Joined: Jul 20, 2004 Posts: 3702 Location: Birmingham, UK
Posted: Fri Nov 17, 2006 10:12 pm Post subject: Hotels Charging Landing Fees
Popped into a local hotel today for "tea and biscuits" with my mum, when I decided to ask landing on the hotel's helipad for lunch sometime. The nice lady said "certainly madam, first you need to contact the police to ask if you are 'allowed' to fly in here, then we need you to fill out an anti-terrorism form and submit it at least 48 hours in advance, and finally you must pay a _________________ CPL(H) / FI(H) - Cabri G2, R22, S300, R44, B206
Flight Examiner (H), Ground Examiner (H)
Joined: Jul 20, 2004 Posts: 3702 Location: Birmingham, UK
Posted: Sat Nov 18, 2006 10:11 am Post subject:
Not at all, just inside the Birmingham zone, but since when have we had to contact the police to transit a zone?? It's New Hall Hotel, Sutton Coldfield. Lovely place, but pity about their attitude towards helicopters. Their helipad is in the most ridiculous place too - it's smaller than a tennis court and surrounded by tall trees on 3 sides. Only way in seems to be over the car park, so it's not like they've gone out of their way to make it easy for helicopters!
Joined: Oct 12, 2004 Posts: 1003 Location: EGSY (Sheffield) Once a city with an airport :-(
Posted: Sat Nov 18, 2006 12:21 pm Post subject:
..and if you were a terrorist with a helicopter, you would of course be filling a form to give 48 hours notice of your impending eh???
What cr*p.
Deserves a total boycott to let them know how we feel I think. Maybe even a few letters to say that due to their unreasonble 'rules' they will not be recommended as a Heli-Friendly hotel on our list.
Joined: Jul 20, 2004 Posts: 3702 Location: Birmingham, UK
Posted: Sun Nov 19, 2006 11:41 am Post subject:
People drive in and only spend a tenner on drinks all the time... did they force you to have lunch there then, or did you manage to get away with tea and biscuits?
It would be nice if we could change the way some of these places see visiting helicopters; we are not all made of money, many of us are hour builders or private pilots looking to do something unusual and fly to a hotel for the thrill, challenge and enjoyment of it, and because we can - that is after all the beauty of having a helicopter pilot's licence. If they didn't have the attitude of "ah, a helicopter, let's take advantage and charge a landing fee, because if they can afford to fly they can afford to pay extra to use our facilities" I'm sure they would get a lot more recommendations and a lot more business as a result.
Joined: Feb 26, 2006 Posts: 236 Location: Cheshire.
Posted: Sun Nov 19, 2006 12:35 pm Post subject:
Does anybody have access to a list of all the 'H' hotels in this country? I would certainly be willing to ring around the hotels in and around my area and get their landing prices, then post them on the site with references.
If a few of us did that, then maybe we could start building the list from there?
WG; why don't you start with the places that Helitorquers have visited, so we start with some good references.
Joined: Jul 20, 2004 Posts: 3702 Location: Birmingham, UK
Posted: Sun Nov 19, 2006 1:07 pm Post subject:
Copterfan,
Had already started a "Lunch Recommendations" thread earlier today (great minds think alike!!!!) so that should give us some good ideas for helicopter-friendly places to visit.
There are a couple of websites around with hotels and helipads - I think they're linked from the weblinks section. There's also the Pooley's Heli-Site Finder.
However, I don't think any of these lists are definitively complete - and I'm not even sure a definitively complete list exists! _________________ J.
Joined: Oct 12, 2004 Posts: 1003 Location: EGSY (Sheffield) Once a city with an airport :-(
Posted: Tue Nov 21, 2006 10:15 pm Post subject:
It would seem to me that an hotel would gain from having helis landing as mostly they would have 2 on board and maybe more.
A heli makes no mess when landing (unlike those planky things) and only needs a local field (and a windsock please) plus it can be good for clearing leaves..
They do not need to charge a landing fee - that is the domain of the airports (I know it brings in revenue to keep them open so I won't gripe here, but some do charge wacky rates) - so by advertising as 'Heli-friendly' that status ought to mean they DON'T charge and that they welcome helis PLUS they would get a mention in our listings which would in turn bring in more revenue to their facilities etc. It's once again about changing attitudes. Not every pilot owns his/her own machine. I guess 85-90% must be SFH? Perhaps a flyer (NPI) could be sent or e-mailed to prospective hotels suggesting our dream and pointing out that we are not a rich bunch - it's just another hobby. Don't know how this could be done as yet - just thinking out loud..
Joined: Jan 26, 2010 Posts: 4 Location: Lincolnshire England
Posted: Wed Jan 27, 2010 9:28 pm Post subject:
Hi all i flew up to wenshum valley golf club near Norwich a little while ago and we were made very welcome (though we did buy lunch) the heli pad was ok but we did attract a large audience. Full vertical on the way out flashed landing light seemed to go down well. I would recommend them for lunch to.
Joined: Mar 22, 2009 Posts: 49 Location: Leicestershire/West Mids
Posted: Fri Jan 29, 2010 12:24 am Post subject:
I used to work for a medium sized hotel with a helipad a couple of years ago.
They used a section of the carpark to the side of the hotel. so this had to be cleared and as it wasn't a securable area, staff had to be on hand to stop guests wandering too close to have a look at the blushing bride or whoever had the good fortune to be visiting via helicopter.
So i can understand if someplaces charge a landing fee, although i would still begrudge paying it! _________________ PPL(H) : R22
Hours 74.2
...especially as it's all in a Google Map interface. They don't list if landing fees are applicable, but they have full Lat/Long/Elev, Radio Freq, and contact information which is most handy.
Enjoy. _________________ PPL(H): H269, R44
Looking for hour building opportunities - aren't we all ;o)
Posted: Sun Feb 07, 2010 5:26 pm Post subject: Ivy House Country Hotel, Lowestoft- NO FEES THERE!
Flew into this hotel for a Sunday lunch with the misses in 2007, shortly after passing my PPL(H). A very friendly place with a small field (with a windsock) they use as a helipad- they went out and mowed a circle in it especially for me when I said we would like to visit! A stunning setting, with the hotel spread about large grounds. Excellent Sunday lunch too, seved in a big converted barn, all at a bargain price!
Well worth a visit, hopefully they still have the 'pad! More blurb here, it's also in the Heli Site Finder book: http://www.ivyhousecountryhotel.co.uk/
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