London heliport

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London heliport
An Air Harrods Agusta A109S Grand on the approach
Characteristics
ICAO code EGLW
Coordinates

51 ° 28 ′ 12 ″  N , 0 ° 10 ′ 46 ″  W Coordinates: 51 ° 28 ′ 12 ″  N , 0 ° 10 ′ 46 ″  W
Height above MSL 5 m (16  ft )
Transport links
Distance from the city center 3.5 miles southwest of Westminster Bridge
train Clapham Junction Railway Station
Local transport Fulham Broadway Underground Station
Basic data
opening April 23, 1959
operator PremiAir
surface 0.4 ha
Terminals 1
Flight
movements 		12,000
Start-and runway
03/21 38 m × 16 m concrete



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The London Heliport (also: London's Vertical Gateway ) is a helipad in London , located on the south bank of the Thames .

history

The heliport was founded by the British aircraft manufacturer Westland Aircraft , the first approach of a helicopter took place on April 8, 1959 with a Westland Widgeon HR5 ( aircraft registration : G-ANLW) with John Fay as pilot. The official opening was made on April 23, 1959 by the Conservative Party MP John Hay , who at the time was Secretary of the UK Department for Transport.

Westland Aircraft was taken over by the British GKN in 1987 , which offered the helipad for sale in 2000, with Harrods Aviation being awarded the contract. The British Weston Aviation Limited took over the property from Harrods Aviation in 2003 and sold it on to the British von Essen Group in 2007 . The von Essen Group ordered PremiAir Aviation to operate the heliport. As part of the renovation and modernization of the facility by the von Essen Group , the Hotel Verta with 70 rooms was built adjacent to the site . In April 2011 the von Essen Group had to file for bankruptcy and sold the helipad to British investors David and Simon Reuben . The adjacent Hotel Verta was sold to a private investor for around £ 20 million .

The London Heliport is the only heliport in London that has official status. For other landing sites, such as the Vanguard Helipad (coordinates: 51 ° 29 ′ 26.2 ″  N , 0 ° 1 ′ 31.5 ″  W ) near the Convoys Wharf , approval must be obtained from the CAA before landing .

location

Located on Lombard Road in Battersea, London, the heliport is around six kilometers from the Palace of Westminster . Since the heliport is subject to strict requirements, which are primarily based on safety and noise protection, arrival and departure is only permitted across the river. In addition, the operating hours are limited from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. For major events such as the Ascot horse race , a maximum of 1000 aircraft movements may be carried out per day, whereby the maximum number of arrivals and departures is limited to 12,000 annually (excluding police and rescue operations). Compliance with these guidelines is monitored, among others, by the London Heliport Consultative Group , which is formed from residents of the boroughs of Wandsworth , Hammersmith and Fulham and Kensington and Chelsea .

use

The heliport is mainly used for the transport of people to the surrounding airports (such as London Heathrow Airport or Gatwick Airport ) but also as a starting point for sightseeing flights and for police or rescue operations. There are seven parking spaces for helicopters and a gas station with Jet A-1 , whereby the parking spaces are not for simultaneous use. The lifting capacity of the landing platform, which is built on stilts in the river bed, is just over 16 tons, so even larger helicopters like the Sikorsky S-92 can land.

A landing fee of around 450 euros has to be paid for a two-seat small helicopter like the Robinson R22 . Since the parking spaces are limited, parking fees of around 360 euros for one hour are charged for this helicopter class.

Web links

Commons : London Heliport  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ flightglobal.com: London heliport in the PremiAir league on July 17, 2010
  2. ↑ telegraph.co.uk: GKN to sell London heliport (from August 13, 2000)
  3. ↑ vonessenhotels.co.uk: von Essen hotels announce handover from Weston Homes of Hotel Verta development part of London's Vertical Gateway ( memento from January 6, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) from February 11, 2010
  4. ↑ bbc.co.uk: Reuben Brothers buy London Heliport in Battersea , from February 23, 2012
  5. ↑ londonheliport.co.uk: Schedule of Charges May 2010 ( Memento of July 11, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 117 kB)