You did the right thing. There is no reason to ignore the safety of passengers. Most Pilots go out of their way not to “dust” other aircraft, vehicles, and especially people. These guys were irresponsible, unsafe, and rude. I can understand why you don’t want to call the company directly…but have a family member (Passenger) send a letter. They need to know.

I guess the problem is that I expected him to fly safely and responsibly. I expected him to do what I would have done. I would NEVER fly that close to anyone on the ground for any reason. If there was no other flight path — and believe me, there was! — I’d sit in the aircraft, spinning and burning fuel until they moved. I’d wave my arms and point to get them to move. If nothing worked, I’d shut down, get out, and ASK them to move.

He did it for spite — I know he did. Unless he’s brain dead, that’s the only reason he would have chosen that flight path.

And there is one thing I didn’t mention — my passengers and I were standing near a piece of equipment. Can’t remember what it was, but it was a big box about waist high. You can just about see it in the image. Who would fly right past something like that, too?

When it became obvious that another aircraft was starting up with the likely intention of taking off, why did you not remove your passengers to a safer location.

Some managed (semi controlled) public helipads do not allow pax on the ramps with rotors turning. Perhaps for good reason

You could not expect the other pilot to behave irresponsibly but as the PIC you are always responsible for the safety of your pax.

Just food for thought.

Fly Safe, Keith

Keith Gill´s last blog post: Answer the radio

I don’t think the pilot realized I would take action. I think a lot of people just don’t bother to report things like this. Maybe he thought that because I was a woman, I’d back off. What he doesn’t realize is that I’m a former New Yorker first. New Yorkers don’t take shit from anyone. It’s a good thing he wasn’t shutting down when I was outside the aircraft. I would have told him off right in front of his passengers.

You can hope the Chief Pilot of that company does not condone those actions but where there is smoke there is fire. The pilot knew that he would create an incident and if he thought he was going to have a problem in doing so with his boss, would not have likely have behaved as such.

The FAA won’t do anything unless you follow up with another call and the company will not do anything unless you pursue the matter to the top.

Your move.

Keith Gill´s last blog post: Answer the radio

As a high time professional helicopter pilot, I think the other pilots actions were disgraceful. If this had happened to me, I would be calling his Chief Pilot. Aside from the safety aspect, his actions do not portray the image we should be giving the public.