NASA · Aviation Safety Reporting System
Helicopter Captain reported while attempting to land on the helipad, a person was standing near the landing area, requiring the pilot to execute a missed approach and go- around.
What is ASRS?
The Aviation Safety Reporting System is NASA's voluntary, confidential, non- punitive incident-reporting system, established 1976. Pilots, controllers, dispatchers, and maintenance technicians file reports describing safety- relevant events. NASA de-identifies every report before adding it to the public database. Reports are not investigated by NASA, the FAA, or the NTSB — they represent the reporter's perspective.
Pilot narrative
Verbatim from the de-identified NASA record. First-person account by the
reporter. NASA strips identifying details (names, company, specific time);
anonymization placeholders are ZZZ,
X, Y.
On final to ZZZ, we observed a pedestrian walking along the sidewalk that borders the far edge of the “helipad” - actually just a driveway they use as a helipad. We noted it out loud among the great and continued our approach. As we got closer, the pedestrian noticed us... and stopped walking directly at our 12 o’clock, approximately 30 ft. from our intended touchdown spot but still on the border of the landing area. He brought out his phone and proceeded to take pictures of us. We elected to wave-off and made a brief 360 turn while still about 0.1 miles from the pad. The pedestrian resumed his walk to his car - appeared to be a hospital employee - and we landed without incident. After shutdown, I asked the Security Officer, whom the pedestrian walked past to get to the landing area if he saw us wave off. He said yes. I asked him if he saw the pedestrian walk past him. He said yes. I told him that we waved off and delayed our landing due to the pedestrian. I then asked him why he did not stop the pedestrian from walking past the pad. His response was, “Ain't got nothing to do with me.” I made sure that I was understanding correctly that he thinks that stopping the pedestrians from delaying medical care and keeping our operations safe was not part of his job. He responded affirmatively. Security and safety have never been a priority at ZZZ. Whether it’s cars driving past, security cars that have their blue lights flashing and proceeding through the helipad / driveway while an aircraft is actually sitting on the pad, or pedestrian incursions, or the sloped driveway that passes for a helipad, or the lack of security vehicles that make the officers sometimes use their personal vehicles to block traffic - this place has always been a safety issue. This hospital is supposed to closed in the next few years as I understand it, and the sooner the better. Otherwise, a level, dedicated helipad with physical barriers would be great, instead of cones that blow away when we land. A remote landing zone might be safer for landing but I would expect vandalism to the aircraft if left unattended. No longer responding to flight requests from this hospital would also be appropriate.
NASA classification — Anomalies
- Conflict
- Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural
- Ground Event / Encounter
NASA classification — Assessments
- Contributing Factors / Situations
- Airspace Structure · Company Policy · Environment - Non Weather Related
- Primary Problem
- Ambiguous
ASRS reports are voluntarily submitted, de-identified by NASA, and represent the reporter's perspective. The presence of reports on a topic cannot be used to infer prevalence in the National Airspace System. The authoritative source is the NASA ASRS Database Online at asrs.arc.nasa.gov ↗.