Who Can I Sue If the Helipad Fails?

A helicopter must land on a helicopter pad or helipad, or at a heliport, or it can land at an alternate location if it can do so safely. In urban areas, many people have permanent helipads on their property or on a rooftop where they own the building. Any

For example, Uber Copter frequently books helicopter trips between Manhattan and JFK International Airport. This includes a ride on an Uber vehicle, that takes the parties to the airport as well. It is possible to get a ride for a pick up and drop off in Brooklyn, New York too. These services are booked using the Uber app on a person’s smartphone, where the availability and pricing are shown on the Uber Copter app. The Uber Copter uses a helipad in urban areas to make a landing to pick up passengers. These locations can include rooftop helipad venues.

A helipad that is located on an urban roof must meet the Federal Aviation Administration or FAA code regulations for safety. That means that a helipad must have unrestricted access for the helicopter to land without being hampered by trees, new developments, buildings or vehicle traffic. Helipads are specific areas on a rooftop that a helicopter can safely land. The helipad is not going to just be an area on a rooftop with a large circle painted on it. No, there are highly specific regulations regarding where a safe helipad can and cannot be located.

A helipad on a rooftop or a ground structure need to be safe for the helicopter to land properly. The size of the helicopter, the weight, length, width and dimensions of the helicopter to land on the helipad need to be taken into consideration before a helipad is built. Ground helipads should not be constructed with asphalt, but rather need to be built of concrete and steel. There are weight bearing issues and obstruction clearances that need to be considered with a rooftop helipad.

Helipads have highly specific requirements and safety regulation guidelines for the final approach and takeoff areas (FATO, and the touch down or helipad sizes (TLOF), to allow safe passage on the helipad by the helicopters using those helipads. For example, according to the FAA, the helipad may need to have at least one approach and one departure flight path to the helipad. These paths need to be aligned with the prevailing winds, to allow the helicopter to take off and land into the wind. This will help prevent issues with the helicopter flight.

There can be issues with the main and tail rotors on a helicopter. The pilot needs to give special attention and care when going in to taxi near a hangar, wires or other obstructions nearby to the helipad when landing and taking off in a helicopter. Often, the obstructions can be difficult to judge where they are, and this can make for a dangerous situation in a helicopter. If the pilot has to hover backwards or forwards, there needs to be extra room for the clearance of the tail rotor.

A helicopter creates a large amount of thrust or wind when it takes off and lands. It can blow sand, dust, snow, ice, debris or ever water at super high and unexpected velocities when landing and taking off of a helipad. People nearby to a helicopter when it is taking off or landing can be injured by lose objects such as soil, rocks or other debris from the helicopter rotor blades.

The pilot of a helicopter has to review all master minimum equipment lists (MMELs) for the appropriate and proper helicopter usage and operations. The FAA Flight Standards need to be reviewed on a regular basis, as well as the operations and maintenance (O&M) procedures for lifting off and landing the helicopter. If the pilot finds an inoperative condition on the helicopter, then the pilot has to record this discrepancy. If the issue needs to be repaired, it will ground the helicopter. If the flight can continue, then the pilot will act accordingly to procedures to keep the helicopter safe during a flight.

For example, if the position lights were inoperative or not working properly, the pilot will make a record in the maintenance manual, and if the minimum equipment list or MEL allows it, will leave the position lights in the off position, open the circuit breaker, and placard the position light switch as “inoperative” for the flight.