Landing a helicopter in a residential neighborhood?

Sac Arrow

Sac Arrow

Touchdown! Greaser!
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I'm in the car right, and I see this R22 flying really low. I'm thinking to myself "That R22 sure is flying low." Then it's like holy crap! It lands in the back yard of a house! Mind you, this is a typical suburban tract home neighborhood, not a group of quarter acre rural zoned parcels. I don't know if it was just some guy that decided to fly his helicopter to his house for whatever reason or just drop in to impress the neighbors. I'm pretty certain it wasn't an emergency landing, as there were plenty of nice open parks, open spaces and parking lots nearby, plus he wasn't autorotating - engine sounded functional.

What's the legality of landing your helicopter in your back yard?
 
Sac Arrow said:
What's the legality of landing your helicopter in your back yard?
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Nothing federal, very little state and occasional local ordinances that deal with it.

If you have permission of the landowner, no problem.

Of course, a guy in Grand Forks, ND had to make himself a nuisance and caused the city to pass an ordinance prohibiting anyone except EMS or law enforcement to land outside of a heliport or airport.
 
When I lived in San Diego in the 90s there was a case where a guy wanted to commute by helo and his office was near NAS Miramar. He called up there to ask if it was ok and was told that it was fine. So he started doing it and after a month of flying in to work the person who could really decide if it was ok came back from leave and had a bird and rescinded the guys permission on the spot. Seems they did not want F-14 and small helos sharing airspace.
 
Also works to blow all the leaves or snow into your neighbors yard.

You land in a tight residential neighborhood more than twice, you (or the homeowner) is going to hear from the neighbors.
 
Legal except: The neighbors only know how to compete with sports cars and swimming pools so any repeated landings in a residential area will quickly be zoned out of existence.
 
LJS1993 said:
Wow what kind of an idiot would do something so absurd!!?!?
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If you mean the shooter, not the pilot, I'd say it's someone who's tiny little mind is trapped in a cheesy action movie. I'm all in favor of armed private citizens, but I wish there were a quick, non-intrusive way to do a psych eval on prospective gun owners.

"Terrorism at its utmost"... and of course, they were after him, because he's, like, the Uber-'Merican. It's a syndrome in the same category as people who are expecting to be abducted by aliens, or bitten by a vampire. :rolleyes:
 
rottydaddy said:
If you mean the shooter, not the pilot, I'd say it's someone who's tiny little mind is trapped in a cheesy action movie. I'm all in favor of armed private citizens, but I wish there were a quick, non-intrusive way to do a psych eval on prospective gun owners.

"Terrorism at its utmost"... and of course, they were after him, because he's, like, the Uber-'Merican. It's a syndrome in the same category as people who are expecting to be abducted by aliens, or bitten by a vampire. :rolleyes:
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Yes definitely the shooter. That kind of paranoia makes me really question the sanity of our populace.
 
For the most part, when you're in the air you are the FAA's problem and have to follow FAA rules (which don't include restrictions on off-airport landings). When the skids touch down, you're local government's problem and are subject to zoning and trespassing laws.
 
rottydaddy said:
If you mean the shooter, not the pilot, I'd say it's someone who's tiny little mind is trapped in a cheesy action movie. I'm all in favor of armed private citizens, but I wish there were a quick, non-intrusive way to do a psych eval on prospective gun owners.

"Terrorism at its utmost"... and of course, they were after him, because he's, like, the Uber-'Merican. It's a syndrome in the same category as people who are expecting to be abducted by aliens, or bitten by a vampire. :rolleyes:
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Note the date on the article. This was less than a year after 9/11. Even intelligent and otherwise rational people were going bat**** crazy over the thought of terrorists.
Not saying he was justified in any way whatsoever, but if it actually were terrorists, he'd be a national hero and people would be calling you crazy for even suggesting that shooting at some random helicopter was a bad idea.
 
Sac Arrow said:
What's the legality of landing your helicopter in your back yard?
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From an FAA perspective, all that matters is that you did it safely, including securing the landing area. See Administrator v. Egger for how you can get in trouble for not securing the landing area, and Administrator v. Bassett regarding not having a safe takeoff path. Beyond that, it's a matter of state/local zoning and land use ordinances, which you'd have to research for your location.
 
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Sac Arrow said:
Mind you, this is a typical suburban tract home neighborhood, not a group of quarter acre rural zoned parcels.
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Californians crack me up sometimes. It's extremely rare for me to hear "1/4 acre" and "rural" used in the same sentence.

