Banned for landing on shopping centre..

pclancy

http://www.rte.ie/news/2008/1124/obriens.html

What do the rotorheads in here think of this ban? I'm amazed to read the last part:

"The court was told it was illegal under aviation law to land an aircraft of this kind on any elevated helipad in this State"

So there are no elevated helipads in Ireland? NZ is full of them especially in Auckland and at most hospitals. They're CAA certified though so I presume the fact it was just any old roof that was the issue.

jackofalltrades

I think they were right to ban him. He broke the law and then acted the b*llix during the investigation.

Landing in the middle of a town with a single engine helicopter is asking for trouble, especially when the pilot has so few hours in total and on the type.

pclancy

Yeah it sounds reckless, how was he messing up the investigation?

Allah Hu Akbar

If you can believe it or not he landed the helicopter on top of the shopping center because he wanted to get a key cut. There was a special sitting for him here yesterday but this actually happened awhile ago.

Owen

From what I read when this story originally broke, this wasn't his first time either!

Mr Benevolent

Highly illegal and incredibly dangerous. There could have been any number of obstacles/poles, unknown wind effects, pedestrians appearing at random... it really beggars belief, and I am very glad he lost his licence.

Ponster

Does anyone know what the laws are regarding helicopters and where you can land them?

Does it have to be an official landing-spot?

Could I buy one and travel around the country and land where I wanted to as long as I reckoned that there was no danger to me or others?

jmayo

pclancy wrote: »

http://www.rte.ie/news/2008/1124/obriens.html

What do the rotorheads in here think of this ban? I'm amazed to read the last part:

"The court was told it was illegal under aviation law to land an aircraft of this kind on any elevated helipad in this State"

So there are no elevated helipads in Ireland? NZ is full of them especially in Auckland and at most hospitals. They're CAA certified though so I presume the fact it was just any old roof that was the issue.

pclancy you are forgetting how prevalent the heli is in NZ, particularly down South where there are loads of Hughes 500s.
NZ, like most of the New World countries, would be an aviation friendly place unlike Ireland or indeed UK.
Here the IAA would want balloons to land at a predefined and registered landing site :rolleyes:

Now saying all that, the guy was acting the pillock by landing there to get keys cut. He should have known it was against IAA regulations, it would cause trouble and it was a car park roof.
BTW does anyone know if the area cordoned off at the time ?

In the UK, you must get permission from CAA to land at unlicensed landing site within congested urban area, if diverting from London control zone routes or within 1k of gathering of 1000 people.

To paraphrase IAA rules:
a heli must be in Performance Class 1 to operate from elevated helipads in congested areas, if single engine heli there must be sufficient space for emergencies at a heliport site in congested areas and that elevated helipads must be licensed by IAA
He did break these rules.

jackofalltrades wrote: »

I think they were right to ban him. He broke the law and then acted the b*llix during the investigation.

Landing in the middle of a town with a single engine helicopter is asking for trouble, especially when the pilot has so few hours in total and on the type.

Technically they cannot really ban him and judge admitted this.
His license is FAA and not IAA.
He can go off to the states or probably anywhere else that will accept his FAA license and fly to his hearts content.
Only thing is the judge/IAA may demand to see his log book at end of year and if he has flown within the year they could throw him in jail for breaking the bond. Then again he may lose his log book again.

AFAIK he only had 130 odd hours in total, 24 as P1 and 8.6 hrs as P1 on type.
He was taking the mickey by landing on the roof, never mind failing to fill in accident/incident reports afterwards.
Just goes to show you where lots of money and little common sense can get you in aviation :rolleyes:

BTW AFAIK lots of single engine helis land in built up areas in other parts of the world.

Deacon Blues

http://www.aaiu.ie/AAIUviewitem.asp?id=10599&lang=ENG&loc=1280

Most answers to the questions above here.

Deacon Blues

Jebus, the AAIU website must be served by a dialup modem in the broom cupboard. Slowest ...... site ........ ever.

Manic Moran

I am vaguely reminded of the police helicopter in the US a couple of years ago which landed in a Dunkin Donuts car park as the coppers inside were going on a break. Cue big scandal, though I couldn't see the problem with it myself.

NTM

pclancy

So this was the same guy that lost his logbook in the fire of another heli he hit a lightpole with or am i thinking of another story alltogehter?

*Kol*

Apart from the legal and safety aspects, did he ever stop to think whether the roof of the building would take the weight of the chopper? He would have looked very foolish sitting looking out of the cockpit inside the shopping centre.:p

Davidth88

what a complete idiot.

I saw this on the news , he landed on a shopping centre car park roof to get a new key or something stupid. A security guard who tried to wave him away was injured by a door slamming on him from the downwash.

Hopefully he will never fly again .

The only bit that surprises me was

"The court was told it was illegal under aviation law to land an aircraft of this kind on any elevated helipad in this State"

Why ? seems a strange thing to ' ban ' , not that there are many places you would need one but......

diverdriver

The key words here are

of this kind

. It's all spelt out in the AAIU report. Only class 1 helicopters can operate from helipads in congested areas and those pads must be licensed. The Hughes 500 is certainly not class 1.

If the engine failed in his helicopter either during landing or take off. He most certainly would have crashed into nearby people or properties with disastrous results. In a class 1 helicopter he would be able to climb away.

But in fact even if he was flying a class 1 helicopter it would have been illegal as the pad wasn't licensed and in fact he didn't have permission.

This guy got his just deserts. He's just the sort of helicopter pilot who gives all them a bad name. Far too many seem to think the rules don't apply to them. Some of the antics I've seen would make your eyes water.

I wonder now, if the IAA will follow this up with the FAA. They have been designated to keep an overview on FAA pilots and aircraft in Ireland. The Feds could suspend the guy's licence or even pull it altogether.