the beginning of their respective sections or deplete your fortune a little more and buy your own. The complete set for Europe is only about 2 feet high and weighs about 40 pounds. Jepp GPS charts are about the best down this way as well.

The Bottlang will give you all the contact details for aviation authorities, met service, etc. etc. As for off airport landings - contact a local helicopter operator as things like that are too specific to generally cover.

www.jeppesen.com then go to VFR Services and Accessories > Bottlang Airfield Manual. They do sell trip kits for specific countries.

Be aware that there is a lot more to operating a helicopter in Europe off airports!

Regards
John Bicker

PS - Draco has been watching too much telly by that comment. JAA/CAA???

[md 600 driver]

draco

i rang the caa [cant. actually. assist ] they are as much use as a chocolate fire guard.

never mind someone must have flown helis in portugal.

steve

[ppheli]

Steve

Here are the options I can think of:-

- HeliPortugal have/had UK links - they were owned by Bond at one time and certainly traded 500Es via March Hc (in fact the wrecked shells of two such ex-Portuguese 500s lie outside their hangar right now!!) www.heliportugal.pt They are largely an AS350 operation these days.

- Don Milne who used to live near Aberdeen had an N reg 500E and moved out to Spain last year and flies around a lot - if you can track him down, he may help. (Yes, I know it's not Portugal before someone tries telling me :-) ) Possible contact via March Hc who used to maintain that 500E here

- PDG Helicopters had/have links with a Madeira based pleasure flight operation called Heli Atlantis - perhaps call PDG in Inverness - Madeira being Portuguese owned.

- what about one of the local operators like www.omni.pt or www.helibravo.com and there's probably more if you look at rotorhub.com and find their Portugal page

What's this about a Hiller - do you own N62171 which was at Sherburn the other day???

Cheers

pp

[Helinut]

I suspect the Jeppessen/Bottlang route will be best. An "official" alternative would be NATS AIS. If they aren't too busy trying to sort out their appalling website, they do hold the AIPs etc for all other countries at their library at Heathrow in the Tower building. There is a phone number you can call there. In the past the people I have talked to there have been reasonably helpful.

[md 600 driver]

pp
i will try them thanks for that

yes i bought with a friend the hiller that you saw at sherburn its based there
and the 600 is based at home
steve

[leku]

Steve,
I worked for helibravo this summer for the fire season.You should have no problems landing in private places as far as you get the permission of the owner.Anyway try this www.inac.pt
INAC is the local CAA and you can find its "aviation house" near by Lisboa international airport.Good luck.

[Baily]

I flew my R44 to Morocco a couple of years ago and returned via Portugal. Spain and Portugal work well. I landed at Faro which was perfectly friendly but there is quite a bit of bureaucracy to manage and it is not cheap. The smaller private airfields are fine, had no problems at all. It is probably true that after Morocco Portugal and Spain seemed wonderfully simple, but that is because I calculated that in Morocco one needed to allow at least one hour of bureaucracy management for every hour of flying. The desert flying was amazing though.

I did not land off airfield in Portugal on that trip but I understand that it should not be a problem with landowners permission.

In Spain you can land off airfield but you need permission from the Spanish CAA and the land owners. You can contact the Spanish AOPA for help on 00 34 3451 0387.

All internal flights in Spain and Portugal require a flight plan!

You really need to buy the Jeppersen/Bottlang trip kit for the countries that you are passing through it has all the info you need.

Finally remember that in these countries where on the whole things work pretty efficiently there is still a slightly different attitude to the fine details of the rules. Summed up by the thought that, like parents, they should be respected but not slavishly obeyed. Personally I think that they have got that right!