Rooftop helipad in Darling Harbour...

[Eric Hunt]

A squillionaire hotel owner wants to put a helipad on the top of his 38-floor hotel, to breathe life back into the industry.

What are your thoughts on this? The sea-level pad back in the 80s had room for 3 or more, and singles were welcome to visit. Things got a but touchy when Uncle Pete rolled his 47 up on the pad, but it would still have survived, until the Labor factions decided they didn't want it in their voters' area.

The Liberal govt (Greiner? I think) approved the pad but a change of govt killed it and the casino went in instead.

Now the hotelier wants a rooftop pad. Things I would want to consider are:

* Room for more than one, or at least plenty of manoeuvring space
* No parking, just drop and run - but where do they go while waiting for the return trip? Parramatta? That heliport is slated for demolition to make a rail marshalling yard.
* Some sort of training for the pilots, no Pvt or L plates
* Are twins necessary? PC1?
* Shedload of insurance by the hotel
* Bookings essential
* Hotel to provide assistants to guide pax in and out, rotors turning. If it is required to shut down for pax ingress/egress, then the assistants would be keeping the anxious departing pax safely inside.

[hand in pants]

Way to many NIMBYs for it to be successful.
Everybody and his dog would be panicking about the threat of a crash, of the smell of burnt jet fuel causing pregnant women to abort their babies, the noise, the threat to their supposed quiet life style.
The whingers would out number the normal people 50 to 1.

And then the greens would get involved. All of the safe space dwellers, the cry babies, the easily offended. It would be against some fake black persons beliefs, it would be inconvenient for some kind of left handed, lesbian flying bug that may have been seen there once in the last 200 years.

But the state government and local councils would welcome a drone operation with open arms.

Bunch of morons.

[Billy Hill]

^^^ This , Slapper needs a like button.

[Anti ice on]

ATC won't let it happen

[Friendly Black Dog]

Fantastic rant HIP!

Outstanding

[Helicoil]

All of the safe space dwellers, the cry babies, the easily offended. It would be against some fake black persons beliefs, it would be inconvenient for some kind of left handed, lesbian flying bug that may have been seen there once in the last 200 years.

Somebody buy this man a beer for me!

[arrrj]

Great idea. I'm in ! Anything is better than nothing. And may be the start of returning to a proper city.

ATC should not be concerned, it is right on the edge of 405.

Just like the (much unknown) helipad that was at the Fish Markets. No clearance needed, all over 405.

Sydney is one of the few proper global cities without a pad, makes us look very old fashioned.

HIP, yes, of course...all that goes without saying.

Arrrj

[Twistgrip]

Packers went down this route years ago without success. Yes it’s a great idea but it’s not the first time it’s been relived.

I developed the heliport in Newcastle and that was a 5 year process with authorities, residents and stakeholders back in 2000.

A few years ago a floating heliport pontoon was canned on Sydney harbour but I don’t think the proper channels (pardon the pun) were followed there in the development process. As HIP says the NIMBYs will throw all sorts of high profile people at it but good luck to him if he gets it off the ground.

https://www.australianflying.com.au/latest/helipad-proposed-for-darling-harbour

[godfather007]

Yep the haters will come out in droves.
They all hate Helicopters until they need one for business, need a winch out when lost at sea or in the bush, desperate for water to be dropped on their burning houses and property’s, want to arrive in style at the venue, take the quickest form of transport, have the cops track down the bad guys and beg for a Air Ambo to come and drag their dying a$$ off to a hospital.
Idiots!
Oh! Forgot to add.. have a helicopter tow a banner around advertising VOTE1 For the GREENS at election time..
I can only hope the pad gets approved.
Patients, persistence, connections and deep pockets will be required.
Good luck.
GF.

