Airport News
Below are news items relating to specific airports
Heathrow emergency landing of BA plane with engine on fire: Engine cowls had been left unlatched
Air accident investigators say the doors on both engines of the BA flight that made an emergency landing at Heathrow last week had been left unlatched. This was due to human error. Air accident experts said the coverings - the fan cowl doors - broke off and punctured the right engine's fuel pipe, damaging the aircraft's systems. The engine was extensively damaged. The jet flew back to Heathrow, on one engine, with smoke trailing from the other, right across heavily populated London. It landed safely. The findings were made in an interim report by the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB), which is examining the cause of the emergency It will make its final report in a couple of months. The fan cowl doors on both engines were left unlatched during maintenance and this was not identified prior to aircraft departure. BA confirmed that 2 different engineers would normally check whether a plane's engine covers had been shut before take-off. David Learmount, former pilot: "This is a bit of an accident waiting to happen because it is so difficult to see". Airbus said there had, in the past, been 32 reported incidents of fan cowl doors not being shut.
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Illustrative flight path maps of a 2nd Gatwick runway cause consternation – and show impact on AONBs
The maps showing the probable new flight paths if there were to be a new runway at Gatwick have caused widespread consternation. These were produced by GACC (the Gatwick Area Conservation Campaign) in mid May. GACC has received many enquiries from councillors surprised that their areas are likely to be affected. These include anxious queries from people who live in the Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) which surround Gatwick on three sides. GACC has now also published new maps showing the impact of the probable new flight paths on the AONBs. ‘These areas are recognised nationally as places of beauty and peace,’ said Brendon Sewill, GACC chairman. ‘They are visited by over a million people each year in search of quiet relaxation. All the AONBs are on high ground and therefore the impact of aircraft noise is greater.’ When Gatwick Airport claim that ‘only’ 29,000 people would be affected by noise from a new runway, and that this is fewer than at Heathrow, they ignore the impact on the million or so people who enjoy the peace of the AONBs.
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HACAN Blog: Heathrow’s noise proposals are welcome, but beware a 3rd runway……
Writing in a blog for HACAN, John Stewart welcomes the proposals by Heathrow Airport to reduce noise - through respite periods, steeper approaches, improved sound insulation and n fines for the noisier aircraft. Of course Heathrow understands that, unless it is shown to be dealing with noise, there is no possibility it will get approval for a new runway. HACAN has worked with Heathrow on a number of its proposals and it is in the interests of HACAN's members get improvements to the current noise situation. However, any improvements in the amount of aircraft noise are unlikely to survive the building of a third runway. The sheer number of planes would wipe out virtually all the benefits. With a third runway, the number of planes which could use Heathrow would rise from 480,000 to over 700,000. A fourth runway airport, such as the Policy Exchange is promoting (but which Heathrow believes is not necessary), would allow 960,000 aircraft to use the airport. History suggests that it is the increase in flight numbers which causes the real noise problems for residents.
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Balfour Beatty may sell Exeter airport due to financial problems
Exeter airport was sold by DevonCounty Council to the airports group of British infrastructure company, Balfour Beatty, in early 2007. Now Balfour Beatty has started looking for buyers for its 60% stake, according to Sky news. The price is not known. Balfour Beatty has not been doing well in recent years, and they issued their second profits warning in six months, blaming “extremely tough” market conditions etc. The airport has not been doing well. The number of travellers using Exeter Airport topped one million in 2007 but has been falling since then, though the rate of decline has slowed since 2009. In 2012 passenger numbers were down to 697,074, following a drop of nearly 4% in 2011. About 250 people are directly employed by the airport, with a further 50 working at car parks, catering and retail concessions on the site. The remaining shareholding in Exeter airport is owned by Galaxy, a specialist fund which is backed by French and Italian investors and the European Commission.
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Heathrow publishes commitments on noise reduction measures, such as ranking airlines on noise
Heathrow Airport has put forward proposals that aim at "reducing aircraft noise while safeguarding the UK’s connectivity". These come in a report entitled "A quieter Heathrow" with the aim of defusing opposition to another runway (or two) by attempting to make Heathrow, as it is, a little less noisy for those who are now overflown. Heathrow's efforts to cut noise come under the headings of quieter planes, quieter operating procedures, noise mitigation and land-use planning, operating restrictions and working with local communities. Heathrow says it will rank airlines according to how noisy their aircraft are; it will increase fines for airlines that break noise limits; it will try new plane departure routes and steeper approaches. Plans also include establishing a new noise insulation scheme for homes and offices around Heathrow. In reality, though new planes produced today are slightly quieter than older ones, the difference are not large. What those overflown notice is the sheer number of noise events. HACAN welcomed the programme of noise reductions but - the huge increase in flight numbers from a new runway "would almost certainly outweigh the benefits these measures will bring."
