Public Use Heliport

JeffDowntown said:
Be interesting to see if the site flys with the FAA. It is really close to the approach/departure lane for Runway 9-27 at Logan (official airspace lane almost touches the end of the pier!). Airspace height restriction looks to be 150 ft. Doesn't give much helicopter maneuvering room.
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Gonna suck for concertgoers in the middle of a show at the Pavilion, too.
 
So I assume they need to have a community meeting with the residents on that side of the seaport? Two park lane buildings plus another few hundred units about to be built right there. If Fort Point can oppose this, they should have the same rights.
 
falcon42 said:
So I assume they need to have a community meeting with the residents on that side of the seaport? Two park lane buildings plus another few hundred units about to be built right there. If Fort Point can oppose this, they should have the same rights.
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The MGH helicopter pad is closer to the West End apartments than this would be to Park Lane.
 
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Ok using that logic, why couldn't it go to Fort Point channel near GE? Most of the residents in FP are not on the water. A few on Sleeper St, but most are set back
 
Great. This was such a stupid idea. Just give them discounted access to a helipad at Logan and call it a day.
 
I just don't see how it's that much faster to drive to a helipad, take the helicopter to Hanscom and then get on a private jet. Driving to Signature Flight Support at Logan is like ten minutes in moderate traffic and then the executrons can get on the private jet directly.
 
Well okay, what is the plan for executives who want to land in the Seaport? The flight path for the helicopters includes going through the harbor than tracking over the Fort Point Channel towards destinations both west and south.

What I'm asking is, um, do they take these helicopters all the way to NYC? I really have no idea. lol.
 
GE probably wants to use helicopter to:

get to private jets at Hanscom

For short trips to CT, NYC, NJ

Doubt they're really interested in using helicopter to get to Logan.
 
This is such a bad idea. It's just really bad. There might be no corporate headquarters on the planet that's located closer to a major airport.

If they're really worried about tunnel traffic, they should really look into a low-profile (i.e. low vertical clearance for channel bridges) private water shuttle from HQ to Logan (for either chopper or jet ops). It's not like it's easy to get from Necco to the proposed heliport in the teeth of rush hour either, and you have to drive past the tunnel onramps anyway.

And if cost is a problem for keeping the jets at Logan rather than Hanscom, then by all means lets just subsidize that instead of a completely redundant heliport.

What a bad, bad idea. My guess is that this was probably on their official checklist for selecting a new site and someone threw it into the Boston package for the sake of process simplicity .... checking the boxes.

And now noone can give it the quiet, quick death it deserves.
 
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CSTH said:
My guess is that this was probably on their official checklist for selecting a new site and someone threw it into the Boston package for the sake of process simplicity .... checking the boxes.
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Agreed. A helipad makes a lot of sense when your headquarters are in Stamford, CT. It makes much less sense when they're a six minute drive from an international airport. I get that Logan airspace is crowded, but I have a hard believing that (drive to helipad + flight to Hanscom + flight to destination) is significantly more convenient than (drive to Logan + flight to destination).

However, taking GE completely out of the picture, there is still demand for a public access heliport in Boston. The city / state should partner with WBZ to upgrade their helipad out on Soldier's Field Rd in Allston and call it a day. Tell GE they can use that, if they want, or just use Logan.
 
One problem with saying just use Logan, is that Massport really does not want more helicopter operations at Logan. Massport's public statements have been generally in favor of another public heliport not on the airport site. More helicopter operation tend to get in the way of commercial aircraft operations (and tie up controllers).

Likewise Massport would rather see GE use a new heliport to ferry execs out to Hanscom to get on their corporate jets (where the 6 jets will be hangered), rather than have the jets hop into Logan to pick up the execs close to their office. Again, Massport would rather not see a big increase in corporate jet traffic, as it also gets in the way of commercial operations.

So if you like all the new destinations and commercial flights out of Logan, you should be in favor of the public heliport. Logan is small -- you can only cram in so much traffic. Choose wisely.
 
Globe: State, City officials re-open search for helipad site after hearing concerns

Boston Globe said:
City and state officials are reopening the search for a helipad location in Boston after hearing concerns about their proposal to install one at the pier behind the Blue Hills Bank Pavilion.

The state Department of Transportation had previously narrowed the search down to the area around the city-owned pier, known as Dry Dock 4. But that plan drew opposition from critics, including Live Nation executive Don Law and Legal Sea Foods CEO Roger Berkowitz, at a hearing held last week by a task force studying the helipad issue. The task force was supposed to hold a second hearing on Monday, but that one was postponed indefinitely.

[...]
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What about down here somewhere, right on the Reserve Channel next to Conley Terminal? I believe much of that is MassPort land already, and the new dedicated truck route could be used to access it.

I'm sure Southie politicians would throw a fit, but that land is pretty secluded and already has intense airplane noise.

This could be turned into a helipad for close to nothing.
 
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