Beware of Helicopters!!

Bang Bang

I just thought I'd share an experience with you that we had at a recent sporting event.
We'd been given our spot in the camper area, I must add that this was not an official camping are but a make-shift one for the event. Anyway we'd arrived the previous day as many others had and set up our spot for the weekend.
Early next morning we arose to cook some breakfast and as it was a glorious sunny morning I opened out and secured the awning before retreating back inside to take care of breakfast.
About fifteen minutes later, to our horror a quite large helicopter came swooping down to land in the adjacent green area.
The power of the down wind from this aircraft lifted our awning clean out of it's secure mounts and pulled it clean from it's brackets, which in turn were badly damaged. I had to cling to the awning to prevent it from being carried away by the strong gusts from the helicopter blades.
The aircraft sat there with blades spinning as people alighted from it, all the while people were clinging to their belongings, breakfast tables etc, awnings and believe it or not, children in buggies with sun parasols. One group/family had their lighting BBQ setup tossed back in against their camper.

Obviously a flood of complaints went to the organisers regarding this helicopter, lack of warning and of the damage caused.
I felt that the organisers didn't care (my opinion) about this dangerous situation. Why did they set up a camper site next to a green area that they were going to allocate for helicopters?
A phone number was given to everyone involved but surprise surprise it has yet to be answered.

I will not mention the particular event for various reasons. So why am I telling this story?
Well I have learned from it and I'm hoping others will.
There is a trend at a lot of sporting events where helicopters are supplied by various parties to ferry folk in and out of the event.
Yes I will in future ask about the use of helicopters at events I may be attending.
Thankfully there were, to the best of my knowledge, no person injured. But there was a lot of damage caused to awnings and other accessories found around campervans and motorhomes.

Take care out there and enjoy the Summer.

stapeler

Not something that I would have ever considered, Did it happen in this country? It prompted me to check out the IAA website to see what their rules are. Have a look at Helicopter Site Operator Guidlines on http://www.iaa.ie/safe_reg/default.asp They are quiet strict yet favour the pilot as opposed to the poor sucker on the ground.

muttsnutts1

Why not say where it was ? Ireland or UK, possibly in all our best interest to know where there is an event that allows a Helo to land close to families

Bang Bang

In reply to the questions asked by stapeler and muttsnutts.

As there are probably a number of damage claims arising out of this incident I think it would be wrong to name the event/organisers on an open forum.
I'm sure it's okay to say that it was Northern Ireland at a large motor sport event.
Again this was not a dedicated site but a field that was used for a makeshift campervan/motorhome area.

I posted about the incident to draw attention to the amount of helicopters being used at various outdoor events during the Summer and the bring to mind the dangers associated when a helicopter comes close to your campervan/motorhome, particularly when the awning is opened and your tabels, chairs etc are outside.