Heliport

Is this the most unusual / challenging landing-pad in the world?

A 'catenary' landing-pad on Alcan's Kemano pipeline, Canada.



The pad is 1/2 mile from the mountains on each side, and 700 feet in the air above an avalanche zone.
It's supported on three inch cables, a mile long, attached to the mountain by 15-21 rock anchors each.


Any Canadian Rotorheads landed there?



I've managed to track down the pilot in the photograph who's now registered as 'Canadian Rotorhead.'
See his posts below for a description of landing on the pad.

slowrotor

Flying down the Alcan highway near Haines Junction there is (or was) an aerial tram that stretched from the highway to the top of a nearby mountain some 3000 feet up. My brother will never forget the evasive turn I performed to avoid the almost unseen cable while cruising at 2500 ft agl.
We checked the sectional, "caution aerial tram" in fine print. I thought trams spanned rivers about 100 ft high or so and didn't give it much thought.I do now. (trams are not marked with orange balls)

MBJ

Bet you don't shut down there much!?

moosp

Last year a certain magazine published in the Southern hemisphere which may or may not write about helicopters and which we cannot mention here had an article about catenary work in New Zealand on power cables across a valley. Awesome photographs and the wind was blowing a hooligan.

steve mitchell

I heard the pad on the Burj Al Arab Hotel is a bit tricky.

spinningwings

For those who don't know Burj Al Arab Hotel is in the Emirate of Dubai United Arab Emirates......

Vfrpilotpb

For the sake of us who will never land on a Thong type pad, could one of our more experienced rotorheads explain how this miniscule pad would be used

LordGrumpy

On that 206 there are a good deal of skin ripples. Is that par for the course in an older machine?
A beaut photograph.

Rotor1

The ripples on the right hand fuslage are from nuckelheads throwing gear in the boot. Also torqe can couse rippling as well. The dents under the doors are from, you guessed it steelcap saftey boots.

Heliport

The circular helipad can be seen in Alan's photograph. It's a 24 metre (79 ft) pad that projects from the hotel 210m above ground.
The Burj is the tallest hotel in the world, only a couple of hundred feet shorter than the Empire State Building, built on an artificial island 200 metres off of the coast into the Arabian Sea.

Flying Lawyer

A friend who's landed on the Burj al Arab helipad many times tells me .......

"The pad is 850'AMSL. Due to the +45C summer temperatures the DA can be 4,500'.
Typically, in the afternoon, due to sea breezes, the surface wind is 300/20. Because of the structure being shaped like a huge sail, the wind on the helipad can be 120/20.

It makes for a very tricky approach what with the size of the structure, the turbulence and the 180 degree shift in wind on the final stage!
After shutting down, the vertigo, as experienced by most high time helicopter pilots, can be very uncomfortable!"

Robbo Jock

With respect to the 'catenary' platform, you'd have thought that, having taken all the trouble to put the thing in place, they'd have made it a tad bigger!

As for the Burj Al Arab, what's the 'aerofoil' shaped structure on the left of AlanM's photo ?

AlanM

I believe it is the EXECUTIVE (as if being in the worlds only 6 star hotel wasn't enough) canteen. Or restaurant to the posh types!!

Saw a documentary on the place once whilst flying to Jo'burg. Simply stunning.

Heliport

I've managed to trace one of the three pilots who land at the catenary pad in Canada.

Click here to see the post by our newest member, Canadian Rotorhead on our 'Rotorheads Around the World' thread.


Heliport

Canadian Rotorhead

A bit more info on the pad. It is located in the centre of a mountain cirque (like the focal point on a satellite dish) Making for very difficult wind predictions. It was only safely possible to point towards the mountain, as the other direction dropped off for 4600 feet into the Kemano Valley making wind prediction nearly impossible.

Power was always kept on as you can imagine. The first lineman would slowly transfer his weight out of the aircraft. Next he would receive the emergency repelling gear (750 feet), then the other lineman would follow. During this few minutes, it would seem like an hour to me as I used the limited references and constant power changes to keep the JetRanger from applying too much weight or conversely, lifting off.

There were six conductors (267 Kv) fore and aft, with the two support cables rising to the left and right.

After the drop off, we were usually required to sling work gear such as hanging ladders or insulator glass into the platform.

I can tell you, they don't pay pilots enough for that kind of stress.

John Eacott

"After the drop off, we were usually required to sling work gear such as hanging ladders or insulator glass into the platform."

A landing sounded difficult enough, but slinging onto a platform like that? You have my full and undivided attention and respect

Heliport

That's quite a compliment coming from someone with your experience John.

Canadian Rotorhead

Thank you, but, for the most part, it was just part of the summer routine.

I have heard that in Norway or Switzerland that they have similar systems, but use cable trollies to access the work platforms. That was the original way they did it in Kemano until a malfunction in the cable winch system. My old boss, Dave, did the first Catenary landing (hover exiting linemen onto the bare cables, no pad yet) in the late 1970s. He slung the pad up and held it there while it was being bolted on. Now there's a man to tip your hat to. His friends call him Zoomin "mad dog" Newman

The powerline work was educational to say the least, and I am thankful for the experience, but I think the stress made my hair fall out. Yeah, that must be the reason

Glad that you enjoyed the photos, I have some unscanned, when I get the chance, they will get posted too.

CDN RH

steve mitchell

Damn ! I was told it was a 7 star hotel and the only one ! Now I see there are a couple more 7 star hotels on the internet.

newswatcher

Apologies for staying "off-thread" but Steve, if "tempted", look out for deals. Currently on teletext at £889 for 3 nights, including return air fare. Earlier this year you could do part Burj(1n), part Jumeirah Beach(6n) (also a great hotel), with a week at just under £1k!