Api rp 2l 1996 (2006) (american petroleum institute)

API RP 2L Final Recommended Practice for Planning, Designing, and Constructing Heliports for Fixed Offshore Platforms API RECOMMENDED PRACTICE 2L FOURTH EDITION, MAY 1996 EFFECTIVE DATE JUNE 1, 1996 R[.]

Recommended Practice for Planning, Designing, and Constructing Heliports for Fixed Offshore Platforms

API RECOMMENDED PRACTICE 2L

FOURTH EDITION, MAY 1996

EFFECTIVE DATE: JUNE 1, 1996

REAFFIRMED, MARCH 2006

Recommended Practice for Planning, Designing, and Constructing Heliports for Fixed Offshore Platforms

Exploration and Production Department

API RECOMMENDED PRACTICE 2L

FOURTH EDITION, MAY 1996

EFFECTIVE DATE: JUNE 1, 1996

REAFFIRMED, MARCH 2006

SPECIAL NOTES

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other-Copyright © 1996 American Petroleum Institute

API publications may be used by anyone desiring to do so Every effort has been made

by the Institute to assure the accuracy and reliability of the data contained in them; ever, the Institute makes no representation, warranty, or guarantee in connection with thispublication and hereby expressly disclaims any liability or responsibility for loss or dam-age resulting from its use or for the violation of any federal, state, or municipal regulationwith which this publication may conflict

how-Suggested revisions are invited and should be submitted to the director of the tion and Production Department, American Petroleum Institute, 1220 L Street, N.W.,Washington, D.C 20005

Explora-iii

Page

1 SCOPE 1

2 REFERENCES 1

2.1 Standards 1

2.2 Other References 1

3 DEFINITIONS 1

4 PLANNING 2

4.1 General 2

4.2 Helicopter Selection 2

4.3 Operational Considerations 2

4.3.1 Function 2

4.3.2 Location 2

4.3.2.1 Approach Departure Zone 2

4.3.2.2 Obstruction Free Zone 2

4.3.3 Size 2

4.3.4 Orientation 2

4.3.5 Access and Egress 2

4.3.6 Fire Protection 3

4.3.7 Air Turbulence 3

4.3.8 Heliport Equipment 5

4.3.9 Material Handling 5

4.3.10 Drainage 5

4.3.11 Maintenance 5

4.3.12 Environmental Consideration 6

5 DESIGN PROCEDURES FOR OFFSHORE HELIPORTS 6

5.1 General 6

5.2 Design Load 6

5.2.1 Dead Weight 6

5.2.2 Live Load 6

5.2.3 Wind Load 6

5.2.4 Helicopter Landing Load Considerations 6

5.2.4.1 General 6

5.2.4.2 Contact Area 6

5.2.4.3 Load Distribution 6

5.2.4.4 Design Landing Load 6

5.3 Design Load Conditions 6

5.4 Installation 6

5.5 Material 6

5.6 Flight Deck Surface 6

5.7 Access and Egress Route 9

5.8 Safety Net and Self 9

5.9 Tiedown Points 9

5.10 Lighting 9

5.11 Heliport Markings 9

5.11.1 General 9

v

5.11.2 Limitation Markings 9

5.11.3 Obstruction Marking 10

5.11.4 Closed Heliport 12

5.12 Drawings, Specifications and Construction 12

6 SAFETY CONSIDERATIONS 12

6.1 Fueling Stations 12

6.2 Wind Direction Indicator 13

6.3 Fire Protection Equipment 13

7 APPLICABLE REGULATIONS 13

Figures 1—Flight Deck Approach/Departure Zone 3

2—Recommended Size Heliport 4

3—Multi-Helicopter Heliport Minimum Clearance 5

4—Heliport Marking Scheme 10

5—Marking for Main Rotor Blade Obstruction 11

6—Marking for Tail Rotor Blade Obstruction 12

7—Marking for Landing Gear Obstruction 13

Tables 1—Helicopter Parameters 7

vi

R ECOMMENDED P RACTICE FOR P LANNING , D ESIGNING , AND C ONSTRUCTING H ELIPORTS FOR F IXED O FFSHORE P LATFORMS 1

This recommended practice provides a guide for

plan-ning, desigplan-ning, and constructing heliports for fixed

off-shore platforms It includes operational consideration

guidelines, design load criteria, heliport size, marking

recom-mendations, and other heliport design recommendations

The following publications and recommended practices

are cited herein The most recent edition shall be used,

unless otherwise specified

API

RP 2A Recommended Practice for Planning,

Designing and Constructing Fixed Offshore Platforms

FAA1

AC 150/5390—1B Federal Aviation Administration

object which protrudes above the 8 to 1 clearance plane

from the edge of the ground cushion area

available for flight of a helicopter as it approaches or departs

from the heliport’s designated takeoff and landing area

above and supported by the sea bed by means of piling,spread footings, or other means with the intended purpose

of remaining stationary over an extended period

3.4 flight deck: Flight deck area is the portion of a port surface provided for helicopter takeoff and landing

certi-fied maximum takeoff weight of the helicopter for which theheliport is designed to accommodate

capabil-ity that develops whenever the helicopter flies or hoversnear the heliport or other surface It results from the cushion

of denser air built up between the surface and helicopter bythe air displaced downward by the rotor

solid portion of a heliport surface provided for properground cushion effect This area may be only the flight deck

or the flight deck plus its perimeter safety shelf

principally for its support and motion in the air upon the liftgenerated by one or more power-driven rotors, rotating onsubstantially vertical axes

3.9 heliport: An area on a structure used for the landingand takeoff of helicopters and which includes some or all ofthe various facilities useful to helicopter operation, such asparking, tiedown, fueling, maintenance, and so forth