:rofl:

You do know that rats start to kill each other when packed into a cage too tightly don't you? :wink2:
 
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My newly remodeled retirement home is so close to ICT that I can get there quicker than a pre-flight of the helo. Maybe 4 minutes. I have almost 5 acres so if I took out 20 peach/apple trees I could manage a helo port.

I thought about a clear plastic landing pad on top of my lagoon (have to have sun to make the lagoon work) then I could use the lagoon as a landing pad. Nah, I don't really like helos....last time I was in one was the trip from DMZ to Seoul on my way home.
 
timwinters said:
Californians crack me up sometimes. It's extremely rare for me to hear "1/4 acre" and "rural" used in the same sentence.

:rofl:

You do know that rats start to kill each other when packed into a cage too tightly don't you? :wink2:
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Hey, 1/4 acre is rural out here. If the next structure is over a 1/2 mile then you are in a desolate area.
 
\__[Ô]__/;1290401 said:
Note the date on the article. This was less than a year after 9/11. Even intelligent and otherwise rational people were going bat**** crazy over the thought of terrorists.
Not saying he was justified in any way whatsoever, but if it actually were terrorists, he'd be a national hero and people would be calling you crazy for even suggesting that shooting at some random helicopter was a bad idea.
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I have to disagree.
I missed being at the site of the New York attack at precisely the time it went down by a hair, really (work schedule changed the day before). I know people who were there, and I knew people who died there. I was very, very angry for a while... just plain outraged, like many other people. I wanted blood; I'll admit it.
But I didn't panic, and I didn't act out. I didn't go beating up Sikhs because they wear turbans, or any of that nonsense. And among the things that gave me "that sinking feeling" at that time was that I could see the writing on the wall as regards the American public and GA...none of what followed surprised me at all. When I started seeing and hearing light aircraft in the skies again, it was actually very soothing, although I knew things would never be the same for pilots in this country.
This dumbass is a living embodiment of that unthinking, reactionary behavior, IMHO. He's as misguided and foolish as the terrorists, and just as dangerous. The purpose of that terror is not to deprive us of our freedom directly (let's face it, they are not going to conquer and occupy America from without), but to inspire us to turn on ourselves- to capitalize on our collective ignorance and fear, and have us betray the American Dream in the name of the American Dream. A little common sense will go a long way in this battle.
 
timwinters said:
Californians crack me up sometimes. It's extremely rare for me to hear "1/4 acre" and "rural" used in the same sentence.

:rofl:

You do know that rats start to kill each other when packed into a cage too tightly don't you? :wink2:
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Those marks on my arms aren't from needles. Yes, we are packed tightly here. Glad you are entertained!

(California is the #1 rice producing state in the world if not the #1 agricultural state in the union, just sayin'....)
 
LJS1993 said:
Yes definitely the shooter. That kind of paranoia makes me really question the sanity of our populace.
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For a guy to think that a helicopter "swooping down over his garage" in a residential neighborhood might be an attack isn't quite as "paranoid" if you note that this happened 10 months after terrorists flew jetliners into the Pentagon and the Twin Towers.
 
SoloEqs said:
For a guy to think that a helicopter "swooping down over his garage" in a residential neighborhood might be an attack isn't quite as "paranoid" if you note that this happened 10 months after terrorists flew jetliners into the Pentagon and the Twin Towers.
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Yes it is. Stupid paranoia was widespread then.

Just because a lot of people were overreacting at the time doesn't make it any less paranoid.
 
It never would have occurred to me that a helicopter, much less a small two seater privately owned helicopter landing in front of a garage would have been a terrorist act, even the day after 9/11.
 
SoloEqs said:
For a guy to think that a helicopter "swooping down over his garage" in a residential neighborhood might be an attack isn't quite as "paranoid" if you note that this happened 10 months after terrorists flew jetliners into the Pentagon and the Twin Towers.
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Still complete and utter paranoia combined with a lack of rational thought. Post 9-11 or not there is no excuse for this type of behavior.
 
I took a beating a few years ago for saying it was a terrible idea for someone to land a helicopter in a school yard w/o getting permission. This isn't quite that bad, but close. It's a bad idea for a few reasons:

1. Even an R22 (which is what I fly most of the time) is very loud. The noise will irritate some people.

2. He may be the absolute best R22 pilot ever but his neighbors don't know that. I'd be nervous if one of my neighbors started landing in the neighborhood.

3. Unless it was an enclosed area it's always possible that someone (and not necessarily a kid) will get excited and run up to the aircraft while the rotors are still spinning.

My first helo CFI was bragging about landing in the parking lot of a pizza shop to meet his gf one night. Even as a student it occurred to me what an idiot he was bragging about an off-airport landing at night in a small area packed with college kids.
 
