s0ssos

Is this common? We were waiting for the runway, saw a small jet, then a helicopter, coming down following the runway. Except it is a helicopter so it does not need a runway!

Is this common?

Allan38103

Absolutely common. Although it doesn’t necessarily need a runway, it has to land SOMEWHERE. Using a runway is easier on ATC for managing traffic flow (along other reasons)

LondonElite

Yes, it is not uncommon.

s0ssos

Do helicopters normally need ATC permission to move around? I thought they just go. Because they fly where planes don't fly.
If you look at the sightseeing ones in NYC ...

Just seems like a waste having them come down a line when there is no need for them to move down a line.
Or expensive to use an airport as a parking lot, when they could use many places.

YVR Cockroach

Could be training. You'd think helicopters will just go up and down (especially the old ones with skids) but it'd appear that the newer ones, particularly the ones with wheels, are easier to train on and fly like a fixed wing aircraft (not saying flying a helicopter in this fashion is easy). If you go to San Diego and look at the marine corps air base, you'll see lots of helicopters taxing around and doing runway takeoffs and landings.

moondog

Unless I'm missing something, fixed wing planes and helicopters both fly in the same sky.

s0ssos

Yea, but rules aren't the same.

https://www.newsday.com/news/new-yor...ttan-1.1592446

There are places there is no ATC.


"Randy Babbitt, administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration, told reporters Monday that the new rules require local flights to stay under 1,300 feet when flying off the west side of Manhattan and that pilots keep to airspeeds under 140 knots, or less than 161 miles per hour.
The airspace under the new rules is layered into two consistent levels, unlike the current setup, which shifts by about 500 at one point. Under the rules, one level of airspace runs to 1,000 feet for tourist helicopters, seaplanes and medevac flights. The second level, from 1,000 feet to 1,300 feet, is for flights transiting through the area.
For both levels, air traffic controllers aren't required. Pilots must turn on anti-collision and navigation lights and announce their position to other pilots on a specific radio frequency, said Babbitt. The special zones run from about the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge to a point halfway between the George Washington and Tappan Zee bridges, said the FAA. Northbound flights must stay on the river's Manhattan side while southbound flights must stay close to New Jersey. Commercial aircraft flying above 1,300 feet to 2,000 feet remain under the control of air traffic control terminals at major area airports and aren't affected by the rules, said Babbitt."

wrp96

When I've taken helicopter tours in cities, we absolutely were guided on where we could go by ATC, particularly when we were in the airspace of a controlled airport.

ajeleonard

I've seen a helicopter at an airport rise a few feet above the ground, "taxi" to the runway along the taxiways then go straight up from the runway. Can't remember where it was

moondog

Most airports have ATC.

s0ssos

Yes, I know. But why land at an airport, when as a helicopter you can land at many more places (that planes cannot)?

moondog

While my backyard in Florida is probably big enough to land and store a helicopter, if I were to drop over a million bucks on a helicopter, I'd probably feel more comfortable basing it at an airport.

RandomNobody

Not even close.

There are 19,600 airports. 5,100 of them public, 14,500 private. Of those 19,600 airports, only 521 have control towers. Barely 10% of the public airport list.

RandomNobody

As to the OP, it's safer for a helicopter to "land" on a runway. If they keep moving forward until close to the ground, they minimize their time in the "dead man's curve", the area under the airspeed/altitude curve where a safe autorotation landing is difficult to impossible.

They'll "land" on the runway, then air-taxi to their parking spot.

s0ssos

So actually VTOL is more unsafe for a helicopter?