3.10 hover: A flight characteristic peculiar to helicopterswhich enables them to remain stationary above a fixed point

for use by more than one helicopter at any one time

a helicopter is the distance from the tip of the main rotorblade to the tip of the tail rotor when the rotor blades arealigned along the longitudinal axis of the helicopter Simi-larly, for a tandem rotor helicopter, the overall length isfrom the tip of the front main rotor to the tip of the rear mainrotor Herein the overall length is referred to as OL

a circle made by the rotor blades while rotating Herein themain rotor diameter is referred to as RD

3.14 safety net: A safety net is a netting section aroundthe perimeter of the flight deck used for personnel safety,and is normally provided in lieu of a safety shelf where theflight deck alone provides ground cushion effect

1 Federal Aviation Administration, 800 Independence Avenue, S.W.,

Wash-ington, DC 20591 Note: The FAA booklet sets forth recommendations

for the design, marking, and use of heliports for fixed offshore platforms.

2 Occupational Safety and Health Administration, U.S Department of Labor.

The Code of Federal Regulations is available from the U.S Government

Printing Office, Washington, DC 20402.

3 Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development, P.O Box

94245, Baton Rouge, LA 70804-9245.

Recommended Practice for Planning, Designing, and Constructing Heliports for

Fixed Offshore Platforms

1

2 API R ECOMMENDED P RACTICE 2L

3.15 safety shelf : A safety shelf is a section of solid

con-struction around the perimeter of the flight deck used for safety

of personnel, and may be included in the ground cushion area

construction of heliports on offshore platforms Adequate

planning should be performed before actual design is started

in order to obtain a safe and practical heliport with which to

accomplish the design objective Initial planning should

include all criteria pertaining to the design of the heliport

The safety departments of the helicopter companies can

provide valuable assistance during the planning phase

given to the helicopter’s gross weight, landing load

distribu-tion, rotor diameter, overall length, and landing gear

config-uration, as well as ground cushion area and the number of

helicopters to be accommodated by the heliport

requirements, safety considerations, and environmental

aspects which could affect the design of the heliport

Considerations for selecting the helicopter for heliport

design are:

a Distance from onshore staging areas or helicopter bases

b Proximity to other offshore heliports, on either satellite

structures or adjacent field structures

c Status as to whether the platform is manned or unmanned

and with or without living quarters

d Helicopter transportation requirement for the platform

e Crew change requirements

f Night helicopter needs, whether routine service, medical

removal, or emergency evacuation

g Environmental conditions

The following are the operational considerations:

The function of the heliport should be classified as either

single-helicopter or multi-helicopter operation although a

heliport designed for one large helicopter may

accommo-date two smaller helicopters if the minimum clearance

requirements are met

Before final location of the heliport is selected,

obstruc-tion clearances, personnel safety, and environmental

condi-tions, as well as proximity of the approach-departure zone

to flammable materials, engine exhaust, and cooler charge should be considered For clearance from obstruc-tions the following should be considered:

This zone should be free from obstruction for at least 180degrees beginning at the base of the ground cushion areaand extending outward and upward on an 8 to 1 slope (8 out-ward to 1 upward) See Figure 1 For design considerations, aproperly parked helicopter on a multi-helicopter heliport doesnot constitute an approach and departure obstruction

This zone should include an area outward to one-third RDgreater than diameter OL and also should extend one-third RDbeyond the edge of the approach and departure zone See Figure 1

Heliport size should depend on platform configurationand equipment arrangement, platform orientation, obstruc-tion clearances, the selected helicopters to be utilized, andprevailing environmental conditions The heliport groundcushion area should cover a circle of at least one main rotordiameter for helicopters operating at maximum grossweight See Figure 2 For tandem rotor helicopters, or inharsh environmental areas (such as the Gulf of Alaska), thedimensions of the ground cushion area should equal orexceed the OL of the limiting helicopter When groundcushion area is less than one RD (or OL for tandem rotorhelicopters or in harsh environments), the approach anddeparture zone should be extended to 360 degrees, and heli-copters landing or taking off from such a heliport should berestricted to less than the certified maximum takeoff weight For multi-helicopter heliports, the heliport should be ofsufficient size to allow for the OL of the operating helicop-ter plus at least one-third the main RD clearance to any por-tion of a properly parked helicopter with its main rotorsecured (see Figure 3)

Orientation of the heliport should be determined by theplatform configuration, equipment arrangement, and pre-vailing wind

The location of access and egress stairways or laddersshould be determined from platform configuration, equip-ment arrangement, and safety objectives One primaryaccess and egress route should be provided When possiblethe access and egress routes should be outside the approachand departure zone

R ECOMMENDED P RACTICE FOR P LANNING , D ESIGNING , AND C ONSTRUCTING H ELIPORTS FOR F IXED O FFSHORE P LATFORMS 3

Heliport fire protection should be considered in the

plat-form fire protection system

RD Oil

1 / 3 RD

1 / 3 RD

OL of design helicopter intended for use

RD of design helicopter intended for use

OBSTRUCTION FREE ZONE

4 API R ECOMMENDED P RACTICE 2L

spilling over the top of the heliport should be considered

when determining heliport deck clearance

When a clear airspace of a minimum of 6 feet (1.8

meters) is provided between a heliport elevated above a

building and the building roof, turbulent air can flow underthe heliport and will reduce the effect on helicopter opera-tions Consideration should be given to an airspace 6 feet(1.8 meters) or larger

Safety shelf

Helideck

RD

RD of largest helicopter intended for use.

Figure 2—Recommended Size Heliport