Abstract: For many years it had been believed that steric compatibility of helix interfacescould be the source of the observed preference for particular angles between neighbouring helices as emerging from statistical analysis of protein databanks. Several elegant models describing how side chains on helices can interdigitate without steric clashes were able to account quite reasonably for the observed distributions. However, it was later recognized that the “bare” measured angle distribution should be corrected to avoid statistical bias. Disappointingly, the rescaled distributions dramatically lost their similarity with theoretical predictions casting many doubts on the validity of the geometrical assumptions and models. In this report we elucidate a few points concerning the proper choice of the random reference distribution. In particular we show the existence of crucial corrections induced by unavoidable uncertainties in determining whether two helices are in face-to-face contact or not and their relative orientations. By using this new rescaling, we show that “true” packing angle preferences are well described by regular packing models, thus proving that preferential angles between contacting helices do actually exist.