Narrative:

I landed the helicopter at the downtown heliport; which is a roof top landing facility. It was previously briefed that I would land at the heliport; shut down; secure the aircraft and then come down and get the passengers and escort them up to the helicopter. Being unaware that the heliport facility had changed their procedure for staffing the facility and that there were no longer any personnel on location; I was very surprised to find my passengers already up at the heliport awaiting my arrival. Once I landed the helicopter and decreased the rotor rpm to idle; the passengers began to approach the aircraft. One passenger in particular was walking uncomfortably towards the rear of the helicopter. As soon as I observed this; I immediately secured the flight controls and exited the cockpit in order to secure the safe boarding of my passengers. Once all of my passengers were securely on board the aircraft; I then resumed my position in the cockpit and prepared for departure. The flight went extremely smooth and uneventful. Upon our return back to the heliport facility; I once again secured the aircraft at idle and prepared to execute the helicopter quick turn around procedure to disembark my passengers in the interest of time and heliport scheduling. We ended up landing a little behind schedule; which put us right up against another aircraft's scheduled landing at the facility. (The heliport only allows for one helicopter parked on the pad at any one time) this time I instructed all of the passengers to remain seated until I came around to open their door and disembark them. I felt this to be a much safer and secure scenario given the previous issue with their embarking. All of the passengers were disembarked safely without any issues. The reason for my report is due to the FAA's questionable stance on this type of operation. The FAA publishes an advisory circular; which endorses this type of operation; however they have gone against their own advisory circular to engage certain operators who have exercised this type of operation. I have personally questioned the FAA in person as well as in writing in an attempt to obtain their official disposition on this type of operation and still to this day have not received back any type of disposition on their part concerning this type of operation. Until now; I have not exercised this type of operation in anticipation of receiving some direction from our regional FAA office with respect to their position on this type of operation. It was however in my best judgment in this scenario; that I exercised this type of operation due to the extenuating circumstances encountered.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Helicopter pilot believes the failure to adequately staff heliports exposes uninformed passengers to hazards associated with attempting to board helicopters which are still in the process of shutting down.

Narrative: I landed the helicopter at the downtown heliport; which is a roof top landing facility. It was previously briefed that I would land at the heliport; shut down; secure the aircraft and then come down and get the passengers and escort them up to the helicopter. Being unaware that the heliport facility had changed their procedure for staffing the facility and that there were no longer any personnel on location; I was very surprised to find my passengers already up at the heliport awaiting my arrival. Once I landed the helicopter and decreased the rotor rpm to idle; the passengers began to approach the aircraft. One passenger in particular was walking uncomfortably towards the rear of the helicopter. As soon as I observed this; I immediately secured the flight controls and exited the cockpit in order to secure the safe boarding of my passengers. Once all of my passengers were securely on board the aircraft; I then resumed my position in the cockpit and prepared for departure. The flight went extremely smooth and uneventful. Upon our return back to the heliport facility; I once again secured the aircraft at idle and prepared to execute the helicopter quick turn around procedure to disembark my passengers in the interest of time and heliport scheduling. We ended up landing a little behind schedule; which put us right up against another aircraft's scheduled landing at the facility. (The heliport only allows for one helicopter parked on the pad at any one time) this time I instructed all of the passengers to remain seated until I came around to open their door and disembark them. I felt this to be a much safer and secure scenario given the previous issue with their embarking. All of the passengers were disembarked safely without any issues. The reason for my report is due to the FAA's questionable stance on this type of operation. The FAA publishes an advisory circular; which endorses this type of operation; however they have gone against their own advisory circular to engage certain operators who have exercised this type of operation. I have personally questioned the FAA in person as well as in writing in an attempt to obtain their official disposition on this type of operation and still to this day have not received back any type of disposition on their part concerning this type of operation. Until now; I have not exercised this type of operation in anticipation of receiving some direction from our regional FAA office with respect to their position on this type of operation. It was however in my best judgment in this scenario; that I exercised this type of operation due to the extenuating circumstances encountered.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.