Gerhardt said:
I took a beating a few years ago for saying it was a terrible idea for someone to land a helicopter in a school yard w/o getting permission. This isn't quite that bad, but close. It's a bad idea for a few reasons:

1. Even an R22 (which is what I fly most of the time) is very loud. The noise will irritate some people.
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Your posting irritates me, go away. Joking, but if you take not irritating people as a major factor in decision making you ain't going to get much done in this life. People have no right to not be irritated. Yes I know the rebuttal: We must preserve our freedoms by not exercising them... :no:
 
ClimbnSink said:
Your posting irritates me, go away. Joking, but if you take not irritating people as a major factor in decision making you ain't going to get much done in this life. People have no right to not be irritated. Yes I know the rebuttal: We must preserve our freedoms by not exercising them... :no:
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Preserve our freedom to land a helicopter in a neighborhood? No, that's just common sense. To be fair, most towns already have ordinances against this practice for this very reason. If I live in a neighborhood I have every expectation of reasonable peace and quiet. It's the aviation equivalent of a kid rushing his fist toward his buddy's face and stopping short while yelling "I didn't touch you!"

Since I predominantly fly helicopters I love them. I even stop and look every time one passes overhead when I'm outside. But a couple of years ago we had one fly directly over our house at no more than 300 feet every morning at 4 a.m. For the life of me I couldn't (and can't) understand that. It's just not common sense. Just because you have the right to do something doesn't make it the right thing to do.
 
You have every expectation of peace and quiet in your neighborhood, I understand. Are you part of this group?
 
My opinion on it is if you have a big enough yard that you really aren't affecting the neighbors - no rotor wash blowing their leaves or lawn furniture around and enough clear space so that there aren't rotor hazards and a biffed landing will be suitably contained, I wouldn't have a personal problem with it as long as you aren't taking off and landing constantly or at night. But I like airplanes and helicopters, not all people do.

In this particular case it would have taken a fair amount of skill to set this helicopter down in that backyard where he landed - we're talking about just a few feet of clearance from the fence and trees. One sneeze at the wrong time....
 
I seriously doubt that 99% of gated communities would tolerate more than once or twice a year, a helicopter landing within their borders. Outside of gated communities I suspect that about 90% of home residence would -N O T- tolerate it. If they can hassle established airports with $1 million budgets, you have to know they can terminate your ability to land on your own property for no more reason than the noise and fear you might land on their dog.
 
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They can and they have. And not just in residential neighborhoods. There are a LOT of cases where folks with dozens and even hundreds of acres are not allowed to land their helicopters.
 
I think if you have 500' of clearance 360 degrees around your heli-port property then no one should have any say over it.

Gerhardt said:
They can and they have. And not just in residential neighborhoods. There are a LOT of cases where folks with dozens and even hundreds of acres are not allowed to land their helicopters.
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Here is a pic of Microsofts Paul Allen's floating landing pad. He couldn't get a permit to build a landing pad on his property so had this boat built. Retarded that they wouldn't let him land at his home(8 acres) funny that he found a way around it.
 

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In Houston, there is a very restrictive helipad ordinance that essentially shuts all that down, and has for over 30 years that I'm aware of. I believe any given helipad is restricted to 5 operations a year, with exceptions for law enforcement, HEMS, emergencies or ENG. Anything else required a permit. If the local HEMS guys were requested to do a PR event inside the city limits, they had to petition for a permit for the non-emergency landing well in advance.

Right next door in the town of Pasadena, literally the FIRST row of houses away from the city limits of Houston, a guy had a residential standard sized lot with a helipad on top of his garage and it was in the FAA records as a heliport. With no city restrictions from Pasadena.
 
Houston is anti helicopter that is funny considering Houston has a rep as being a no zoning free for all paradise.
 
Gerhardt said:
I took a beating a few years ago for saying it was a terrible idea for someone to land a helicopter in a school yard w/o getting permission. This isn't quite that bad, but close. It's a bad idea for a few reasons:

1. Even an R22 (which is what I fly most of the time) is very loud. The noise will irritate some people.

2. He may be the absolute best R22 pilot ever but his neighbors don't know that. I'd be nervous if one of my neighbors started landing in the neighborhood.

3. Unless it was an enclosed area it's always possible that someone (and not necessarily a kid) will get excited and run up to the aircraft while the rotors are still spinning.
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It is only item #3 which will concern the FAA, as discussed in the first case I linked.

My first helo CFI was bragging about landing in the parking lot of a pizza shop to meet his gf one night. Even as a student it occurred to me what an idiot he was bragging about an off-airport landing at night in a small area packed with college kids.
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Sounds just like that case. Lucky his bragging did not come to the FAA's attention.
 
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