Landing a helicopter at a small airport – why this process?

[kferr]

I posted a somewhat similar question a few years ago and got some great info from our resident pilots.

Helicopter landing approach question

I live under the flight path of a small airport that services business jets (FAB in the UK). Since I can just glance out the window to see them I’ve started using FlightRadar24 to see what is what. I’ve noticed that the jets all use very similar approach paths when landing from east to west no matter where they originated from. This is very busy airspace with Heathrow and Gatwick not far away so a very regulated path makes sense. Today a couple helicopters landed within a half hour of each other…