"The heart of the operation will be at Vertiport Chicago, an existing downtown heliport facility. In the UAM world, heliports are Vertiports, where eVTOLs take off, land, collect passengers and recharge their batteries. Eve has assembled an impressive group of participating stakeholders to facilitate the three-week simulation and make it meaningful. These include Blade, Republic Airways, Halo Aviation, SkyWest Inc, Speedbird Aero, ACCIONA, Vertiport Chicago, and Tinley and Schaumburg villages.
Replicating Eve's future eVTOL, the helicopter will transport passengers from the vertiport to two helistops located northwest and southwest of Chicago. Two routes will be operated, the first from Vertiport Chicago to Schaumburg Municipal Helistop and the second connecting Tinley Park Helistop to the vertiport. By involving a broad range of stakeholders, Eve hopes their differing views and feedback will help it develop the right solution for cities like Chicago."
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I had to look up where Vertiport Chicago was (1338 S Wood St if you are interested) after this article about EV helicopter commuting tests being run there.
This sounds like exciting stuff, but raises some questions. Why are EV helicopters any safer, faster, more useful than existing helicopter technology? And why doesn't someone have a heliport there for regular helicopters? And who wants to fly into that neighborhood? Inquiring minds want to know.
Will Hepburn MPHS 66
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Answer - I don't know about safety of the EV helicopters. I can address the other questions.
The Heliport in Tinley Park has existed since 1999 and has been and is used by regular helicopters.
I worked on the heliport in Tinley Park north of I-80 when I was the assistant Village Manager. The Village was constructing a large Fire Department training facility with a tower and a very large parking lot for firetrucks to practice putting out fires. The facility was used by many fire departments in the region. Someone (I can't remember who but will try to find out) suggested that we put a heliport on the site. I think we had to have the FAA certify it and paint it to their standards.
My boss David Dorgan led the charge, I think. We liked it because we were working to enhance and improve our business park clustered around I-80, Harlem (Rt 43) and LaGrange Road (Rt 45), 183rd St and 191st St. We worked on developing the Tinley Park Convention Center with a number of hotels nearby. The World Music Theater was growing strong. We felt that the heliport would help us market our community as an upscale destination.
The Heliport was Part of our Comprehensive Plan
Village staff developed the Comprehensive Plan in house. The plan proposed the Downtown Improvement Plan / Transit Oriented Development Plan, the Housing Renovation Plan, the extension of 183rd Street, extensive landscaping improvements, the development of a Village wide bikeway system, forest preserve improvements, heliport, flood control improvements, the Tinley Park Convention Center and the Economic Development Incentives required to fund these improvements.
Craig Hullinger MPHS Jan 66
Tinley Park Helicopter Activity
Pat Carr,Neighbor
Posted Thu, Sep 12, 2013 at 9:02 pm
https://patch.com/illinois/tinleypark/tinley-park-helicopter-activity
The helicopter activity over the Mental health center today was law enforcement training. The airspace over Tinley Park is very active since we are in the flight pattern for Midway Airport. In addition, we have high tension power lines, underground pipelines and rail that traverse through our town. All of these have some sort of inspection from the air with helicopters. On any given day we have as many as 10-15 helicopters flying over our town. Tinley Park also maintains a public use helipad that is utilized frequently by public and private agencies. If we know there will be prolonged air activity we will notify the public.
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FAA INFORMATION EFFECTIVE 11 AUGUST 2022
Location
| FAA Identifier: | TF8 |
| Lat/Long: | 41-33-33.0000N 087-48-21.0000W 41-33.550000N 087-48.350000W 41.5591667,-87.8058333 (estimated) |
| Elevation: | 760 ft. / 232 m (estimated) |
| Variation: | 02W (1995) |
| From city: | 20 miles SSW of central business district of the associated city |
| Time zone: | UTC -5 (UTC -6 during Standard Time) |
| Zip code: | 60477 |
Heliport Operations
| Heliport use: | Open to the public |
| Activation date: | 02/1999 |
| Control tower: | no |
| ARTCC: | CHICAGO CENTER |
| FSS: | KANKAKEE FLIGHT SERVICE STATION |
| NOTAMs facility: | IKK (NOTAM-D service available) |
| Attendance: | UNATTENDED |
| Wind indicator: | lighted |
| Segmented circle: | no |
| Lights: | SS-SR |
Heliport Communications
| CTAF: | 122.9 |
| WX AWOS-AV at C56 (12 nm SE): | 119.125 (708-534-5256) |
| WX AWOS-3PT at IGQ (12 nm E): | 119.275 (708-889-6319) |
| WX AWOS-3 at LOT (13 nm W): | 118.525 (815-588-4802) |
| WX ASOS at MDW (14 nm N): | PHONE 773-884-4424 |
| WX AWOS-3 at JOT (17 nm W): | 119.975 (815-730-9560) |
| WX AWOS-3PT at GYY (18 nm E): | 134.575 (219-944-0010) |
Nearby radio navigation aids
| VOR radial/distance | VOR name | Freq | Var | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CGTr284/10.9 | CHICAGO HEIGHTS VORTAC | 114.20 | 02E | |||
| EONr356/17.4 | PEOTONE VORTAC | 113.20 | 02E | |||
| JOTr086/23.0 | JOLIET VOR/DME | 112.30 | 02E | |||
| DPAr127/31.5 | DUPAGE VOR/DME | 108.40 | 02E |
Heliport Services
| Parking: | tiedowns |
Runway Information
Helipad H1
| Dimensions: | 40 x 40 ft. / 12 x 12 m 60 FT BY 60 FT HELICOPTER PARKING PAD LOCATED 75 FT NORTH OF LNDG PAD. | ||
| Surface: | asphalt, in good condition | ||
| Runway edge lights: | PERI | ||
| Traffic pattern: | left | left | |
Heliport Ownership and Management from official FAA records
| Ownership: | Publicly-owned |
| Owner: | VILLAGE OF TINLEY PARK 16250 S. OAK PARK AVENUE TINLEY PARK, IL 60477 Phone 708-444-5000 24 HR NON-EMERGENCY NUMBER 708-444-5300. |
| Manager: | PAT CARR, DIR EMER MGMT 17355 S. 68TH CT TINLEY PARK, IL 60477 Phone 708-444-5601 24 HR DISPATCH CTR 708-444-5300 |
Heliport Operational Statistics
| ||||||
Additional Remarks
| - | 32 FT UNLIT PLINES 95 FT SOUTH; 40 FT BLDG 120 FT NW; & 33 FT LGTD POLES 293 FT W; 90 FT LGTD TWR 250 FT NW OF PAD. |
| - | INGRESS/EGRESS ROUTES ARE 090 DEGS & 270 DEGS. |
| - | FOR CD CTC CHICAGO APCH AT 847-289-0926. |
| - | +31 FT TREES 190 FT E OF FATO AND 100' N OF APCH CNTRLN RESULTING IN 5:1 APCH CLNC TO THE E |
