While hopping helicopter rides at Mount Rushmore this past year, I was climbing out of the Keystone helipad which is roughly 2 miles to NE and 4500' up to 5800' which is eye level with the monument.
I had a 210 call on freq (123.3) that he was 5800 and one mile north of the monument.... hmmmm.... that is exactly where I am.... caught a glimpse of him through the upper left corner of the windscreen and immediately dove down and right. So yea, he basically almost descended into me from behind(best guess 20' away from my rotor disc) and that was the first call he made.
So if you are cruising through the area, just give a shout out on 123.3. Plenty of room in the "pattern" for ya'll starch wingers to fit in.
However, the tour operator does actually have special permission, many man hours spent with FAA, US Dept of Forestry and what not and whatever the boss had to do, every year to break the "2000" foot rule. At the end of the day we probably get 30 phone calls a year complaining about us overflying someone's house when it was a starch winger. This makes life tough on the boss, especially when it comes time to renew his agreement with the forest service and what not. I'm sure you business owners out there can appreciate what I'm saying.
I was going to make up a Google map of our routes but I'm just too dang lazy. I flew at 5800 - 6200 but our lead pilot, she would, heh, fly as high as 7500
in front of the Rushmore monument. Basically our routes go around Rushmore, from Rushmore up to Harney Peak, and over to Crazy Horse and back. Also a heli base located a mile south of Crazy Horse. The people on the North Side of Harney Peak ridge (near Custer) complain even more. We fly around 7500 at Crazy Horse (some fly higher....
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