[Wannabe60Driver]

It was none other than Malcolm Turnbull who got a group of harbourfront dwellers together to torpedo the last Sydney helipad.

https://www.rms.nsw.gov.au/documents/ab ... w-2013.pdf

https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/hel ... 2bl7p.html

https://www.malcolmturnbull.com.au/medi ... a-disgrace

[Eric Hunt]

That one wasn't an actual helipad, but a floating pontoon on the Harbour, east of the bridge.

This was a proposal that we had examined VERY closely in the early 90s, though our methods were a bit different from NH, and it was able to satisfy every miserable government department's requirements. But it ended up not making commercial sense, with landings having to be 1000m from the shore, the barge could then come closer to the wharf for ingress/egress, but had to be back outside 1000m for the takeoff.

Using smaller ferry boats to and from the barge was smarter than moving the barge, but the costs mounted up when you had the workers on the barge, workers on the ferry boats, workers on shore for pax escort, blah and blah. Perfectly legal, but too hard. And the NIMBYs screamed their t1ts off.

[Wannabe60Driver]

I’d be willing to bet it would make financial sense today if the pontoon helipad was a rooftop number like the guys from Hamilton Island have at Heart Reef albeit with a poncey lounge/bar inside.

The issue today is still the Turnbulls of the world that would lose their tiny minds over it.

To think a city like New York has at least four general aviation access points and Sydney has zero is a joke.

[Eric Hunt]

the pontoon helipad was a rooftop number like the guys from Hamilton Island have at Heart Reef albeit with a poncey lounge/bar inside.

Well, that's what our 90s exercise included. But at Hammo, the idea is to get in a boat and wander the reef. At Sydney, the pax would want to get ashore, and therein lies the trick.

You can't compare the easy US access to aviation with the constricted CA$A and NIMBY rule-makers. And in Canada, if you had no aircraft, you had no access.On a recent trip to the US, i played a mental game. Any time I looked out the plane window, I had to see either an airport or some planes flying around. Never missed. Try that in Oz, you will be sadly disappointed.

[Gonsky]

https://www.darlingharbourhelipad.com.au/

Uber Air has connections with the Sofitel group globally.

Regards,

[Wannabe60Driver]

https://www.darlingharbourhelipad.com.au/

Uber Air has connections with the Sofitel group globally.

Regards,

And they’ll be more than 10 years behind the timeframes their PR machine is transmitting.

[godfather007]

Keep feeding the chickens Gonesky/ Gregory.

[hand in pants]

Wannabe60Driver, only 10 years behind..................................

[Wannabe60Driver]

Wannabe60Driver, only 10 years behind..................................

As I said: more than. I’ve still got no idea why so many people think the prop whine from at least four massive electric motors is somehow more palatable than the noise of a helicopter.

Anyone that’s ever heard a consumer-sized drone knows that the idea of electric equalling silent is laughable. Yet the Ubers of the world have everyone chasing them for a drone transport hub along with throwing hundreds of millions in investment capital at them. I’m looking forward to seeing one autorotate when a prop, motor, speed controller, etc fails.

[Eric Hunt]

I think you will find that the intention for this pad is for REAL helicopters, not the CGI dreams. Sorry, Wentski....

[Twistgrip]

Anyone that’s ever heard a consumer-sized drone knows that the idea of electric equalling silent is laughable. Yet the Ubers of the world have everyone chasing them for a drone transport hub along with throwing hundreds of millions in investment capital at them. I’m looking forward to seeing one autorotate when a prop, motor, speed controller, etc fails.

I know Boeing et al are testing their self piloted drones but what do they carry?, 2 -4 people? I haven’t bothered to research too much. I don’t see the difference between that and the well proven Jetty or 44 in that capacity.

Piloted and autonomous drones to cart the masses are a pipe dream in my opinion maybe by the time my kids are old and grey there may be a slight possibility.

The flight testing, certification, approvals for these Initial drones will happen I’m sure, then there is the NIMBYs and general state approvals to let them operate safely and if CASA is anything to gauge by then it will never happen!. Lastly who the hell is going to sit their bottoms in one first, not me.....