JasonC wrote:
While the intent of this is noble, I think reality will hit when you realise how much even a small bit of regulatory litigation will cost.
While I think you’re right, it would probably make sense to leave the UK out of this. Barrister’s fees in the UK are eye-watering and the whole exercise wouldn’t apply there anyway, as
a) most airfields are privately owned, so can pretty much do as they like
b) the country won’t be part of the EU much longer
Legal fees on the continent are, IME, significantly lower.
From the comments that we keep getting from the UK side it indeed looks that UK may be even more difficult than the challenging rest of EU.
But please let’s do not start the whole thing from the exclusions among us, being already under the exclusion process…
I’m in too ! Thank you Bart to take the lead on this critical subject.
Do you want us to discussion openly here about which airports could be considered ?
Bart – I don’t believe those commenting negatively have experience of the required process, and if they have they aren’t posting sufficient detail to establish it 
That is why you ask a good lawyer, not a pilot forum
Also the UK is in the EU and will be for some time.
The one thing different about the UK is that most airports are private, have no public responsibility, and perhaps the only thing you could go for is handling cartels. OTOH most airports here – excluding the London ones and a few others like Aberdeen* – are not that expensive. The table in post #15 shows that. What the UK does have is a large community of moaners and whingers (How do you tell a plane full of Brits has landed? the engines stop but the whining carries on) who dominate the UK “aviation pub” sites and continually press for a boycott of any place charging more than £5/£10… and then complain that you need a pair of rubber boots to use the toilet (actual case at Elstree EGTR when I used to fly there about 10 years ago) or the place becomes a housing estate when the owner gets sick of whinging pilots complaining about the £10 landing fee.
I think this important thread needs a new title.
* looking up Aberdeen I see the price has dropped dramatically from about £200 I got a few years ago… £90 is still too high to get regular GA traffic but then what do you expect from Signature who are in the business of ripping off everyone they can.
Peter wrote:
but then what do you expect from Signature who are in the business of ripping off everyone they can.
It’s Signature’s MO in the United States too (where they are typically written $ignature). If you end up at an airfield where they have a monopoly, the fees are orders of magnitude higher than other GA fields in the US.
looking up Aberdeen I see the price has dropped dramatically from about £200 I got a few years ago…
These prices are for aircraft of MTOW 757kg. There will be different charges for heavier weights.
757kg is way below most GA types… Those which are won’t be flying to most of those airports anyway.
Has anyone attempted to speak to any of the organizations?
In the US AOPA is great. I tried to speak to the EU counterpart and they were useless. But perhaps it was just my luck or the subject. Perhaps their mind, it was small potatoes they would rather handle larger more involved cases like this one.
The European ones are either very small or are mostly “lunching clubs”. This kind of initiative needs a focused approach, which can be done without having to pay lip service to existing arrangements and allegiances.
