Abridge Golf Course
ABRIDGE GOLF COURSE: Privately owned company helipad or helicopter landing area
NOTES: Hundreds upon hundreds of privately owned helipads or ‘helicopter landing areas’ abound throughout the UK at pubs, hotels and golf courses etc, etc, so I have included quite a few to illustrate this. This example I thought worthy of mention because something happened here which is really quite bizarre and poses as many questions as those answered. Also, especially because thankfully nobody was even hurt, let alone seriously injured or worse, it contains for me at least quite a comic element. Especially the imagined reaction of the unfortunate and hapless pilot to this event!
I found this account in what my wife describes as my favourite comic, the AAIB Bulletin. Which is fair enough as I do tend to devour the contents with keen interest as soon a possible after it plops onto the mat through the letterbox. In this case I will quote from report EW/G2010/10/17: “After confirming that the surrounding area was clear, the pilot started the helicopter’s engines. Shortly after starting the second engine, he noticed a golf cart on his right side that was 'travelling at some speed, clearly out of control'."
"The cart passed behind the helicopter, sustaining damage to its roof when it passed through the tail rotor disc, and continued for approximately 40m before stopping. The pilot was told that a young child had climbed into the cart with an adult and had inadvertently stepped on the accelerator pedal.”
Of considerable interest I think is the next comment in the report. “The pilot estimated that the cart had travelled 80m before hitting the tail rotor.” My interest centres on the “adult” mentioned. I am not a golfer but I am familiar with golf carts and would maintain that every one has a steering wheel? And yet this adult didn’t have the presence of mind, or was apparently unable, to steer the cart away from the helicopter given a eighty metres run? So what on earth was going on?
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