How to Put Up a Heliport – Part 3: Helicopter to be considered

If you’re planning to buy a helicopter or planning to operate one on a heliport, you should be aware that some helicopters may not be allowed to operate over a populated area. This is because some helicopters are performance-limited in terms of continuing a safe flight when an engine failure occurs.

Helicopters are grouped into three (3) performance classes. These are the performance class 1, performance class 2, and performance class 3 (see definitions in Part 1).

Single-engine helicopters are performance class 3 helicopters. When its engine fails, the helicopter will be forced to land immediately. For this reason, some countries prohibit the operation of performance class 3 helicopters over a populated area.

Some helicopters belong to performance class 2. Although these types of helicopters have more than one engine, they may still need to perform forced landing at a certain point before it reaches its final destination when one of its engines becomes inoperative.

Performance class 1 helicopters are multi-engine helicopter that may have the capability to reach their final destination even if one of its engines became inoperative.

Next -> Part 4: Obstacle-Free Area (FATO plus Safety Area)