UK airfields - pants

[Tony Chambers]

What exactly do heli drivers want in the way of service and operations at heliports or helipads.

[helicopter-redeye]

Heli Only fuel area so no conflicts with FW traffic and hazards. Park at same place once fuelling complete.

Served by bowsers

Both fuel types available

Fuel staff only do fuel (so available when you want fuel) when you have let them know your coming.

A call ahead service so they know when your coming and what you need

All forms of payment accepted.

You do not have to be there when they fuel up, so eat while they work

Pay the fuel man at the bowser

No need to fly runway approaches

Separate traffic pattern

[Topter]

Try an account

Would it be impertinent of me (seeing as this is only my 5th post) to suggest setting up accounts with the airfields that you use regularly. Would this save the long walks in the rain and the hassle with security - I thought that sort of thing was supposed to be kept for Belfast! Or is this financially prohibitive?

P.S. what are these things meant to represent?

[CRAZYBROADSWORD]

Mikeb denhan can not possibly have the most grumpy bloke on the radio cause his names mick and here works at elstree the most unfriendly and useless place to land a heli if you want avgas because you will need your own wheels and a few bods to get the thing to the pumps.

Goods airfields

Shobdon
welshpool
north weald
turweston
andrewsfield
rochester
redhill

Bad ones

ELSTREE !!!!
denham
luton
stansted
gatwick
biggin hill [you will be in the hover waiting to leave for hrs]
earls cone

P.S hanbury manor is a nice place fot tea

[pilotwolf]

CRAZYBROADSWORD

Interested to know what you found bad about LGW - except the cost/lack of avgas/compulsory handling - same for all major airports?

Never had a problem at Biggin either except during snow when they seemed a bit short staffed... maybe just been lucky.

Maybe there just aren't enough of us about for airfields to understand us and our needs or flexibility?

PW

[tusitala]

i read with interest your comments on airfields around the country and refuelling problems. Out of interest, with regards to your comments on Southend, the apron is at best a one minute walk from flight briefing. There are certain points on the airfield where i suppose you could land. Now if you landed at the helicopter school, they have there own bowser for r22 and r44, but jet a1 can be ordered. If you elect to land at the helicopter club then you could settle with them, if they agree. But many helicopters land on the stands and seem to have no problems.

[headsethair]

Erm- Southend. The one in Essex ?

The one where you can't order fuel through ATC, they tell you to speak with Flight Ops - so you shutdown, walk to Ops and Ops then tell you they can't take an order. They point you to a phone in the hallway and you have to call BP to place the order.

That's the place.

(Apparently all because someone put the wrong fuel in the wrong aircraft, BP carried the can and then instated this whole new form of Customer Service. They also won't fuel your machine if it isn't properly placarded........now that IS a good rule.)

[Zlin526]

Ah yes, but all those airfields that are useless for helos are probably fantastic for fixed wing!

Refuelling - no problem for me, I just taxi up to the pumps, fill up and then taxi away again.....

206 jock,

I dont suppose Duxford are that worried about a B206 never visiting again....leaves more room for real aeroplanes!

[pilotwolf]

Zlin526

- but we could fit a dozen heliports in the space of one fixed wing capable field.
- one runway could handle dozens of helis landing at the same time, albeit at right angles to it normal directions of use.
- why waste fuel taxy-ing if you can land right on the spot?
- if we/the fueller screws up we don't need bloody great fields/roads/runways/etc to get it back on the ground - a tennis court is plenty big enough - depending on type of course!
- and most of these problems would arise if you planks weren't in the way.

[robnewman]

if you're going via cardiff try the heliport at tremorfa. great bunch, rotors running if required. very quick and efficient.

[Mikeb]

Cardiff Heliport is a great facility providing you don't need Avgas. They only do Jet fuel. Real shame would be so handy for us Welsh pilots.

[Bravo 99 (AJB)]

Just putting my 10p worth in but i can only say i have had good responces from
Gloucester
Thanks Guys (prob becouse i was in a PAS a/c) but they always seems very helpfull
Blackpool.
Well its fair to say that trying to get the 365 in is a pain at times becouse of to many planks and other traffic. but in defence of ATC they are allways good to us very helpfull and just generally good. Ground handling cannot comment on.
Shobden allways on the case

Cranfield is a bugger becouse of all the training A/Cs about but again ATC are always very helpfull.

Filton like to swop from radar to tower when you are half way down the ILS but you get used to that

Manchester is a bitch to get start and taxi clearance
Humberside again on the case from what i have seen
But i generally find most places that i have been to pretty helpful.

