PDA

View Full Version : High Holborn Heliport?


FNG
20th Dec 2001, 15:32
Which of you thrillseekers was landing on top of an office building just by Holborn Circus this morning (20 December) at about 0830? Hope you wern't having an engine prob and that it was as fun as it looked. Certainly got the office-party-hungover commuters gawping.

JoePilot
21st Dec 2001, 00:27
About time there was an alternative to Harrods Heliport...

Surely an unacceptable monopoly?

ppheli
21st Dec 2001, 10:14
FNG.. The pad you refer to is on a very anonymous building occupied by a very well known worldwide diamond dealing company. It is used morning and evening by the boss in his silver/burgundy 355F2 and has been for 10+ years. I used to work just down the road in New Fetter Lane in a higher building and saw it very regularly. Very interesting watching the established landing and takeoff patterns - the latter in particular. They ascend rearwards to about 100ft, keeping the pad in sight for emergency landing purposes, then commit to the ascent from where an engine failure has to be carried with you...

Other rooftop pads in that immediate area of London include the octagonal building in New Fetter Lane itself, once the home of Robert Maxwell's Mirror Group Newspapers - that has an astroturf covered roof with an (H). It is still in occasional use

Also, only 150m east of that one is the International Press Centre where they used (in pre www days..) fly publishing plates north for the Manchester editions of the Daily Mail. In more recent years (c 1995) there was a Barclaycard advert filmed on that roof with Rowan Atkinson!

Happy Christmas everybody! <img src="smile.gif" border="0">

elpirata
22nd Dec 2001, 13:16
ppheli,

the helipad profile that you speak of for takeoff is really useful but the Max AUW is restricted so if you have any sort of fuel load the payload is poor.
I did some helipad profiles in an AS355 and with a reasonable bit of fuel, we were only 3 on board at max helipad weight.
On the north sea offshore, they never do helipad profiles for takeoff as it can cost about 1000kg of payload in a AS332L which makes them impractical and uneconomic.