Say you own a your own helicopter and have the appropriate certifications needed to fly it and say you or a family member one day got injured and you wanted to take them to the emergency room, could you just hop in your helicopter and land on the hospital helicopter deck (presuming its cleared) or would the FAA have a problem with that?
Interesting question. I am a private pilot (fixed wing, not helicopters), but on the VFR charts, the hospital landing pads are not listed. So I am not sure what radio frequency you’d use to call them for landing. I am guessing they are not prepared for private helicopters arriving on their pads.
Around here it is all controlled (Class C) airspace so near the hospital you’d be talking to the local Tower (I hear the medical choppers on the frequency all the time). I guess if you really wanted to land there, the Tower could call the hospital on your behalf.
It’s almost certainly the case that the hospital’s helipad is private, and they would give permission to use it only to a proper medevac operation.
But if you showed up with an injured person needing critical attention, it would be strange if they said “go away.” And the Federal Aviation Regulations contain a provision that allows a pilot to deviate from established rules in an emergency, which might well help deal with the aftermath.
I am a Private Pilot, fixed-wing and helicopters.
Yes, the hospital helipads are private, and under the regulations you need permission to land there. The controlling agency (e.g., control tower) can and probably would notify the hospital that you are incoming. The controlling agency may deny your request to land at the hospital, and the hospital can deny your request to land there. But there is Part 91.3:
So a pilot can land at the hospital even if the request is denied. The FAA Administrator may request a written report of the deviation to the rules. If that happens, then the pilot might be charged with a violation, and may suffer penalties for his actions. So if a pilot does as described in the OP, it had better be a real life-or-death situation that could not wait for emergency personnel or airlift.
Note that the exemption is specifically for “In-flight emergency”. Loading a sick/injured person aboard does not raise an “in-flight emergency”.
Your local FSDO would probably not be amused by trying to use that provision for a planned flight.
Short of starting a fire on board and declaring an emergency (the proper term for a Mayday" call), it ain’t gonna fly.
For any criminal charge, you might be able to raise the Necessity defense, but only if there was no alternate way of transporting the patient and the need for medical attention was immediate (would die if you had to wait for an ambulance-type immediate).
For the FAA, they might have a sense of humor about it, but I wouldn’t bet a license on it.
I am not a pilot of any kind, but it seems to me that landing on a hospital’s pad without permission could expose the pilot to all sorts of trouble. If the hospital denies permission and the pilot ignores that denial, he may be blocking access to another helicopter with a more seriously injured passenger.
Having been denied landing on the pad, can the helicopter put down in the parking lot or on top of the parking garage?
There’s also the issue of the helipad being prepared. The one at my local hospital is in the middle of an access road. The hospital police department has to go out and block the road when a helicopter is coming to pick someone up (it’s not a trauma center, so the helipad is for taking patients out).
How does that work at a government (county) hospital?
During the Reno Air Race crash, a Vietnam-era helicopter was on static display at the airshow and was used to transport people to the local hospital. They landing in a park across the street from the hospital which is a much bigger space than the helipad. I think it was flown by a guy who had flown them during the war, as the regular crew could not be found. Not sure about this last point.
I can’t answer for a hospital, but when I was in training we routinely used a government-owned helipad. We didn’t have permission to land on it, so we never touched down.
Update: It was the regular crew:
And you might fly all the way there to find a helicopter already parked on it.
In Australia it could be classed as a mercy flight, not an inflight emergency, and it has its own set of rules. The US doesn’t seem to have an equivalent that I could find in my copy of the Airway Manual.
The reality is you would only get away with it if there was literally no other option available to you and it was the difference between life and death.
Besides the possible trouble you as pilot might get into, the idea is stupid – it will probably result in a delay in getting treatment for your injured family member.
Nearly all ambulance services now have EMT’s, who start giving treatment right in the vehicle on the way to the hospital. And they are in communication with the hospital ER, so they are prepared for the patient, have the appropriate specialist called to the ER, etc. So unless you are in the middle of nowhere, it’s much better for your family member to call for an ambulance.
Having been on the pilot end, the injured end, the relative of the injured party, well, IME (in my experiences) the only part of your post that is anywhere near correct for the majority of the services is the last sentence.
The active EMT’s that I know laugh at the depictions on TV & in the movies.
This is one of the ones that happened to me and is most typical.
I do not trust Grand Am drivers, and I’m always on my guard when I see a Grand Am near me.
Many hospitals I’ve seen have pretty large, grassy areas around them, tho not all. The ones that do have could easily take a “Huey”. In the event of saving someone’s life, could you land in a grassy area if it was safe?
PC
How is this different to you taking them to hospital in your car?
In a car, you can drive up to the Emergency entrance. In a helicopter, you need permission to land on the hospital’s property.
If it’s an emergency, it’s an emergency and permission be damned.
Only if you don’t have another option.