No fly zone: Mystery of helicopter found in Dubai hotel's underground car park

Hotel guests were surprised to find the chopper taking up space in the basement parking area of the Mövenpick Hotel in Jumeirah Lakes Towers

Guests were greeted by the surprising sight of a helicopter parked up underneath a Dubai hotel. Picture supplied
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UPDATE: Mystery surrounding parked helicopter is solved

It can be pretty frustrating to find someone taking up your parking space – no matter if it is a flying visit.

But when a rooftop helipad isn’t available, sometimes basement parking will just have to do for the busy Dubai helicopter owner.

Guests at the Mövenpick Hotel, in Jumeirah Lakes Towers, were startled to find what they thought was a UFO – uninvited flying object – taking up not one but three spaces in the underground parking area.

They didn’t know why it was dropping by, or even how it landed there.

After a baffled hotel guest took a snap of the conspicuous chopper on Thursday evening, The National swooped in to investigate.

Movenpick staff said the craft belonged to a restaurant housed in the hotel.

Quite why it was parked up – or how it was transported to the lower-reaches of the building – remains shrouded in mystery.

"I was trying to get to Pizza Express and happened to get out on the wrong floor. I saw the helicopter taped off in a parking spot. It was on basement level three which made it even more insane," said an Australian resident who spotted the helicopter.

"I have no idea how it got there and what made it so weird was that it was parked in the lower basement of a building.

"This is the first time i have seen it and for a second, I thought I had lost my mind."