So reasonably Happy Bunny

Regards

Bravo 99 (AJB)

[ShyTorque]

Wellesbourne is good for quick refuels and the caff is good too.

[Bomber ARIS]

Filton like to swop from radar to tower when you are half way down the ILS but you get used to that

I cannot remember ever flying an ILS where this was not the case. Radar do their thing; tower do theirs. How on earth is one expected to make an IFR recovery (to an aerodrome with multiple frequencies) without eventually calling the tower for permission to land

Forgive my poor mood this evening, but either get your Captain to write your posts or ask Santa for a spellchecker this Christmas.

[Bravo 99 (AJB)]

Bomber hello mate

This was at the time i was doing my IRT so the stress was on then. but these days makes no differance as its part of the job.

What i think i missed to add was it was at the time when you Instuctor shut back the second engine for the single go round but hell who cares

Chill its all part of the fun

sorry to here you having a bad day


Sincerely
Bravo 99 (AJB)

[Brilliant Stuff]

I was always amazed by the fact that the tiny / small airport's where able to do running Rotor's refueling where as the big commercial airport could not.

I find it the most important to be able to do running rotors refuel's and the pay by credit card or they send the bill by mail.

I also vote for more education about helicopters for ATC and the Airfields.

I always try as much as I can to go up to see ATC and ask them if they need any help from us Helicopters or have them explain why sometimes they request funny things of us.

I have to defend Blackpool a bit here. I can not comment on the overnight parking or refuelling, we do our own (although I see that most helicopters that come in for fuel vanish within 10 minutes again off to their final destination).
ATC do their up most best to accomodate us Helicopter's, but they have a responsibility to make sure safety prevail.
And we all have our lapses of concentration which slow things down a tad.
Here it is all a bit eratic at times which can catch you of guard, so it might take a moment longer then one wishes but such is life.

Now that Blackpool is owned by the same people who own Wolverhampton maybe some of their magic will rub off onto us.

regards Brilliant Stuff

[helicopter-redeye]

It would be good to get some consistency in operating procedures between the two (which sounds like part of the theme in this debate, everywhere is confusing and annoying different). At Wolverhampton one can air taxi onto fixed pumps and pay the man in the cabin (no landing fee). At Blackpool, park on the stands and push the beast over to the pumps.

I think the HCGB do an annual education day (flight & briefing) for ATC but they can only touch about 10 to 20 people in that (correct me if I'm wrong Pat). It would be good to see this on a wider basis so that the consistency that is being asked for in the above n hundred posts came to fruitition.

How about it HCGB? You would be the best voice for the UK rotor community.

h-r

[niknak]

I wonder how many of you, if any, have actually worked at an airport as a refueller?
Well, in the dim and distant past, I did, and you wouldn't believe the crap that they have to put up with from everyone who thinks they should be refuelled first.

Not only that, but we were under constant pressure from the airport's based operators (the people who provide the vast majority of the airports income everyday, not just once a month or even longer than that), from the airport authority who were worried that we were letting down their resident customers if we failed to be on stand to meet an arriving aircraft, but most of all from our employer, whose bottom line was selling as much fuel as possible in one go.
I rarely, if ever, refuelled a visiting helicopter, which took enough fuel to pay the real costs of utilising the bowser and company costs.

Thankfully, I am out of it and doing something that entails far less pressure, but the same applies to refuellers today.

In most cases, they do their level best to help, but if you adopt the sanctimonious attitudes that some of you have in this forum, **** off and land somewhere else.

[headsethair]

Ah.
Customer Service.
Two words that don't always get together in the UK.
Niknak - I think what we are trying to achieve in this discussion is efficiency which will benefit all involved in helicopter operations at UK airfields. By making the process more efficient, more customers will come and the airfield owners will be able to have more successful businesses.
Most pilots have a choice of places to refuel - and if some airfields fails to realise this, then they should know that they will lose revenue. (I for one would gladly pay a few pence more per litre if I knew that I could be fuelled & on on my way with minimum hassle - and as a consumer of 2400 litres of avgas in August alone, I think I'm a decent customer.)
It is not demeaning to be a refueller, it is not slavery to give great customer service. It's good business - and it makes us spend more.
(And before someone says "not enough helicopters" - nearly 100 more R44s are in this country this year than last year.......and they're not just sitting on lawns as trophies.)

[Wizzard]

I can vouch for Elwood.

Run by a chap called Robin, very helpful even down to the free tea/coffee and flapjacks! Don't think he does RR refuels but he's still very quick with everything done on the back lawn.

Wiz