Definition
A heliport is an area of land, water, or a structure used or intended to be used for the landing and takeoff of helicopters, including any associated buildings and facilities such as fueling, hangars, or terminal services.
Plain English
An airfield made for helicopters. It can be at ground level, on water, or on top of a building, and may include support facilities for fueling and parking.
Context Anchor
Seen in NOTAMs, airport information, and chart notes when the information applies to a helicopter landing area.
Derivation
Formed from 'helicopter' plus '-port', the same suffix used in 'airport' and 'seaport', meaning a place where vehicles arrive and depart. So a heliport is simply a 'helicopter port'.
Why Pilots Care
Helicopter pilots need heliports for safe operations in urban or remote areas where full airports are unavailable.
Intuition Check
Do not assume a heliport is the same as a full airport. A heliport may be a small rooftop, pad, platform, or marked area used specifically by helicopters.
Example Sentence 1
The medevac flight departed the hospital's rooftop heliport and headed for the trauma center.
Example Sentence 2
A NOTAM reported the downtown HELI closed for maintenance.