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The Main Heliport was located on
Fort Wolters and contained parking
spaces for 500 helicopters together with a 35,000 sq. foot
maintenance hanger, 14 briefing rooms, a fire station,
maintenance support shops, a paint shop, administrative
offices and a control tower.
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In the higher ground just to the
north of the Main Heliport was a Nike Hercules Battery, one of four
located around the Dallas and Fort Worth area during the Cold War
era.
The airspace around the Fort Wolters training area was among the
most crowded in the world. It was especially congested when the training
fleet returned back to the Main Heliport after the morning and after-noon
training periods. As the returning helicopters approached Fort Wolters,
they formed into long “daisy-chains” of many dozens of aircraft.
To maintain spacing and ensure control, all landings and take-offs at
the Main Heliport were divided into East or West traffic patterns.
During landings, all approaching aircraft all entered the traffic
pattern using either the East or West Area Marker as the Initial Point
(IP) of entry. The Area Marker was overflown at 1500' in West traffic
and 1800' in East traffic.
Once the IP was passed, all traffic was separated further by splitting
up to cross the Outer Markers. These were large (24' x 24') panels on
the ground that were painted different colors to be readily visible from
the air. As the brush and undergrowth was always cleared leading to
them, they were easy to locate.
Crossing the Outer Markers, it was easy to follow the color-matched
poles that led to the final Approach Marker which was overflown at 1200'
- from the Approach Marker it was just a short distance to terminate the
flight in a hover on the Approach Panel on the heliport.
It was a simple and safe procedure. Similar procedures were followed for
take-offs. Traffic using the Main Heliport stayed north of U.S. Highway
180, while traffic using Downing AHP stayed to the south of U.S. Highway
180.
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Below is a recent aerial view of the
Main heliport |
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