A Site Owner’s Guide to Helicopters

S = Surround

It’s a common misconception that helicopters usually take off and land vertically.  For safety reasons they will choose an approach path which will slightly differ depending on their aircraft type, their weight and prevailing conditions.  As such, you should allow for at most 8% of slope on the approach to allow for a single angle landing.  That means that an 8m high tree or building should be at least 100m away from the helipad to allow a single angle approach.

Remember that wires are invisible to pilots.  They will look for the support poles but these can be obscured by trees, in fact many land owners try to obscure them.

The number of 8m high obstacles within 100m of the landing area will determine the difficulty for the pilot, especially with a wind speed above 5 knots or other approach direction factors such as noise abatement or horses.  Wires will also reduce the rating.