"Wealthy businessman attacked a helicopter"
A look at the site using Multimap's Birds Eye View for BS16 1ZS is educational.
It would appear that the pilot chose not to land where there was a stack of open space on the south side of the house, but in a tiny confined area on the north side. Definitely a congested area - and definitely causing way more nuisance than if he had chosen south side. Using Google Earth, it seems likely that he had less than 200m to lift with 4 POB in a JetRanger surrounded by housing.
Utter madness.
It would appear that the pilot chose not to land where there was a stack of open space on the south side of the house, but in a tiny confined area on the north side. Definitely a congested area - and definitely causing way more nuisance than if he had chosen south side. Using Google Earth, it seems likely that he had less than 200m to lift with 4 POB in a JetRanger surrounded by housing.
Utter madness.
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I guess you had to be there.
I would never second guess the actions of the pilot in a case like this. The guy was mad that you stoned his car. I think he was upset. Hitting the nose of the ship with a gym bag doesn't equate to trying to destroy the helicopter. He wasn't trying to put his fist through the door window, just open the door. I'm belted in. So let him open the door. I'm guessing he's looking for an apology. So I apologize. If he gets violent, I stick my ball point pen in his eye and he stagers into the tail rotor. (Just kidding). I don't know. My gut says that I would try to calm things down. As long as my pax are inside the ship, they are pretty safe. I'd rather have someone try to destroy my ship on the ground than in the air. Then that might just be me. I guess you had to be there.
You are wrong!
Jim,
I am sorry but you are wrong. I live very close to that location and what appears on a map is very different to reality. The House itself is built on the top of what is really a cliff. The land to the south is 30 or 40 feet below the house which stands out as a landmark over the nearby M32. The rest of that land is steeply sloping until you get to the bottom which is a long way from the house. THEN you would have to work your way around the side of the fortress like building to gain access to the flat landscaped area to the North of the House. There is simply no access from the south and the apparent grassland that appears on the map is way outside the slope limits of any helicopter.
I have no knowledge of any of the participants and really no interest in the affair but your scenario was so far off beam that it had to be answered.
Tigerfish
I am sorry but you are wrong. I live very close to that location and what appears on a map is very different to reality. The House itself is built on the top of what is really a cliff. The land to the south is 30 or 40 feet below the house which stands out as a landmark over the nearby M32. The rest of that land is steeply sloping until you get to the bottom which is a long way from the house. THEN you would have to work your way around the side of the fortress like building to gain access to the flat landscaped area to the North of the House. There is simply no access from the south and the apparent grassland that appears on the map is way outside the slope limits of any helicopter.
I have no knowledge of any of the participants and really no interest in the affair but your scenario was so far off beam that it had to be answered.
Tigerfish
Hovering AND talking
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The safety issues regarding the suitability of the landing site for a private helicopter, and the associated risks, were comprehensively dealt with in evidence by Keith Thomas of the CAA (acting as an expert) who is himself an experienced helicopter pilot.
- I wasn't at Court so I don't know what was said about that,
but I find it quite surreal that someone else ( who obviously wasn't there either ),
can categorically state such facts based purely on the imagery provided
by Google Earth, and Multimap - we all know how bang up to date their data is !
Bottom line(s) ; Jafari - Tw@ - Guilty - Got what he deserved.
Pilot : No doubt lessons learnt but did what he thought was right at the time,
and does not appear to have been criticised by the Judge who DID know all the facts !
Organiser : Could have done better !
Case closed ?
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Flight is generally the safest option when threatened and so it is in an aircraft. The last thing you want is a hysterical person yanking open the pilots door and grabbing the collective or beating hell out of the pilot. The pilot should have realised what was going to happen more quickly and taken off regardless of any pre take-off checks. A shout of "hang on tight" to the pax would have been enough, then up and away, if only to a high hover.
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A .45 barrel opening in Jafari's face might have settled him down a bit if he tried to yank the door open and accost the pilot or pax. I realize that is not an option in the UK, but it is here! They are not called "peacemaker" and "equalizer" for nothing. 
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Flight is generally the safest option when threatened and so it is in an aircraft. The last thing you want is a hysterical person yanking open the pilots door and grabbing the collective or beating hell out of the pilot. The pilot should have realised what was going to happen more quickly and taken off regardless of any pre take-off checks. A shout of "hang on tight" to the pax would have been enough, then up and away, if only to a high hover.
I think he was lucky this time. The pilot was being harassed by one fat moron waving his arms about throwing bags of rubbish, not a dozen armed men! Solution - close throttle, fuel off, rotor brake on, jump out, put fat mans lights out, jump in and continue with flight...
Perfectly legitimate self defence.
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Chopjock:
Jafari:
Jury:
ie We were told to consider all the evidence and that we must not convict unless we were sure Jafari is guilty.
We considered all the evidence and we are sure the prosecution witnesses were telling the truth and Jafari was lying.
