There is an unused airstrip on a beautiful island called Inishboffin on the west cost of Ireland. It was developed by the Irish taxpayer, along with one close by on the mainland a few years ago.
The idea was to have small aircraft shuttle between the mainland and the island, similar to the service to the Arran Islands operated by Aer Arran. However the government decided not to complete the project at the point where only terminal buildings were required, which would have cost approximately €400K. So basically it’s a lovely strip, without a terminal building, and not being used.
You can see some photos from Peter’s report here where we flew overhead the Inishboffin strip last year.
It’s been reported in the press, that Aer Arran are paid €120K to keep both airfields closed!
What a waste of tax payers money, and a loss of facilities to the GA community, and a loss of income to the local businesses on the island.
There’s a guy on another forum that has posted looking for ideas on how to get them open
Possibly the issue is that there is no legal framework for operating an unmanned runway, and that immediately makes it unworkable because there is unsufficient population density to create a sufficient level of permanent activity (e.g. aeroclub, flying school, maintenance, commercial property).
Property values in the area ought to be quite low i.e. no pressure from housing estate development sharks. That (land value in the southern UK) is the factor which prevents e.g. Manston simply being taken over by a flying club.
I don’t think that a lack of legal framework is the real issue, but rather a risk adverse attitude of politicians.
There are some 200 airports in Ireland. Approximately 15 are permanently manned. The rest or unmanned strips/farmers fields etc. They seem to manage perfectly fine without the need for licences, fire cover etc.
But of course political decisions are different. They don’t like the idea of letting people do things themselves and carry their own risk, and no politician likes the idea that they might be blamed when someone crashes and dies, and aren’t discovered for 24 hours. Then they have to answer why “best practice” of having a permanently manned tower, and Cat I Fire & Rescure service wasn’t available, and as a result it’s easier to say “Keep it closed”.
What they should do is lease it to some locals interested in running it, and accepting responsibility for it (with their own insurance cover), paying some small rent, which would be a lot better than paying someone €120K to keep closed.
The €120K probably covers someone to check on the airport once a month….
Well, 120k is relatively frugal. In Spain there are few full-size airports with terminals and all, that lie idle. Political follies, paid with our tax money…..
Note to Peter: we really need two more emoticons here: head banging against wall and vomit!
For bang-head, you can use mine
http://www.peter-ftp.co.uk/icons2/bang-wall.gif
There are loads of these out there, but they can’t be relied on long-term (e.g. dropbox etc is a waste of time) and some services e.g. photobucket or imgur refuse to serve them. So you need to store them on a server which you control, ideally.
It’s funny how the US is supposed to be the most litigious country when it has numerous publicly owned and completely unattended airfields that are free to use without restriction on hours, etc.. At some of these places if you tripped and strangled yourself in the seatbelt getting out of the plane you would not be found for a week. It’s funny that Europeans are more concerned about liability issues in this and so many other aspects of life than the Americans.
PS I tried quite hard to get into Connemara (about 20 mi W of Galway) once and the response morphed from “er, yes” to “not on that day” or “not at the weekend” or “not overnight” to “only when it’s attended” and “not when there’s a flight” to “NO” as I pursued the matter. Same people I suspect.
There’s no place more beautiful or welcoming (except for certain airports) than the W coast of Ireland and it’s great to hear that Galway might be open once again. And of course there’s Kerry, Shannon and Sligo, all wonderful places to overnight.
It’s funny how the US is supposed to be the most litigious country
Indeed. But I think the statistics show that Ireland is just as litigious as the US, and catching up quickly on the obesity levels.
PS I tried quite hard to get into Connemara (about 20 mi W of Galway) once and the response morphed from “er, yes” to “not on that day” or “not at the weekend” or “not overnight” to “only when it’s attended” and “not when there’s a flight” to “NO” as I pursued the matter. Same people I suspect.
Indeed. “Aer Arran Islands” owned and controlled.
In Scotland The Highland Council has Ashaig ( Isle of Skye, Broadford) and Dornoch open but unmanned. PPR, fill in form, get billed. I’ve a landing card for Dornoch, no PPR.
It is pleasing to find this thread (nice to know that the topic is talked about by flyers)
The Minister who owns these airports, also owns a privately licensed aerodrome called, “EIBT, Belmullet Airstrip”. We can not figure out locally why Inishbofin can not be operated just like Belmullet!
In fact, the whole situation is such a shambles, that when recently confronted, the Minister was not even aware he owned Belmullet aerodrome or the fact it has been the tax payer who has paid for the annual aerodrome licence/ insurance etc for 30 years or so.
Aeroplanes are landing at Cleggan and Inishbofin airstrips on the QT but that is all. Very few park up and walk down to the bars for lunch or stay the night but plenty of touch and goes.
Pilots fear aer arann will bring them to court and they will loose their licence if they land. That is another problem!
Padraig O’Ceidigh should do the right thing and be the Ernst and Young entrepreneur that he is and hand the airstrips back otherwise this could blow up in his face. After all, he is always on TV going on about job creation and looking after people in the west. People around Clifden do not take him seriously anymore. RTE might get hold of this in the coming week. Prime Time or the Clare Byrne show the locals are gunning for with this story.
Aer Arann are silent on the matter.
