6-11-08

 

Reminder to all Helicopter Pilots and Owners

 

It has come to my attention that a Helicopter operating for hire was caught flying low and slow over the Mackinac Bridge. There was an event going on and the owner was hired to take pictures of the event. Nothing wrong so far, right? Well the pilot didn't call the Bridge Authority until after hours on a Friday and the event was Saturday and when the Authority found out about it, called the cell number that was left and left a message that they could not do the photo flight. The Authority claims the pilot flew with the door off and what appeared to be a gun sticking out of it at about 20 feet above the bridge and the pilot says he was at 500 feet. Just a reminder that it is sometimes the perception that makes it bad on the helicopter operators and not the reality. In other words it really doesn't matter if the pilot was operating with-in the regulations or not, the perception by the Bridge Authority is that they were not. Now the Bridge Authority wants to put up a TFR over all their events, violate the pilot and the owner of the aircraft. They have several during the year. The old car club, the corvette club, the bikes, and of course the big one is the Labor Day Bridge walk with the Governor. We as pilots must remember that the Bridge Authority is charged with the protection of one of the States biggest assets and they take their job serious. They are now talking about putting up a TFR around the Bridge for all their events. We really do not want to see this happen. It not only affects all the helicopters transitioning to the U.P. but would also affect all the airplanes flying into the Island and Mackinac Airport. The big bridge walk on Labor Day draws over 50,000 people, so they already get an automatic TFR just because it exceeds the 30,000 number; like at games and the Dream Cruise. So the point of this, is just a friendly reminder to all Helicopter pilots to please use your heads and remember that in this day of fears, not all of which are unfounded, to be careful about the type of flying you are doing. When you have a job to do or will be flying in the area low and slow, call the local police, Bridge Authority, Nuclear sites, or heck even the TSA. Many times if they know what is going on, it will probably not be a problem or they can give you boundaries to work within. Other wise maintain at least 500 feet above ground level and an airspeed that would not be considered to be loitering. I think the last time I wrote something like this was to remind pilots not to fly low over the Zoo's. We have not had a complaint since, so good work there

Thanks

Safety Officer Dennis Bowdoin

 

 

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Lawyers for the family of a 20-year-old pilot who died in a California accident in May 2004 also are preparing to file a wrongful-death suit against the FAA, according to CDAPress.com. Two pilots in a Piper Seminole were killed when they hit a mountain while flying IFR near Julian, Calif. The accident aircraft was the fourth of five Seminoles with similar call signs that were flying the same route together, and when a controller authorized one aircraft to descend, the wrong aircraft acknowledged the clearance. The NTSB said in December 2004 that the probable cause for the accident was that the controller issued the descent clearance using a partial call sign and failed to detect that the clearance was read back by the wrong pilot. The pilots also failed to question the clearance to an altitude below the published Minimum Enroute Altitude (MEA), the NTSB said. A contributing factor was that two controllers -- at the Center and the TRACON -- failed to properly respond to aural and visual minimum-altitude alerts from their equipment. "Aircraft are routinely descended below MEA by air traffic controllers without question by anyone," Timothy E. Miller, lawyer for the family, told CDAPress. "Pilots with approximately 200 hours of experience are taught to write down, read back and follow clearances exactly and to do so with minimum use of the radio."