Pictures from the top of the Royal London Hospital heli-pad

[yen_powell]

When they shut down the old Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel, they built a new one with 18 floors right behind the redundant building. This heli-pad is built on top of the new building for the air ambulance. I thought you'd enjoy the photos I got off my boss today which I asked for when I found out he had been up there. I imagined a nice chunky handrail or wall to stop people falling off the edge but it seems I was wrong.

 

[Slowlycatchymonkey]

The engineer who did Bristols helipad was a complete twot. When it was finished they realised it wasn’t strong enough to carry the weight of the large helicopters so now only certain light craft can land there!

It also has no rails. Maybe it’s a bit of a risk if there’s a gust of wind with those hooklike legs?

[yen_powell]

34 minutes ago, Slowlycatchymonkey said:

The engineer who did Bristols helipad was a complete twot. When it was finished they realised it wasn’t strong enough to carry the weight of the large helicopters so now only certain light craft can land there!

It also has no rails. Maybe it’s a bit of a risk if there’s a gust of wind with those hooklike legs?

There was a major cock up here as well, one of the reasons my boss was there as they frantically tried and failed to address the issue. Previous pad was reachable by crane if removal of a dead helicopter was required. The new pad was so high up that any suitable crane could not negotiate the tiny surrounding streets without being in broken down into so many pieces it would be necessary to shut those same streets for a few weeks. Apparently just having a warning light refusing to go out even if no problem is found grounds a helicopter over London.

[XTreme]

Amazing place......great shots Yen!

[Catteeclan]

You'd think a sharp gust of wind could have them off there.
Great view but you wouldn't catch me up there.

[XTreme]

2 minutes ago, Catteeclan said:

You'd think a sharp gust of wind could have them off there.
Great view but you wouldn't catch me up there.

What is the matter with you lot.....frightened of forests, frightened of abandoned buildings.....now frightened of heights!

You frightened of widths as well?

[Slowlycatchymonkey]

1 hour ago, Catteeclan said:

You'd think a sharp gust of wind could have them off there.
Great view but you wouldn't catch me up there.

I don't like helicopters full stop. My sister in laws ex husband got his license and offered everyone a spin. I googled are helicopters safe and it said 1.8 fatal crashes every 100.000 hours which isnt that bad but I still didn't fancy it, especially when it said one of the causes is inexperience!

[boboneleg]

37 minutes ago, XTreme said:

What is the matter with you lot.....frightened of forests, frightened of abandoned buildings.....now frightened of heights!

You frightened of widths as well?

Not me, I did 20 widths of the pool when I was kid.  Got a certificate as well 

 

[yen_powell]

I only went in a helicopter once and swore never ever ever again. I think I wrote about it in my yen's Stories thread.

[Slowlycatchymonkey]

5 minutes ago, yen_powell said:

I only went in a helicopter once and swore never ever ever again. I think I wrote about it in my yen's Stories thread.

Any idea what page number?

[Tango]

I used to go to the old and new Royal London Hospital for work. Parking round there was always fun! Apart from when I discovered the Eastern European car wash between Whitechapel Road and City Road, where I could park for the day and get my car washed and hoovered for £20! Bit of a bargain for that area!

[Sir Fallsalot]

1 hour ago, Slowlycatchymonkey said:

I don't like helicopters full stop. My sister in laws ex husband got his license and offered everyone a spin. I googled are helicopters safe and it said 1.8 fatal crashes every 100.000 hours which isnt that bad but I still didn't fancy it, especially when it said one of the causes is inexperience!

My eldest brother had a job working on a lighthouse off the coast somewhere many years ago, the only way on and off was by helicopter every day and he hates flying. He had to do all the crash training to go with it which was being thrown in the sea with a survival suit to get a real feel of what it would be like if the chopper went down. After one flight across he bought a sleeping bag, camping mat and some food the second day he told them he was staying in the lighthouse for the rest of the week because he was a quivering wreck on the helicopter, The next week he went prepared took his fishing rod and a load of food and lived in the lighthouse for the following three weeks when everyone else flew back everyday, apart from the flight there and back he said it was great 

[Tango]

9 minutes ago, Sir Fallsalot said:

My eldest brother had a job working on a lighthouse off the coast somewhere many years ago, the only way on and off was by helicopter every day and he hates flying. He had to do all the crash training to go with it which was being thrown in the sea with a survival suit to get a real feel of what it would be like if the chopper went down. After one flight across he bought a sleeping bag, camping mat and some food the second day he told them he was staying in the lighthouse for the rest of the week because he was a quivering wreck on the helicopter, The next week he went prepared took his fishing rod and a load of food and lived in the lighthouse for the following three weeks when everyone else flew back everyday, apart from the flight there and back he said it was great 

An old colleague of mine had to do occasional work on the oil rigs in the North Sea, so he had to do all that training too.

