Sounds to me this is an Austro-German only thing, not surprising in countries where even at ‘proper’ aerodromes it is “verboten” to land without somebody there (or only permissible with stupid or onerous restrictions)
I’m not fit on heli ops, but in general the following applies:
Austria has “Airfield use enforcement” unless
- the landowner, the competent authority and the governor (i.e. the state) approves off airfield operations.
So for a given piece of land, it is possible, and there are many private landing strips.
Flying A-B in a heli and landing anywhere you want is not possible, it requires prior approval.
Ibra wrote:
Not if it’s ULM6 (microlight helicopters )
I did not know that… About the ‘qualification’ for PPL-H holder allowing to land outside designated platforms, a friend of mine who took it a long time ago told me that at least in those days, this was issued by the ‘douanes’ (customs) and not the DGAC. He said that was because the main reason behind this scheme was to reduce the chances that it would be used of ‘illegal’ activities…
BerlinFlyer wrote:
whereas it’s apparently no problem in Switzerland and UK (and of course in the US anyway).
Not so. While the FAA doesn’t prohibit off-airport landings, there are numerous local (i.e. State) laws and local regulations. The FAA of course own the airspace, but they don’t own the ground. As many things in the US, it really varies by location.
Spain: land owner permission. Officially also needs the approval of the local municipality but they nor the pilots bother.
172driver wrote:
The FAA of course own the airspace, but they don’t own the ground. As many things in the US, it really varies by location.
I think this typically comes into play within cities, to a lesser extent if county government cares, and rarely (maybe never?) at the state level. That sets an asymmetric playing field: FAA authority over aircraft operations weakens the power of local government to the point where unless the landowner is building an airport, or its a densely populated city with an active government, there’s not much they can do. And of course in unincorporated areas of a state, local government below the county level does not exist.
The one area where it does seem to come to conflict outside of city limits is in landing aircraft on lakes that are county designated recreation areas and/or water reservoirs. In this case the land owner is typically the County and they have authority.
WingsWaterAndWheels wrote:
a friend of mine who took it a long time ago told me that at least in those days, this was issued by the ‘douanes’ (customs) and not the DGAC. He said that was because the main reason behind this scheme was to reduce the chances that it would be used of ‘illegal’ activities…
For ULM, you can land anywhere “ad-hoc en compgane” subject to owner persmission for private spots & local mayor for pulic spots, I think the legal specs is 300m*30m for all ULM clasess, for regular use, you need an authorisation, that may need the following: Mayor, ATC, regional DGAC & Gendarmes (Police/Customs) but nothing about specific on “personal pilot qualification” though…
https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/loda/id/LEGITEXT000006075019/
https://www.meurthe-et-moselle.gouv.fr/content/download/15274/107665/file/Guide_de_creation_plateforme_ULM_DSAC.pdf
Guide_de_creation_plateforme_ULM_DSAC_pdf
chflyer wrote:
Switzerland where only the landowner’s permission is required.
True, that is kind of cool even though it may be challenging to find a backyard big enough to actually land a helo there.It’s kinda crowded here these days.
I think every time I’ve been to the Engadin Valley, which is a lot of times, there have been helicopters working construction projects with external loads. It doesn’t seem that they’d be landing at heliports all the time, to refuel etc. but maybe there are enough of them to make that possible. There are surely lots of undesignated spots around those projects where a helicopter could land for a lunch break.
Basically it’s only Germany that has a problem. In France you need a Helisurfaces permit from the Gendarmerie which is a hassle to get but is valid for 10 years the. You can do what you like.
Everywhere else is basically landowner permission and even then it’s only civil liability.
