Three of my better articles on this topic.
One of the things that sets helicopters apart from other aircraft is our ability to land just about anywhere. In these three blog posts, I address some of the issues of off-airport landings.
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My R44, parked on the side lawn at the Lake Pateros Inn in Washington State. I was based there for 10 days during cherry drying season in 2008.
Finding a Legal Landing Zone – March 6, 2009 – A detailed discussion on how you can determine whether it’s legal (or wise) to land in a specific off-airport area. Includes photos of my helicopters in various off-airport landing zones over the years.
- Swansea Here We Come! – March 13, 2006 – An account of all the hoops I had to jump through to get a BLM permit to land at the Swansea Townsite.
- One Gig, One Dozen Off-Airport Landing Zones – March 19, 2010 – A brief blog post about a job I did that required me to land in more than a dozen off-airport landing zones in the same day. Some photos.
When I started browsing for articles to include in this list, I found it odd that the ones I thought I should include were all from March — in different years. Coincidence, I think.
These are not all of the articles I’ve written about Landing Zones. Try searching the site for “landing zone” or clicking the relatively new landing zones tag to find more. I’m sure I’ll cover at least one other aspect of landing zones in an upcoming Must-Read Monday post.
Maria,after reading your posts on off airport landings I can really appreciate that I have done most of my flying in remote places where nobody cared or cared to worry about who or what I was doing.
I know the old days of landing by the Motel, Lodge or B&B are just about over for most pilots but I’m glad I had the chance to experience that freedom.
Best regards,
Keith Gill
Keith: I still occasionally do an off-airport landing someplace where I probably shouldn’t. I remember a year and a half ago, when my husband and I were flying back from Seattle. We needed to fuel at Tonapah, NV — there’s no other fuel option anywhere else near there — but the airport is at least 10 miles from town and there’s no transportation. So I landed in an empty lot across the street from a casino/restaurant so we could get a bite to eat. No one said anything, although we did have a small audience on landing. Last February, I also landed it across the street from a motel I stayed at in Big River, CA (near Parker, AZ). I don’t think anyone noticed that. There are lots of remote places in AZ to land safely without being bothered. But add a paying passenger, and things are different. It’s one thing to get in trouble with the locals and another to get in trouble in front of a client.
Love the stories… the greatest use of a helicopter and most don’t know the restrictions on landing or understand them (pilots)..
Good job relating the real facts and your experiences landing at different places… I always find most pilots don’t understand the forest service, BLM “rules”. One time I landed at a Dam helipad with “permission” given thru a friend who worked there… that turned out to be wrong. Luckily a simple letter explaining what I was doing and why and I was lucky enough to not be made an example of.
You were lucky indeed. I landed on BLM with a passenger for hire without a permit and got smacked with a $270 fine. Ouch.
I do most of my landings off airport. I tend to take clients to various restaurants around Calgary. I’ve never had any grief yet-although I did have a police car pull up once. He couldn’t figure out if I had broken any laws or not, so I invited him to come in and have coffee with me until he could figure it out. I was always taught to use the “high oil temperature” story. The flight manual says land as soon as possible, and by the time the authorities come, you explain that the temperature dropped sufficiently for you to leave (you can say that grass had plugged up the cooler). You just want to make sure you don’t use an excuse that requires a mechanic. Maybe the Canadian authorities are more relaxed? I’ve brought up over half a dozen machines from the Robinson factory, and have landed at many different restaurants coming up through Utah, Idaho and Montana. Maybe I should be more careful? I figured as long as there was plenty of space (like an open field), I was good.
Matt: Again, what I do depends on the situation and whether I have paying passengers on board. If it’s a commercial flight, I don’t land off-airport unless I KNOW the LZ is good. If I do land off airport on a personal flight, even with friends aboard, I consider the safety of the LZ first, the potential to annoy people in the area. If the LZ is good and I’m not likely to bother anyone by landing, I’ll go for it.
And, just in case, I was told to use a chip light for my excuse. ;-)