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An Atlas Oryx helicopter touches down on a helideck on board the High Speed Vessel Swift (HSV 2) ship

The main helipad at University Hospital Coventry in England

The word helipad is a portmanteau meaning helicopter landing pad, a landing area for helicopters. Though helicopters can usually land anywhere preferably flat (they can land on quite a slope), a fabricated helipad provides a clearly marked hard surface away from obstacles where a helicopter can land. Helipads are usually constructed out of concrete and are marked with a circle and/or a letter "H", so as to be visible from the air. They may be located at a heliport or airport where fuel, air traffic control, and service facilities for aircraft are available. Usually a helipad does not have fuel and service facilities for aircraft, as a heliport does, and does not maintain a full time air traffic controller. Conversely, a helipad may also be located away from such facilities; for example, helipads are commonly placed on the roof of hospitals to facilitate MEDEVACs. Large ships and oilrigs sometimes have a helipad on board (usually referred to as a helideck), and some businesses maintain a helipad on the roof of their office tower. Helipads are not always constructed out of concrete; sometimes forest fire fighters will construct a temporary helipad out of wood to receive supplies in remote areas. Landing pads may also be constructed in extreme conditions like on frozen ice. The world's highest helipad, built by India, is located in the Siachen Glacier at a height of 21,000 feet (6400 m) above the sea level. ^[1]

A helipad atop the SunAmerica Center in Century City, California

Rooftop helipads sometimes display a large two-digit number, representing the weight limit (in thousands of pounds) of the pad; in addition, a second number may be present, representing the maximum rotor diameter in feet^[2].

[edit] See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Heliports and Helipads

Look up helipad in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Heliport

[edit] References

• de Voogt, A.J. 2007. Helidrome Architecture. Rotterdam: 010 Publishers. See google books.
• ICAO 1995. Heliport manual. Montreal, Canada: ICAO Publications.
• Frost, John B. 1996. British helipads. Chester, UK: Appledore Publications.

1. ^ "Siachen: The world's highest cold war" (in English). CNN. Wednesday, September 17, 2003 Posted: 0550 GMT ( 1:50 PM HKT). http://edition.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/asiapcf/south/05/20/siachen.kashmir/. Retrieved 2009-03-30. 
2. ^ FAA Advisory Circular 150/5390-2B page 51