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Think tank, Independent Transport Commission, recommends one hub airport, at Heathrow, Stansted or Thames Estuary
A charity land use and transport think tank, the Independent Transport Commission (ITC), have produced a report - to be submitted to the Airports Commission, on airport capacity. The ITC report says one major hub airport is needed, in order to compete with European rival airports. Heathrow cannot be left as it is. They say using two London airports to share the load will not do. They also say that if that hub is not Heathrow, then Heathrow would need to close, in order to give investors confidence that airlines would move their business. Closing Heathrow would have immense implications, with 114,000 people directly and indirectly employed by the airport. Its closure would have impacts on their families and the communities in which they live - but release a huge area of land (some 1,200 acres for profitable re-development..... though a town the size of Peterborough would be needed for the new hub airport. Their report follows a call for evidence last summer. The ITC's key worry seems to be that "...we are losing that capacity to Charles de Gaulle, Frankfurt [and] Schiphol and the airlines will want to use those airports."
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Lydd airport expansion decision to be challenged at the High Court by RSPB and LAAG
Plans for expansion at Lydd airport were initially proposed in 2010, and were given the go-ahead by the government in April after a public inquiry. Now campaigners opposed to development at Lydd have lodged an appeal against the government decision. The airport wants a runway extension of almost 300m and a new terminal, and development to allow up to 500,000 passengers per year, up from hardly any now. The RSPB and Lydd Airport Action Group (LAAG) have lodged separate appeals. The RSPB says that the area where the airport is situated, Dungeness, is one of the most important wildlife sites in the world - it is protected at global, European and UK levels. "The stakes are too high to risk the future of one of our best and most important places for nature without testing the basis for this decision which we consider to be flawed." The airport would damage the wildlife and landscape. LAAG argues the expansion plan is unsafe due to the airport being in such close proximity to Dungeness nuclear power station.
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Scots want APD devolved to Scotland before 2014 Games and London flight guarantees
In 2014 the 2014 the Commonwealth Games and the Ryder Cup will be held in Scotland. This, together with the recent decision by Flybe to sell all their landing slots at Gatwick, has prompted more calls to the Treasury,by the Scottish government to, get devolution of APD (Air Passenger Duty). Scotland wants to both deal with their own air travel tax, and also get guarantees of London airport slots for Scottish flights. Heathrow and Gatwick prefer larger planes to more profitable long haul destinations, and smaller planes from domestic airports are less lucrative for them. The Scottish government are claiming that the extra cost of £13 per flight within the UK (£26 for a return flight) is deterring tourists coming from London. As air travel pays no fuel duty and no VAT, removing or reducing APD would make the sector even more under-taxed than it is at present. The Flybe Gatwick slots will be taken over by EasyJet, which is likely to use them for more profitable destinations abroad, as that would make more money for shareholders than UK flights.
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Remarkable absence of concern about safety of Londoners in media reports of BA plane engine fire
While a BA plane limped back right across London, flying over miles of the city and thousands or hundreds of thousands of Londoners, with one burning engine and the outside of the other damaged - the media seem not even to consider the safety aspects of the story. It seems the cause of the problem could be a technical fault with the plane, rather than a bird strike. The Telegraph writes about the large number of passengers getting away for the bank holiday weekend, and how their flights are delayed. Simon Calder writing in the Independent takes the opportunity of heading his article "Emergency landing at Heathrow sparks further controversy over London airport capacity" though he does have the decency to add one comment from a member of the public in his piece to say that “London is one of the very few cities in the world that has its main flight paths over the city. A very serious accident is not a question of if, but when.”
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Damaged BA plane on one engine and trailing smoke from the other, flies right across London for emergency landing at Heathrow
A British Airways flight (BA 762) from Heathrow to Oslo was forced to turn back immediately after take off, due to what is likely to have been bird strike. The Airbus A319 was powered by two IAE V2500 engines. The left engine appears to have hit an object at take-off, which stripped off the engine cowling. The right engine then may have hit something, and there are observer accounts of a bang. The plane did a large loop around London, in order to land again, using only the left engine. Many observers saw, and recorded, the plane - trailing smoke from the right engine, as it flew right across London. The plane made a safe landing, though passengers were evacuated down emergency chutes, and there were only 3 minor injuries. Heathrow airport was disrupted for hours due to the emergency landing. While those in favour of expanding the airport are likely to use this dangerous incident to call for more airport capacity (so Heathrow can cope with incidents without delays) it would be more relevant and more responsible to question how safe it is to have disabled planes flying miles over densely populated London. Luckily this time, there was no crash. With Heathrow airport hoping to get another runway (or two) the safety issue of flying more and more planes over hundreds of thousands of people has to be confronted.