Pocono Air Center

August 2006

 Hello again all,

 This letter is going to hopefully serve as a reminder each time we turn our rotors!

 I want to share a story with you that had a happy outcome but reminded me of a few unpleasant encounters I have seen over the years.

 

 

Considerate operation of helicopters!

 

In this day and age of public sensitivity to aircraft in general, I feel we must all make an extra effort to ensure that we helicopter pilots and our machines are not regulated out of our true capabilities.

 To that end, I would suggest that we all make a renewed effort to consider how our flight path will be perceived by the airplane operators and pilots we share the sky with.

   The light airplanes are easily damaged by our rotor wash when the airplanes are parked and we fly by or over.  The vortices coming off your rotor blades can warp, bend and even break small airplane control surfaces.  Their open doors or canopies can be ripped away from that same rotor wash.  Please be extra vigilant in this respect and if needed land away from the airplanes and push or tow the helicopter into your desired fueling or parking location.  It is simply not worth the backlash or possible legal implications to do it just this once.  A good rule of thumb is at least 2-3 (75’ to 100’) rotor diameters away from the front of any light aircraft and 5 or 6 (200’ to 300’) rotor diameters from the rear or side.  The bigger the helicopter the more room you should leave.

 We had an experienced pilot recently that had been completely briefed on our procedure on not flying down a hangar row if any door was open, any vehicle was in the row (indicating the possible opening of a door), or anytime anyone was in the area.  “If the area was not totally clear, then tug the helicopter out to the end of the hangar row for start up.”  Well don’t you know he started the helicopter with all clear in the row, then before takeoff an airplane pulled in the row opposite direction and instead of shutting down, he actually decided to lift off and over fly an open hangar door after the airplane was pushed in.  Within a matter of seconds here came the airplane owner with purpose.  I thought for sure I was about to get lambasted from an angry airplane owner. I was quickly formulating how to best respond, but yet thinking what an awkward position the helo pilot had put me in…There he is off flying away, swinging his wing, and me standing on the ramp left to defend his actions.  Instead the airplane pilot surprised me with a request to get an intro lesson because he was so intrigued by the helicopters he sees flying so often.  Thank goodness!  I took the opportunity to thank him for not getting angry about the over flight at low level and he told me he was not even aware the helo could cause damage.   This is the highlight of my story and the thought I hope you take away from this letter:  Rather than over flying the open door our pilot could have simply done a vertical lift before departure or shut down, or better yet, waited for the door to be lowered and latched….Lot’s of good choices, but the worst one was made.  Please take the high road and go to the extra effort to make sure we keep people happy and enamored with helicopter flight, not tick them off with indifference from otherwise competent and skilled helicopter pilots.

 In addition, if you have ever watched a helicopter hover or lift in close proximity of a hangar door that is down but not latched, you can actually see the door lift off the ground and then slam down after the helicopter has passed.  Now that is some more power to be aware of. 

 Let’s renew our effort to make sure we are able to co-exist with our fixed wing aviators and make our existence welcomed and not hated!

 Maybe a couple extra minutes of hovering while a radio call is made to the local Unicom to pro-actively communicate with an airplane pilot in the building or a little extra effort to avoid a potential conflict would be in order!

 Thanks for your support of our wonderful industry!

 

Mark