Pretty sure the Thames has an unrestricted speed limit once you're downstream of Wansdworth Bridge (near Battersea Heliport), so no speed limit around Greenwich.

Whilst there is no speed limit as such, the speed must be such that it does not cause uneccesary problems for other water users or people with house boats etc.
The River Authorities (PLA) have imposed an overall limit of 12knots through Central London bridges and the area around Greenwich.

Late 90s, Virgin Atlantic ran a very fast boat service between Brentford and Westminster along the Thames, with limos at each end so Upper Class pax had a choice of transport for LHR. They had speed limit exemptions, subject to other traffic.
So it is possible.

From today's Sunday Times front page: (unfortunately there's no point linking to the article itself because News International now insist on charging for access)

'Ark Royal to be Heliport'

In essence, there are plans afoot to moor the soon to be decommissioned aircraft carrier in Royal Albert Dock (next to City Airport) and to operate it as a heliport in time for the 2012 Olympics.

It would be manned by 150 veterans (including a number of disabled servicemen). Start up costs would be £25m, rising to £100m over five years. The 'taxpayer' would receive £3m for the carrier. It could also potentially be used as a base for the Met Police and London HEMS. And apparently talks have already been held between the various interested parties: the MoD, the CAA, the Port of London Authority, the deputy Mayor of London and the firm behind the bid.



Well, maybe sense will prevail after all...? :ok:

I thought the fees at Battersea were expensive, but that is ridiculous.

100 million over 5 years based on the 12,000 movement limit that Battersea has (one landing one take off = two movements) works out at just under £3350.00 per landing. 150 staff!!!???

there might be a demand for an "H" in that end of the city but it's not that big a demand. Yes - the Olympics will give a temporary boost, but come on!

HEMS move there - why? They need to be on the Hospital for casualty delivery and they need to be at Denham for maintenance. As for moving the Met from Lippets - again - Why????

Part of me (a small part) would really like to think that this could happen, but does anyone here really believe for one second that it will?

I truly hope that no one is spending taxpayers money looking seriously at this

Calm down, Overthawk. No need to start flapping.

The heliport won't be the sole use. As far as I'm aware, it would also function as some sort of museum and/or conference type destination. ie multiple revenue streams.

And who said anything about relocating the Met Police and London HEMS there? It could be used as a base, in addition to Lippets and the Royal London.


Here is the full text from the article: (From a thread in the Mil forum):

http://www.pprune.org/6259415-post10.html

But i do soooooo enjoy a good flap!!!! :-)

I thought the main obstacle to heli operations at London City was local opposition as indicated by stringent planning restrictions laid down by the local authority. Surely, the same local authority has jurisdiction over Royal Albert Dock so how would local opposition be overcome for the dear old Ark - or is that part of the £25 start up cost.

Snarlie is correct!

If the maths work out that having Ark-Royal as a tourist attraction all well and good, but otherwise why bother putting a boat there. There are plenty of chunks of land around that area that could be used as a "proper" heliport.

Personally I think that a proper heliport on the north of the river between docklands and westminster somewhere makes sense at a basic level but you need to get away from paying £1500 a day to land and sit there or a bit before it would become used as a taxi-rank, if that is what people want though?

On the other hand, as there is a great big airport not 500m away wouldn't it make a bit more sense to have a sensible place to have helis land there?

I understand the need for airliner safety/separation but I can't see how landing on the Ark Royal in the general vicinity would be much safer, particularly if operating under a different ATC unit.

CITY never seems that busy that it couldn't accommodate a few helis!

CC

chopperchappie: as mentioned many times previously, the planning permissions for City (at the time of building in the early 80s) specifically forbid any rotary operations.

City is currently struggling to increase its overall movements without any increase in taxiways or runways - and the local opposition has been immense.

However, there is a piece of land on the northside of the dock (not within the City ground boundary) that was used for Red Bull Air Race - it would be a perfect heli area with a DLR station and road system right next to it. And it wouldn't cost £25m to build a small termnal and FBO.

Can we use the steam catapult?:}

Can we?
Can we?
Can we?


Awe, Please!! What a zoom-climb that would be:eek::eek::eek:

I can just imagine someone being fixed onto the "cat" only to watch their skids being fired towards Canary Wharf while they remained in the hover! :E

Quite separate to any approvals of an aviation nature, there are significantly less planning restrictions on moveable structures, and as we are talking of a ship, does it need planning permission to moor? Just a thought....

LCY has had helicopter visitors on some of its summer open days (DennisK did a display once or twice I recall?), and I believe the police or air ambulance are exempt from the planning restriction. There may have been a declared emergency nearby which necessitated a landing... cannot remember the details of that one, but think it was on this rumour network some years back.

Don't forget that some enterprising outfit tried to put a helipad barge on the Thames a few years ago, but was prevented by the planners/local authorities. I don't know whether the "jobs for ex-military guys and gals" would make this acceptable....

Ark Royal was designed a a " through deck cruiser " and was therefore not equipped with catapult equipment as part of a compromise to stop the RAF sulking about the operation of fast jets at sea. The Harrier was initially intended to operate to the deck just like a helicopter until some gifted engineer came up with the idea of the ski jump, thereby greatly improving the potential of STOL as opposed to VTOL.

The ski jump would probably enhance the take off performance of wheeled aircraft but I suspect skidded aircraft would bring about noise complaints.

Can't be that difficult to retrofit a cat.

Come on! Work with me here.

.
Not sure if Nick Tubbs is still plugging away at this but, if so, I do wish him success.

http://www.propertyweek.com/pictures...ING_WEST_1.jpg

Developers are an optimistic bunch, but for one of them to dream of buying an old aircraft carrier, mooring it in the middle of London and turning it into a heliport before next year’s Olympics is off the scale.

Quite apart from the image helicopters conjure up – of the super-rich swanning off to their tax havens at a time when the nation’s belts are being tightened – there is the considerable hurdle of gaining support from worried planning officers.

But 47-year-old developer Nicholas Tubbs, who has been in property for 30 years, is not a quitter. He has spent the last 10 years planning a new town called Sherford in the middle of Devon, and finally expects to begin construction early next year.

More

Great thing if they can pull it off. Plus it would add another tourist flourish and some interest - which other city has an aircraft carrier as a heliport parked in the middle of town?