DGCA directive for pvt chopper operators

The Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has made it clear that a private helicopter service operator would have to get a site licensed as a ‘heliport’ if the designated area is used for landing and take-off by him for more than 7 days in a month.
The directive comes at a time when Uttar Pradesh is going to polls and political parties might require the services of a private chartered helicopter to make use of a landing site several times in a month for campaigning across towns and villages of the State.
In a communiqué to the civil aviation wing of the State Government, the DGCA has indicated that under series ‘B’ ‘Part I’ of the ‘Aerodrome Standard and Air Traffic Service’ rules and the provisions of Rule 133A of the Aircrafts Rule 1937, the terms ‘temporary helicopter site’ do not apply only to elevated ‘heliports’ on top of buildings and other types of constructions. The owners of helicopters offered for chartered or private flight operations frequently used by the politicians during polls in UP would now have to ensure that there were not more than seven landings by the same operator in a particular constituency during a month to avoid being liable for DGCA action for violation of heliport licensing rules, the DGCA circular said.
23/02/07 Santosh Chowdhury/Hindustan Times

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Categories: safety feb 2007