is my house under an aviation "highway"?

trevorbrady

Pretty much every day a helicopter (or two flying together) will pass over my house. It's not the same one every day, there are all sorts of machines, from small private ones to the big ones the air-sea rescue folk use, there was even a gyrocopter one day. They always pass east-west (or vice versa) above my house or with a hundred metres either side of my house. They're sufficiently high that the noise isn't a problem and to be honest, I enjoy watching them. When there's a big horse racing weekend the daily helicopter count goes up :rolleyes:

My question is, are there pre-ordained "highways" or flight paths that helicopter pilots are obliged to follow? The frequency and variety of machines pushes it beyond the realms of coincidence. If there are such pre-ordained routes, does anyone have a map? I'd be fascinated to know where they're all coming from and going to

pclancy

Depends where you live really but yeah there are airways all over the country for aircraft to follow standard routes between places.

An example is an approach chart for Weston airport which helicopters and small aircraft would use to fly a standard route ina controlled manner towards Weston

http://www.westonairport.com/pdfs/VOR_A.pdf

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airway_(aviation)

diverdriver

In fact airways are only used by high, level mostly airline traffic. There are no low level marked routes. You can pretty much fly as you please away from airports in Ireland. There is no requirement to fly any routing. In fact you don't need to talk to ATC at all or file a flight plan outside airport control zones. But of course as pilots like to fly straight from A to B certain areas see more traffic than others. So aircraft flying from Weston to Galway will all tend to pass the same waypoints. Another point is that helicopters fly low in comparison to aeroplanes and will tend to avoid high ground.

You say you're in Laois, well if you look at a map there are the Slieve Blooms north of Portlaoise and some hills down to south, so naturally helicopters routing to and from Dublin, Kildare and surrounds will head up the valley and but avoid overflying the prison prohibited zone. In fact if you live near Portlaoise that may indeed be the explanation. Perhaps they pass your house because it's on the logical route to avoid overflying the prison. Or perhaps there is high ground nearby which they are avoiding.

In fact in aviation terms the area you live in is quite busy. You'd have the Air Corps and anything heading for Dublin or Waterford which is probably where the rescue helicopter came from. There are also several private fields in the vicinity. Also of course the racetracks, at the Curragh, Punchestown, Naas. The gyrocopter probably came from Birr in Offaly, maybe he was heading to Kilrush. That takes him over Laois. You're just fortunate or unfortunate to live at a point where helicopters are funnelled by terrain or whatever and pass close to you.

It's as simple as that.

trevorbrady

thanks for the info guys


I don't see it as unfortunate, I enjoy seeing the different aircraft flying over and I can often see the Air Corps flying practice overhead or in the immediate vicinity. Most often just one plane but sometimes two flying in tandem, they were certainly very active during the Summer months.

Anyway, the choppers, I suppose what you say about the terrain has a lot to do with it, I live near a large hill, a few miles due West of Athy, Co. Kildare, it would make sense that as relatively low-flying aircraft, they would want to avoid the hill. Often the could cover is quite low so they are forced to fly even lower than normal.

As I said, the helicopters fly east-west or west-east, never north-south. That's what prompted me to post the question here. So there are no "route maps" as such, it's probably just the topography of the area that funnels them over my place. Good to know, thanks

diverdriver

I probably flew over your house too recently on my way to Kilrush. But being fixed wing at 3000' you wouldn't have noticed me. Your location confirms my original comments. That point would be pretty much a crossroad. The east west flights would be avoiding the Portlaoise prohibited zone and the north south flights to and from Baldonnel,Dublin,Waterford or any number of private sites in the vicinity. Another reason to stay low for civil helicopters would be stay out of military airspace which above you is at 4500 feet, then drops to 2500 feet just to the North.

pclancy

Ah I didnt realise you were in Portlaoise! Me auld home town. Never got to see many planes where I lived but I was only a few ks from the prison so that probably explains it

There was an airstrip in the countryside near Mountmellick that had a lot of Ga traffic at the weekends.