To think this was the most dickheadish thing I’ve ever seem

[Getoffmyhelicopter]

Have name changed as this is outing (especially if anyone was also there).

Dh and I went for a break this weekend. Nice country hotel but not like that amazing.

Anyway - a family turned up via helicopter and parked it on the main lawn - so basically left it where everyone was sitting eating dinner/having drinks,

Unsurprisingly a parked helicopter gets quite a lot of attention from children playing on the lawn. As a small child with his mum went to peer into the window the husband came running across (a very long) lawn screaming “DONT TOUCHMY HELICOPTER” kid wasn’t touching it and do t park a fucking helicopter in a huge public space if you don’t want anyone looking at it.

First AIBU to think the guy was an absolute duck and secondly have you ever experienced anything as ridiculous.

Helicopter i bit different to a car... Maybe the man was worried the kid would get hurt

@GisAFag

Helicopter i bit different to a car... Maybe the man was worried the kid would get hurt

Nah, said posh bastard was being a knob.

YABU. I hate people touching my helicopter.

@Crunchymum

Sorry should say - is £600 a night, not super posh?

A night at Le Manoir aux Quatr' Saisons with dinner cost us £1900 three years ago! (It was a very special occasion - sadly I'm not in the UHNW bracket.)

@GisAFag how? I mean how would it be any more dangerous than touching a parked car?

I'd wander up to it looking interested and maybe put jammy handprints on it. YANBU

@Getoffmyhelicopter

The wife did look like MNetter so am rather worried she’ll see this post

Mrs Chopper. Paging Mrs Chopper. If Mrs Chopper is online, will she please report to this thread. Thank you.

When we lived in Wiltshire we used to go to Castle Combe Manor Hotel for special occasions, they did a great Sunday lunch and then you could spend the afternoon in their gardens. Lovely apart from the bloody helicopters!

Tylney Hall was where my ex-husband took his old slapper when they thought I didn't know about them, so I have never seen it as particularly classy....

@Getoffmyhelicopter what does a mumsnetter look like?

Is this a stealth boast? You go to such cool places that helicopters casually land on the lawn?

Are you allowed to just park a helicopter wherever you like?

Yep, if the hotel gives permission apparently.

So, not actually "wherever you like".

I mean, he's a dick for the whole "not touching" thing but I assume he landed it where he was told to.

@LadyLindaT that’s what I mean - it’s hardly super luxury! Nice enough but not helicopter landing worthy

To those asking, landing helicopters at country hotels is popular. I work around the aviation industry and more than half of the helipads in my region are at hotels. Most of the rest are racecourses (horse or motorsport), private schools and industrial estates.

The number has gone down in the last few years though, fuel costs are getting too high.

Lots of people fly around to go to weddings, race meets etc. But also people who just need to get some flight hours to keep their licences current. Those ones will just fly somewhere, eat lunch and then fly back.

To answer a few questions:

• No, you can't land a helicopter anywhere you like, unless you're performing an emergency landing. The pilot would have to get permission from the hotel.

• Once it's landed it's landed. You can't just move it to a garage like it's a ford fiesta. If the terrace is the helicopter landing site, then the terrace is the helicopter park.

• Landed helicopters absolutely can be dangerous. Like plane propellors, even if they are stationary and the engine off, they can still spin suddenly. The rear half of a helicopter is a danger zone that no civilian should be in because of the tail rotor.

The man was a dick about it, but he was right. They may be interesting but they are big dangerous pieces of machinery. Everyone should respect that and don't take your kids to have a nose around.

@DerbyshireGirly me. That'll really fuck with their minds.

Also I know this might seem a really odd thing to say but really rich people never run. Nothing is worth running for (chase by wild animals excepted) because everyone will wait for them or they will pay to sort the problem. So I'm guessing not quite as rich as he thinks he is.

I worked in a very posh hotel years ago where helicopters weren't an uncommon form of arrival.

Always remember one guest who wrote to us after his stay to state his "disappointment in the lack of interest in my arrival by helicopter". Not sure exactly what he was expecting tbh.

My niece worked for a helicopter-owning family. The stories she told...

@Lockheart interesting! In that case while I still say he’s a dick - surely the hotel is also a bit to blame for not say “cordoning off” the helicopter.

[quote Getoffmyhelicopter]@Lockheart interesting! In that case while I still say he’s a dick - surely the hotel is also a bit to blame for not say “cordoning off” the helicopter.[/quote]
I agree, it would have been wise to cordon off the helicopter for safety.

However off the top of my head I'm not 100% sure if it's actually a requirement. My flight hours are all in single prop fixed wing aircraft. I've never flown in a helicopter in my life (I don't trust them )

@ODFOkaren

Omg.

I Want a helicopter.

I would be such a wanker. It would be brilliant.

You're already brilliant

Trump coming down that escalator.

Hands down.

I'm waiting to see the clip online - hilarious!

[quote Getoffmyhelicopter]@Bluntness100 yes and not just once - he ran down this massive lawn shouting it over and over.
I also overheard him the next day saying to the kids “have you left your bag in the helly” which I found even more ridiculous.[/quote]
OMG. He actually refers to the helicopter as "the helly".