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'I'm in a helicopter here that costs £550 an hour, okay'...

Old 10th Jan 2020, 09:53
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'I'm in a helicopter here that costs £550 an hour, okay'...

Expensive rant...

A high-flying managing director has been fined £1,600 after he subjected a female air traffic controller to a vitriolic mid-air rant whilst attempting to land his private helicopter on an airfield.

Wealthy businessman Joel Tobias, 52, had been flying his wife and family to the Lancashire seaside but fell foul of Andrea Tolley when he radio-ed in demanding he be able to land at Blackpool Airport.

Miss Tolley had not been aware of the incoming flight yet when she tried to ask Tobias to wait.

He began berating her over the airwaves claiming she had failed to return earlier messages.

During an angry exchange on frequency 119.950MHz, Tobias - who also runs an Aston Martin car and a motorbike - told Miss Tolley he wanted her name and raged: ''I'll be putting a complaint in.

''Your job is actually to take calls from aircraft and not have two-way chats with other aircraft asking how their day's going and how fun it is.

''I'm in a helicopter here that costs £550 an hour, okay, and I've waited ten minutes for you to answer the call - it's absolutely appalling.''
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Old 10th Jan 2020, 10:12
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To the OP, are you aware of this regular poster to Rotorheads?

JTobias
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Old 10th Jan 2020, 10:18
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Originally Posted by Bravo73
To the OP, are you aware of this regular poster to Rotorheads?

JTobias
No, why...?
His last post here was 2 weeks before his rant, silent since.
Think he'll rock up and comment??!
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Old 10th Jan 2020, 10:24
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His profile here has a link:
Jetbox
The link leads to this, good ad for a Cyber Security expert...!

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Old 10th Jan 2020, 10:49
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Wealthy businessman Joel Tobias
JT himself has regularly stated on this forum that he is not all that wealthy, which could probably explain why he got so upset. But rules are rules no matter how deep or shallow your pockets are.

Lifted off a trolley in a 350 once only to be left hanging when a learner plank driver dawdled onto the taxiway in the direction I needed to go and motored along at a snails pace. I was counting the dollars being burnt by the second in my head - but what can you do?


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Old 10th Jan 2020, 10:59
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I am not taking sides but it does seem to me that he is making a fair point . That is not exactly Heathrow and sometimes it feels like ATC are just trying to be awkward with Helicopters!! The busier the airspace generally the better the ATC perform .... look at how efficient Heathrow are at getting traffic across their two actives . I have had to wait 10 mins at a provincial airport for a landing jet when I could have taken off directly away from the runway .... sometimes it may just be ignorance on their part of how Helicopters work .
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Old 10th Jan 2020, 11:12
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As I know him, he is a very pleasant person who helps people out when they are in a mess. If he was with his wife and family he would not rant unless he had a good reason.
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Old 10th Jan 2020, 11:27
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There’s never a reason to rant on the radio, you’re just making it more difficult for everyone else.
Land, walk to the tower and have a chat.
anything else is just being a tw@t.
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Old 10th Jan 2020, 11:58
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There’s never a reason to rant on the radio, you’re just making it more difficult for everyone else.
Exactly - bite your tongue/count to ten and then transmit concisely and professionally and then bring any grievance up later by phone.
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Old 10th Jan 2020, 12:32
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See the mail has caught up
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ontroller.html
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Old 10th Jan 2020, 12:34
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Good advice to just bide your time and wait to go and talk to them in person once you land. You can simply ask for the manager and politely request to listen to the tapes I guess. If there is a disagreement then the truth is all recorded. Getting arsey with ATC certainly won’t help you at all.
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Old 10th Jan 2020, 12:37
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I have on more than one occasion argued with ATC about a clearance and eventually won !
If they give you a departure clearing via a point which is completely in the wrong direction and there is no reason for it I don’t see any merit in blindly following orders . ( maybe that’s a good reason for me not going through the mil route !! )
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Old 10th Jan 2020, 12:45
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Originally Posted by nigelh
I have on more than one occasion argued with ATC about a clearance and eventually won !
If they give you a departure clearing via a point which is completely in the wrong direction and there is no reason for it I don’t see any merit in blindly following orders . ( maybe that’s a good reason for me not going through the mil route !! )

all well and good but you don’t then just go where you fancy because it doesn’t suit you. You request clearance and maybe even state your reason why. It’s not rocket science. But to just enter an ATZ without permission, or ignore an ATC instruction within a zone? then surely you can expect some come-back and hardly be surprised.
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Old 10th Jan 2020, 12:47
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Nigel, it’s one thing not complying to a poor instruction. It’s another losing your rag because your approach in an obsolete Flying bus wasn’t as expeditious as you’d hoped.
if the cost of the delay is material to you, rather purchase a super cub or R22.
There’s no excuse for a tantrum.
Delays occur, sometimes because they need to other times not.
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Old 10th Jan 2020, 12:51
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Helimutt ...... yes of course I agree . I was not aware of that other part of the story !! In general though we are very lucky to have such unrestricted airspace ( for now ) and helpful ATC . I am guessing he must have been stressed maybe due to fuel or weather issue .... it can be frustrating sometimes!!
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Old 10th Jan 2020, 14:36
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BBC have also got the story

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-lancashire-51063010
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Old 10th Jan 2020, 16:36
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Bell Ringer
The first picture in the Mail shows him in front of a helicopter with a gun in one hand and a bottle of champagne tucked under the other arm.

Does he plan to go hunting, drink the champagne, then fly away?


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Old 10th Jan 2020, 16:42
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Originally Posted by visibility3miles
Bell Ringer
The first picture in the Mail shows him in front of a helicopter with a gun in one hand and a bottle of champagne tucked under the other arm.

Does he plan to go hunting, drink the champagne, then fly away?


I thought he shot the jetbox, then intended starting it with the cork discharge.
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Old 10th Jan 2020, 16:44
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Originally Posted by helimutt
But to just enter an ATZ without permission, or ignore an ATC instruction within a zone? then surely you can expect some come-back and hardly be surprised.
You do know you don't always need permission to enter an ATZ right?
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Old 10th Jan 2020, 16:47
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Thread is starting to deviate into suggestions the pilot may be inclined to fly under the influence are absurd.
Perhaps the thread starter has an axe to grind with the gentleman involved.. seems that way.
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