A city street was briefly transformed into a helicopter landing pad early Monday morning to kick off the American Helicopter Society conference at the nearby Palais des Congres.

Traffic was closed for about 15 minutes at Viger and St. Antoine at 5:40 a.m. as the helicopter touched ground in the middle of St. Urbain.

The helicopter will sit atop the Palais des Congres for the three day conference which Tuesday and ends Thursday.

About 300 presentations relating to vertical flight will be a part of the proceedings of the group's 70th annual forum. Those presentations will include displays relating to innovations in acoustics as well as unmanned systems. 

The helicopter will fly off either Friday or Saturday, depending on weather conditions.

Traffic will be temporarily rerouted for one of those days as the helicopter departs from the same spot.

According to a list posted on Wikipedia, the Montreal area is home to 11 helicopter landing pads, but none near the conference centre.