Heliports and Hovercraft

SERIOUS consideration is being given to the more extended use of helicopters for travel into city centres, and the use of more sophisticated vertical take‐off and landing aircraft is a more distant but nevertheless discernible prospect. A report of the Committee on the Planning of Helicopter Stations in the London Area, which was set up by the Minister of Aviation in 1959, drew the following conclusions: (i) the noise level of helicopters cruising at about 1,000 ft. should not be greater than that of traffic in a busy street but would be spread over a greater area, and (ii) the greatest noise will be heard in the immediate vicinity of the heliport and beneath the take‐off and approach paths within half a mile of the pad.