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Whistler Medical Centre helipad fails inspection

Dec. 20, 2011, Whistler, B.C. – This isn't going to be a very merry
Christmas for any one who needs to get to the Whistler Health Care
Centre in a hurry by helicopter.

Helicopters won't be landing at the Whistler Health Centre helipad this holiday season because Transport Canada couldn't issue an operating certificate following an inspection on  December 15 of the upgraded landing pad.

According to Brent Alley, the Executive Director of Capital Projects with Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH), a key part of the snow removal system on the helipad is incomplete.

Alley said the contractor working on the project knew that part of the project wouldn't be completed in time, but the inspection was allowed to go ahead so the contractor could get an idea of what needed to be dealt with before the next inspection in mid-January.

"The glycol loop to the heating boilers, there's a missing piece, which is a manifold that has to be customer made and that particular piece isn't made yet," said Alley.

The makers of the manifold that is required to get the heating system operational are working to expedite the creation of the part, he added.

"We acknowledge that this project has been difficult and we are doing everything we can to get it up and running because we certainly know how important it is to Whistler to have this functional so in the interim we'll continue to use the municipal heliport," Alley said. "We're cognizant that that's a solution not as ideal as we'd like."