[lmadave]

I Have noticed that some people on these forums do not realise the implications of their comments. It seems that a lot of topic entries are non-plussed by the fact that small and not so small airfields are being snapped up by housing developers and is going to cause a catastrophic problem with pilot training, not just in the future but now. My personal interest is in Manston airport which was bought up by developers a couple of years ago with the intention of building thousands of houses on the site, so far no planning permission has been granted.
The closing of Manston resulted in a long established flying school to close, hangarage for many light aircraft to disappear and the loss of cargo operations and links to European hubs for worldwide travel, plus the loss of peripheral airfield dependent jobs. Manston is capable of handling the largest aircraft flying today, it was used for pilot training for the Airbus A380 and Boeing 777 just before developers bought the airfield with the promise of investing in its future and within months closed it down.
The government needs to become involved in preventing this disaster and put a block on the apparent freedom of developers who just see pound signs when they spot an airfield.

[Paul_Sengupta]

Yep.

We're all on your side.

[PeteSpencer]

Wasn't there a petition to this effect earlier this year which got a pathetically small number of votes?

[Hawkwind]

As I recall, the flying school at Manston did not close down, but relocated to Lydd, which welcomed the extra business, along with, later on, the new Coastguard heli. base. I would expect that the future of Lydd is made more secure by having this business located with them.
Also most of the cargo flights similarly found ready alternative airports (Stansted/Ostend), and the links to European hubs have no doubt been assimilated into the figures of passenger flights from other airports.

[Rob L]

I understand and appreciate the sentiment of the OP, but

I Have noticed that some people on these forums do not realise the implications of their comments.

has me nonplussed as to why that has anything to do with the subject matter.

Rob

[chevvron]

The OP isn't very familiar with this forum otherwise he would remember the list published in previous threads naming the airfields known to be under threat; there are two extant on Fairoaks and another on North Denes, plus mentions of Panshanger, Dunsfold, Plymouth, Redhill and many others.

[lmadave]

Information for Hawkwind, yes the flying school did have to relocate at Lydd with a great deal of resentment by the owners of the school who I know. Lydd could only provide office facilities and their aircraft had to be operated from a farm flying strip some miles away. TG Aviation, to give it a name, built up a superb business over the years training many pilots, some of which became Red Arrow display pilots. Actually most things are miles away from Lydd airport and are it is only accessible via country roads as some of you may know if you have been there. It is totally not comparable to Manston and , by the way, search and rescue wanted to locate at Manston but ran out of time.

[SteveC]

Isn't there an American airline looking at taking over mansyon for cargos at the moment ?

[ChampChump]

River Oak have had their bid in a long while. Another is interested, now, apparently.

A friend knows more about the politics there than I and I can't recall all the detail, but some people seem to be jumping from fence to opposite fence via any useful bandwagon, not very helpfully to the area.

'Twas ever thus, no doubt.

[LowNSlow1]

This month's AOPAUK had the tantalising line "Proposals to restore Panshanger as a non-licensed aerodrome are expected shortly."

Anybody know anything more?

[chevvron]

This month's AOPAUK had the tantalising line "Proposals to restore Panshanger as a non-licensed aerodrome are expected shortly."

Anybody know anything more?

Already a thread on this about a year ago.
Wasn't it proposed that the runway should be moved north a bit and the southern part of the existing airfield be used for housing?

[Dave W]

The 2016 thread seems to have been a different proposed solution, so not really relevant to current reports.

There's a thread on the Other Side that quotes a June 2017 article:

19th June 2017
A multi-million pound deal to buy land for a Welwyn Garden City airfield is on the brink of being finalised, the Welwyn Hatfield Times understands.

Panshanger Aerodrome has been closed since Septemeber 2014, and had been put forward by landowner Mariposa Investments as a potential housing site in the borough council’s Local Plan last year.

However, following a late U-turn, the proposals were scaled back to leave room for an airfield, and a source close to the subsequent negotiations revealed that an agreement to buy the land has been unofficially reached.
The insider claimed that should everything go through, there are plans for it to be reopened as a community airfield, creating around 25 jobs and 17 apprenticeships.

He added there would also be a new community club house, restaurant, bar and function room to the north east corner – away from any potential new housing – next to a helicopter flight training school.

There would also be a light and microlight aircraft flying school, the WHT understands.
...
It is understood that the potential new owner also wants to develop a 700-metre Tarmac runway, angled to avoid any aircraft taking off or landing over nearby houses, as well as new hangars.

However, the insider stressed that even if the deal goes ahead as expected, the plans would still hinge on approval from Welwyn Hatfield Council.

Mariposa Investment declined to comment.

[James Chan]

It's been long known that aerodromes both small and large have been under threat.

The result has been closures and limited hours at small aerodromes, and excessive mandatory handling charges and awkward procedures at the larger ones, and Class A airspace all over the place. In the past, much government owned land was sold off to private owners that may or may not have any interest in (the lighter side of) GA. If they did, they could be sold again to someone who didn't.

To solve this, more lobbying resources are needed, for e.g. time, money, and smart, knowledgeable and influential negotiators well connected into the political structure. While great strides have been made in the past decade at the regulatory level on pilot licensing and aircraft certification matters, there has been comparatively very little progress at the political level for aerodrome planning, protection and accessibility. There are exceptions though such as Lee-on-Solent, and Gloucester but even they cannot exist alone without connectivity to a wider network.

I think there has never been enough people that are bothered and/or willing to put in the time and effort to focus specifically on these issues partly because certain groups would prefer to operate out of their own private strips and members clubs and are happy to leave it as that. Other groups have lobbed rocks and used very strong words at the establishment but unsurprisingly achieved very little due to their behaviour. Other groups are too old and too tired to think about preserving the activity for future generations so don't or can't get involved. Another group has given up flying altogether due to ever-rising costs and don't get involved anymore.

This, and alongside with the development of the European high speed rail network and budget airline operators, is why I think GA has never flourished in the same way the USA has.

Without sufficient resources to preserve a network of publicly open and accessible aerodromes, smaller aerodromes will continue to close while the larger ones continue to price out the lighter side of GA.

[cockney steve]

Perhaps the way forward may be for various Aviation organisations to form a consortium ,all paying a levy, based on membership numbers, to purchase strategic airfields under threat......the members of the organisations would get a reduced rate for using the facilities of those airfields and, maybe , some exclusive facilities., club lounge, for instance.
This would have a knock-on effect, ultimately, of encouraging membership of one or more of the consortium's organisations. At present, there is a general attitude of "why should I join, ?- they'll act without my membership fee " this is particularly prevalent in Trade organisations, where many are happy to ride on the back of a few. Federation of small businesses, for example.
In the case of Aviation, there's everyone from AOPA through to BHPA. Perhaps a thought tor the LAA to expand and fill the void?

[chevvron]

Class A airspace all over the place.
.

The amount of Class A airspace in the UK has in fact reduced over the last few years, firstly with Upper airspace changing to Class C above FL195 (used to be Class A above FL245) then with all Class A CTRs becoming Class D airspace.

Now all we need is blanket Class E to be introduced underneath TMAs