Old Grump Fixed Wing Guys... WTF?
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Old Grump Fixed Wing Guys... WTF?
Hi All. New to Prune, building time,1100 hours, and am 51... working on career #2. :-) I love flying Helicopters.
So... one of those things that I never knew...and I am wondering if it is a CA thing. There are a lot of fixed Wing pilots that hang around airports (retired I suppose), and for what ever reason... they like to bitch about the helicopters. They come and bitch to me face to face. I am in a 44 now, moving up to a 206... but I seem to run into a number of these folks at a number of CA airports. I fly about 10 hours a week.
For example... Hovering up to a circular fuel island... Cessna 210 on the other side...is done filling...but the guys are hanging out... just chatting away. Cool with me. I hover up on the other side... and they get bent out of shape because they don't like me blowing air around them. Mind you this is black top and concrete...not a dirt parking area. So minimal dust.
I understand not blowing dirt into someone's hangar, but these people ... it is way past that. Another example... I have an paid for/assigned parking spot the ramp. I make an approach to the ramp (avoid the flow of fixed wing traffic)...an white SUV is parked in my helicopter spot... so I fly over the car...and park in adjacent spot. The old guy in the car guy gets made that I blew his car. He said I should have landed on the runway...and taxi'd in properly. The stories I have ...go on and on.
I asked the local placer county Sheriff's Dept AS350 pilots about this... and they said it wasn't just me. They have fixed wing guys yelling at them...for the same stuff. I guess if you hate the cops...this makes sense. I come from an Army/LE family. So, when I heard the story...I was really surprised. This was at a rural airport in CA.
So the Question: When I fly cross country to AZ, NM, TX, LA, MS, AL, TN, FL, etc... I never have ANY of these problems. Are old fixed wing CA people as-holes? Does this happen in other states? When someone taxi's up, and or blows **** around... I just assume I am at an airport and it is kind of expected.
Just wondering. Oh, yes, this morning, ran into a Local CA Airport for gas. This is a public airport, listed on the sectionals. I had 4 guy wildly waving at me that the airport is closed to helicopters. Really? I sent an email to the FISDO in Sacramento, asking for guidance on that. Nothing in the NOTAMs.
So... one of those things that I never knew...and I am wondering if it is a CA thing. There are a lot of fixed Wing pilots that hang around airports (retired I suppose), and for what ever reason... they like to bitch about the helicopters. They come and bitch to me face to face. I am in a 44 now, moving up to a 206... but I seem to run into a number of these folks at a number of CA airports. I fly about 10 hours a week.
For example... Hovering up to a circular fuel island... Cessna 210 on the other side...is done filling...but the guys are hanging out... just chatting away. Cool with me. I hover up on the other side... and they get bent out of shape because they don't like me blowing air around them. Mind you this is black top and concrete...not a dirt parking area. So minimal dust.
I understand not blowing dirt into someone's hangar, but these people ... it is way past that. Another example... I have an paid for/assigned parking spot the ramp. I make an approach to the ramp (avoid the flow of fixed wing traffic)...an white SUV is parked in my helicopter spot... so I fly over the car...and park in adjacent spot. The old guy in the car guy gets made that I blew his car. He said I should have landed on the runway...and taxi'd in properly. The stories I have ...go on and on.
I asked the local placer county Sheriff's Dept AS350 pilots about this... and they said it wasn't just me. They have fixed wing guys yelling at them...for the same stuff. I guess if you hate the cops...this makes sense. I come from an Army/LE family. So, when I heard the story...I was really surprised. This was at a rural airport in CA.
So the Question: When I fly cross country to AZ, NM, TX, LA, MS, AL, TN, FL, etc... I never have ANY of these problems. Are old fixed wing CA people as-holes? Does this happen in other states? When someone taxi's up, and or blows **** around... I just assume I am at an airport and it is kind of expected.
Just wondering. Oh, yes, this morning, ran into a Local CA Airport for gas. This is a public airport, listed on the sectionals. I had 4 guy wildly waving at me that the airport is closed to helicopters. Really? I sent an email to the FISDO in Sacramento, asking for guidance on that. Nothing in the NOTAMs.
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Yah... its kinda of wild. I was trying to figure out if it was something I was doing. Ideally...I would prefer the other folks at the airport... just leave me alone... but they feel compelled to come up and explain to me... how I should land a helicopter like an Airplane. LOL...
