Purpose
In a large metropolis, a heliport can serve passengers needing to quickly move within the city or to outlying regions. Generally heliports can be situated closer to a town or city centre than an airport for fixed-wing aircraft. The advantage in flying by helicopter to a destination or even to the city's main airport is that travel can be much faster than driving. As an example, the Downtown Manhattan Heliport in New York City provides scheduled service to John F. Kennedy International Airport and is used to move wealthy persons and important goods quickly to destinations as far away as Maryland.
Some skyscrapers feature rooftop helipads or heliports to serve the transport needs of executives or clients. The U.S. Bank Tower in Los Angeles is an example. Police departments use heliports as a base for police helicopters, and larger department may have a dedicated one such as the LAPD Hooper Heliport.
Helipads are common features at hospitals where they serve to facilitate MEDEVACs or air ambulance transfers of patients to trauma units or to accept patients from remote areas without local hospitals or facilities capable of providing the level of emergency care required. In urban environments, these heliports are typically located on the roof of the hospital.
Read more about this topic: Heliport
Famous quotes containing the word purpose:
“Certain books seem to have been written not for the purpose that we learn something from them but that we know that the author was a knowledgeable person.”
—Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe (1749–1832)
“Of what significance the light of day, if it is not the reflection of an inward dawn?—to what purpose is the veil of night withdrawn, if the morning reveals nothing to the soul? It is merely garish and glaring.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“The technologist was the final guise of the white missionary, industrialization the last gospel of a dying race and living standards a substitute for a purpose in living.”
—Max Frisch (1911–1991)