Rotary Conference Battersea Heliport: 12th June 2013

[Savoia]

Jeremy Parkin is reporting the following conference:

Rotary Operations Conference: Website

Rotary Operations Conference: HeliHub article

Operating helicopters in metro areas

As the recent accident at Vauxhall has illustrated (and as we all know anyway) there are dangers attached to operating helicopters in confined space or close to buildings and tall structures. Although modern helicopters are safer than ever in terms of technological features there is always the human element, with judgement and weather, to consider. How does the industry address public perceptions of safety when operating in metro centres?

City Heliports

Space in city centres is at a premium. How do metro helipads manage their resource, determine their landing and parking fees and capitalise on the experience of travelling through a metro heliport?

[Bilbo Bagover]

Looks interesting, but at £330 a ticket it seems like a conference organisers' scam. Why so expensive? Maybe because it's sponsored by Battersea Heliport!

[Grenville Fortescue]

Originally Posted by Bilbo Bagover
Looks interesting, but at £330 a ticket it seems like a conference organisers' scam. Why so expensive? Maybe because it's sponsored by Battersea Heliport!

Agreed.

The ever-ineffective BHA seem to care little about actually fostering any advancement in helicopter GA or making meaningful workshops accessible to as wide a remit of stakeholders as possible.

If they are going to be talking about high rises in London then consider this - twenty years from now there will be more high rise buildings in London, maybe even along some of the helicopter routes.

Increasing population x increasing land prices = high rise buildings (it in any case makes commercial sense for property developers) so high rises will be on the increase.

If additional high rises are littered along the H routes what then is the answer?

a) An MSA which is enforced by area control but which will likely reduce the separation with LHR approach traffic and therefore be unwelcome

b) The imposition of Very Special VFR - making it compulsory to use H routes littered with high rises to be flown in exceptional (as in exceptionally good) VMC.