Chopjock:
ie I wasn't in court so I didn't hear any of the evidence but I know better than the jury.
.
Since the pilot panicked and lifted, effectively placing the skids in the face of the resident, I would say the resident probably instinctively put his hands out to push the skids away.
'I made no contact with [the helicopter] at all. The rotor blades are really going fast, there was a lot of wind.
'I took a full step back, lifted on to my tip-toes and I lifted both my hands up. I said: 'Where the hell are you going?' 'I made no contact with it in any way.'
'I took a full step back, lifted on to my tip-toes and I lifted both my hands up. I said: 'Where the hell are you going?' 'I made no contact with it in any way.'
Guilty.
We considered all the evidence and we are sure the prosecution witnesses were telling the truth and Jafari was lying.
Chopjock:
Hell police state or what. 
.
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Heliport
Or what I really meant was getting sentenced to 12 months in prison for having an arguement with a rude pilot, which would never have happened if the pilot had reacted responsibly.
No one was hurt, was that really worth a year in prison? You get less for GBH.
I don't agree with what the looney did, but the pilot could have handled things better.
Quote:
Hell police state or what.
ie I wasn't in court so I didn't hear any of the evidence but I know better than the jury.
Hell police state or what.
ie I wasn't in court so I didn't hear any of the evidence but I know better than the jury.
No one was hurt, was that really worth a year in prison? You get less for GBH.
I don't agree with what the looney did, but the pilot could have handled things better.
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The sentence was severe but had Jafari's actions caused the helicopter to crash there could have been fatalities. I think the court have sent out a clear message that endangering an aircraft is a serious offence with severe consequences if prosecuted and convicted. 
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Bladecrack
Yes I do see your point. I wonder though if it is likely a crash would occure if the helicopter had remained on the ground with the engine shut down?
The sentence was severe but had Jafari's actions caused the helicopter to crash there could have been fatalities.
Chief Bottle Washer
chopjock,
Your repetitious argument is becoming tedious
You have been replied to graciously by many Rotorheads (now including Heliport) yet you are fast approaching the status of trolling for effect, rather than contributing constructively to the thread.
Enough is enough. No more
Your repetitious argument is becoming tedious
You have been replied to graciously by many Rotorheads (now including Heliport) yet you are fast approaching the status of trolling for effect, rather than contributing constructively to the thread.Enough is enough. No more
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I think the safest course of action was to shut down, which might also have calmed Jafari down, and have a "quiet word in his ear". I'm not criticising the pilot as he was clearly scared and panicked and did what he thought was best to diffuse the situation at the time, I'm just saying I would have probably done things differently.
I have had a couple of similar experiences although things didn't get quite as extreme as in this case.
1st incident - landed in a farmer's field (from whom my pax had agreed landing permission) behind a couple of other helicopters who had already just landed WITHOUT permission. Farm worker starts running towards helicopters waving arms, clearly not happy about helicopters in the field. On this occasion I did take off again in sequence, however the man did not approach under the rotor disc or throw anything at the aircraft.
2nd incident - landed at a job site and during rundown a teenager appears in my 2 o'clock with a large rock in hand ready to launch. Luckily my ground crewman intervened before I got as far as jumping out to tackle the little lout, but I am quite sure had there been no groundcrew there and I had tried to take off again he would have lobbed the rock at me with possibly tragic consequences...
I have had a couple of similar experiences although things didn't get quite as extreme as in this case.
1st incident - landed in a farmer's field (from whom my pax had agreed landing permission) behind a couple of other helicopters who had already just landed WITHOUT permission. Farm worker starts running towards helicopters waving arms, clearly not happy about helicopters in the field. On this occasion I did take off again in sequence, however the man did not approach under the rotor disc or throw anything at the aircraft.
2nd incident - landed at a job site and during rundown a teenager appears in my 2 o'clock with a large rock in hand ready to launch. Luckily my ground crewman intervened before I got as far as jumping out to tackle the little lout, but I am quite sure had there been no groundcrew there and I had tried to take off again he would have lobbed the rock at me with possibly tragic consequences...
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I assume that the pilot had reasonable concern that if Jafari had managed to open his door, he could have yanked the cyclic and possibly rolled the helicopter over with catastrophic consequences.
However, why was it necessary for a private pilot to do a rotors running pick up in the first place. Why not arrive & shut down - then any disagreement could have been handled on the ground. The pilot could have loaded and briefed his passengers fully - as he is required to do by law - before firing up and lifting. Just a thought!
However, why was it necessary for a private pilot to do a rotors running pick up in the first place. Why not arrive & shut down - then any disagreement could have been handled on the ground. The pilot could have loaded and briefed his passengers fully - as he is required to do by law - before firing up and lifting. Just a thought!
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... why was it necessary for a private pilot to do a rotors running pick up in the first place ...
The pilot could have loaded and briefed his passengers fully - as he is required to do by law - before firing up and lifting.