I have never had issues in CA and neither have any of my staff that I know of except Kneeland where we had to park on one spot only to remain clear of the runway, and some of mine are pushing a bunch of downwash, Hueys and 212's etc.
Couple things.....Are you hovering high? or nice and low, say 6 inches off the ground.
Which airport claimed no helicopters? The only one I know of in California is a private airstrip that is airplanes only.
At Placerville I can see if they got mad if you hovered on the inside of the pump there closest to the fence, but not the open side. You know they have a truck at Placerville too right? (Although that may only be Jet A).
Typically if I am getting fuel at aa pump, I will wait off to the side and make it obvious I am waiting for an airplane to move, then move over once they leave.
Couple things.....Are you hovering high? or nice and low, say 6 inches off the ground.
Which airport claimed no helicopters? The only one I know of in California is a private airstrip that is airplanes only.
At Placerville I can see if they got mad if you hovered on the inside of the pump there closest to the fence, but not the open side. You know they have a truck at Placerville too right? (Although that may only be Jet A).
Typically if I am getting fuel at aa pump, I will wait off to the side and make it obvious I am waiting for an airplane to move, then move over once they leave.
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Yep, I am trying fly friendly...staying away from these guys etc. Mostly I am successful. I guess with the larger helicopter businesses... they have their own person fuels trucks... which is great. Placerville... has the grump old guys too.
Cameron Park is the one banning all helicopters. Admittedly, it a small airport. But if it is public...and takes public funds, I am pretty sure they cannot restrict access. I was told that they are fighting the the FAA/FISDO in Sacramento about it. The FAA is threatening to pull their funding. LOL.
private", and then be removed from the sectionals. Otherwise... I kinda of expect to be able to land their... baring a NOTAM.
An other example... fuel insland in San Luis Obispo. The locals like to wash their planes NEXT to the fuel island. LOL. OK. Fine with me. But fuel islands are like watering holes in the desert. Thats where all the animals congregate...including wild helicopters.
Cameron Park is the one banning all helicopters. Admittedly, it a small airport. But if it is public...and takes public funds, I am pretty sure they cannot restrict access. I was told that they are fighting the the FAA/FISDO in Sacramento about it. The FAA is threatening to pull their funding. LOL.
private", and then be removed from the sectionals. Otherwise... I kinda of expect to be able to land their... baring a NOTAM.
An other example... fuel insland in San Luis Obispo. The locals like to wash their planes NEXT to the fuel island. LOL. OK. Fine with me. But fuel islands are like watering holes in the desert. Thats where all the animals congregate...including wild helicopters.
There are some miserable sods in the world, and for some reason they seem to gravitate towards fixed wing aircraft.
The worst experiences are smaller fields dominated by a club, who's average membership age seems to be 100.
They can go out their way to make helicopters feel unwelcome.
One pleasant chap took umbrage to the small amount of dust that, unavoidably, would end up in his taxiway-side hangar.
Because he handled it so well, it became a sport to give his broom some work.
We eventually plagiarised some artwork and had some t-shirts made, most appreciated the joke.
The worst experiences are smaller fields dominated by a club, who's average membership age seems to be 100.
They can go out their way to make helicopters feel unwelcome.
One pleasant chap took umbrage to the small amount of dust that, unavoidably, would end up in his taxiway-side hangar.
Because he handled it so well, it became a sport to give his broom some work.
We eventually plagiarised some artwork and had some t-shirts made, most appreciated the joke.
an white SUV is parked in my helicopter spot... so I fly over the car...and park in adjacent spot. The old guy in the car guy gets made that I blew his car. He said I should have landed on the runway...and taxi'd in properly. The stories I have ...go on and on.
I cannot possibly imagine why anyone is getting upset with you - you sound like a paragon of sound airmanship.
that made me chuckle
What burns my butt (aside from a flame about 3 feet high ) me is folks who taxi up, park directly in front of the pumps, refuel, and them saunter away for a leisurely lunch. ( They usually don’t even instal the control locks, set the parking brake or install chocks and scream bloody murder if anyone, either fixed wing or rotary, comes within 100 feet of their aircraft. ) Especially annoying during fire fighting season.
