Airports, yellow jackets, security, etc

dublinpilot wrote:

That’s not an image that I recognise where I fly. A police man at an airport is a rare sight to me.

It doesn’t take a “policeman” to police pilots. The idea that airports can operate without a person present who watches over the movements, records from where to where and who, who will record any wrong doing and so on is foreign to most countries. That is why I said genuine or imagined.

Mooney_Driver wrote:

foreign to most countries

Not the US. No hi-viz vest Nazis needed round here. Or Australia. Or southern Africa. It’s a European thing (and even there only in parts).

Peter wrote:

…but no risk assessment makes sense for them to be worn at airports.

There are certain environments where they actually make sense. Pilots have been run over by ground vehicles at night, especially because the dark-blue uniforms are sort of optimum camouflage in the dark. When I was flying night freight I wore a high-viz jacket out of sheer self-preservation. Being parked at some dimly-lit cargo apron and surrounded by vehicles like fuel bowsers, handling agent’s vans and forklifts makes you want yourself to be seen…
But during daylight around small aircraft? Certainly not. But apart from the UK, no one really expects you to wear them under these conditions.

Peter wrote:

I do hope that Italian airport re-opens.

I also hope that every closed airport reopens (especially Berlin Tempelhof!) and those still open remain open. But let’s be realistic. This one here is a daylight-VFR-summertime only place. Everything else will make it really expensive, especially winter operations. Snow removal from the runway and apron(s), ground de-icing for aircraft and/or hangarage are labor-intensive and therefore costly. Those costs will have to be divided among the handful of lightplanes which will come to visit the place in winter. Those who bring real money, bizjets and small commercial charters, will require this airfield to be upgraded radically, probably beyond what is financially possible. Looking at google maps, the apron is just large enough for one 50-seater commuter or three bizjets. What kind of income can be generated from that?

Google Maps URL

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I agree with what_next re yellow fluo jackets. After seeing a rampie squished flat at night by a pallet loader, I wanted to stick a yellow rotating beacon on my head as well. Are they always needed – no, but do we really want a a working commission and a supervisory commission drafting a thick binder specifying where on the apron to put it on, at what time, in what type visibility…. etc? There’s enough trees cut down already.

Have it handy, if someone says something – put it on. Problem solved. There are a lot more important problems in GA than hi viz jackets.

dublinpilot wrote:

That’s not an image that I recognise where I fly. A police man at an airport is a rare sight to me

In places where a flight plan submission to government is mandatory for every flight, I’d assume the police can monitor any legal flight operation without getting out of their chairs.

Silvaire wrote:

In places where a flight plan submission to government is mandatory for every flight, I’d assume the police can monitor any legal flight operation without getting out of their chairs.

Wrong assumption I’d say. Also we usually do not submit flight plans to the government but to an ANSP which is typically private company (with state ownership). The purpose of flight plans in Europe is to coordinate SAR.

Mooney_Driver wrote:

It doesn’t take a “policeman” to police pilots. The idea that airports can operate without a person present who watches over the movements, records from where to where and who, who will record any wrong doing and so on is foreign to most countries. That is why I said genuine or imagined.

While most places that I land will have someone around, I’ve certainly landed at many places (perfectly legally) where there was nobody but sheep around. Isn’t it just Germany that requires the presence of a human on the airfield to make the movement legal (and safe!).

There are plenty air places in Ireland and the UK where you can land with nobody around. French airports don’t seem to close at “closing time”; it’s just the staff that go home, but you can still land and take off there. I’m less familiar with the other European countries, with only occasional visits.