He said that part of the training was to put a few of them into helicopter seats inside a big drum thing and then drop this into a pool, upside down and in complete darkness. He had a "window" seat and the guy next to him on the "aisle" panicked and couldn't undo his lap belt. So my colleague had to help this guy undo his seat belt before they could escape. He said that the safety divers were all moving in to rescue them when they managed to get out! Scared the life out of him!

[yen_powell]

1 hour ago, Slowlycatchymonkey said:

Any idea what page number?

I had a quick scan through and I can't see it, maybe I wrote about it somewhere else.

 

[Pedro]

What a cool location!

Seems like guardrails are the last thing you would want around a helipad, better that the thing can drift off and regain control in open air. For the people, if they can't not walk off that size helipad not sure they belong there.

Went on a helicopter ride around Rio de Janeiro once and I really liked it, bit loud though 

[Slowlycatchymonkey]

2 hours ago, Sir Fallsalot said:

My eldest brother had a job working on a lighthouse off the coast somewhere many years ago, the only way on and off was by helicopter every day and he hates flying. He had to do all the crash training to go with it which was being thrown in the sea with a survival suit to get a real feel of what it would be like if the chopper went down. After one flight across he bought a sleeping bag, camping mat and some food the second day he told them he was staying in the lighthouse for the rest of the week because he was a quivering wreck on the helicopter, The next week he went prepared took his fishing rod and a load of food and lived in the lighthouse for the following three weeks when everyone else flew back everyday, apart from the flight there and back he said it was great 

I think I would have spent my time looking for another job

[Slowlycatchymonkey]

2 hours ago, Tango said:

An old colleague of mine had to do occasional work on the oil rigs in the North Sea, so he had to do all that training too.

He said that part of the training was to put a few of them into helicopter seats inside a big drum thing and then drop this into a pool, upside down and in complete darkness. He had a "window" seat and the guy next to him on the "aisle" panicked and couldn't undo his lap belt. So my colleague had to help this guy undo his seat belt before they could escape. He said that the safety divers were all moving in to rescue them when they managed to get out! Scared the life out of him!

Sounds most excessive, did they provide free trauma counselling after?

[Tym]

You dont want handrails and helocoppters, trust me. 

[Tym]

Runways dont have guard rails either. 

[Catteeclan]

12 hours ago, XTreme said:

What is the matter with you lot.....frightened of forests, frightened of abandoned buildings.....now frightened of heights!

You frightened of widths as well?

You are if we're talking fat things.

[Buckster]

Was Pete’s new bike up there?

[skyrider]

14 hours ago, Tango said:

An old colleague of mine had to do occasional work on the oil rigs in the North Sea, so he had to do all that training too.

He said that part of the training was to put a few of them into helicopter seats inside a big drum thing and then drop this into a pool, upside down and in complete darkness. He had a "window" seat and the guy next to him on the "aisle" panicked and couldn't undo his lap belt. So my colleague had to help this guy undo his seat belt before they could escape. He said that the safety divers were all moving in to rescue them when they managed to get out! Scared the life out of him!

yes they do that at fleetwood training centre 

[skyrider]

16 hours ago, XTreme said:

What is the matter with you lot.....frightened of forests, frightened of abandoned buildings.....now frightened of heights!

You frightened of widths as well?

never did like heights , i like my feet on the floor

[MooN]

on of my old managers had been a helicopte mechanic in the fleet air arm. When he said he'd never go up in a helicopter I asked why and he replied " cos I know what holds them together..."  

 

great pics though Yen, thanks for posting them. 

[yen_powell]

2 hours ago, MooN said:

on of my old managers had been a helicopte mechanic in the fleet air arm. When he said he'd never go up in a helicopter I asked why and he replied " cos I know what holds them together..."  

 

great pics though Yen, thanks for posting them. 

My dad had a few RAF Association magazines knocking about the house. There was usually a funny story or anecdote in there somewhere. The two I recall are a Shackleton pilot having to constantly adjust his control surfaces during a flight as the plane seemed to be getting tail heavy and then suddenly it wasn't. Turned out his crew were playing a game of darts at the rear of the plane. The second one was reported from an an aircrew survival training course. A pilot was heard to say that he had an advantage over other air crew as he flew a Tornado. When asked why he said it was because in the event of a forced landing and no immediate help you could always eat the navigator.