Almost every major €€€uropean airport is friendly to GA if you can afford to pay their stupid fees that just lines the pockets of their €€€xecutive management, their local government finance department (if publically owned), or their investors (if privately owned)....
Actually I think the problem actually started at the former and current BAA (a.k.a. ££££) airports where the resident GA pilot population couldn't care less about the fees. They happily decided to give up their runways and move to the £10 remote grass field. Then they complained when it went up to £11.
Then the airport fees were copied across into Europe on the basis that it was an acceptable method of charging.
Long live GA (sarcasm).
Dear fellows,
The more I read issues like these,the more I conclude that GA flying is becoming a POLITICAL ACTION. Either from our side,either from their side.
I deeply feel under my skin that Airport policies are "hit & run" or "see what happens" or "lets try this" or "keep them away" methods.
It is not allways the antiGA big brain taking organised and well calculated measures. It can also be a lack of brains or lack of motivation or simple hatred.
[text formatting fixed up... please avoid lots of leading spaces on new lines because that triggers a special formatting feature - Peter]
I have heard similar stories from here in Germany, where Private Pilots were not allowed to bring a WATER BOTTLE to their airplane.
Einstein: "Two things have no limit, the universe and human stupidity. I But I am not sure about the universe".
Unfortunately this is a worldwide tragedy. After two years of sneaking into Phuket International VTSP despite an overnight parking ban notam, I was kicked out yesterday after landing and told not to come back. "We do not want little aircraft here anymore."
Krabi VTSG 45 miles away also refused me overnight parking, the first time ever, which left me with the option of returning back to Bangkok 400 miles away, or attempting my first Jetprop grass landing at a 600M strip next to the main airport.
The aircraft is currently parked at the strip. :-) Not ideal, but you take what you can get here... And I see this situation only getting worse. We may be the last of the pilot generations to enjoy landing at these bigger airports.
E
Can one not do a deal with some based handling company, eal?
Here in Europe most things are possible via a handler - at a price. I could be based at Gatwick if I wanted to.
I am sure you know your "market" well, however...
I was being handled, and the handler did keep warning me it would happen one day... :-(
E
the more I conclude that GA flying is becoming a POLITICAL ACTION.
I could not agree more. Sadly though, it's very visible to the general population and it is very easy for a politician/local businesses to win votes but taking down these "polluting, dirty and out-dated" fleet. No one looks at facts/figures anymore and it is all uninformed perception that rules.
What made my blood boil wrt to the political angle that we are faced with everyday, was an article I read about the amount of product transportation within some supply chains - this puts into perspective that we are a drop in the Ocean and actually don't annoy anyone.
How much damage do we do to local environments, compared to say transporting water from Europe to the US (apparently they don't have any); and in return from the US to Europe Ice-Tea products, (because here we don't have tea or fridges!)
Then the leather products that are made from US exported leather, transported to Brasil for tanning, transported to China to be made into items, and then reimported to the US, for me that was the shocking bit... Someone please explain to me the logistics behind how that can be cheaper unless something is seriously wrong with our accounting systems???
Sorry this is thread creep... maybe we should start a new one! :)
Someone please explain to me the logistics behind how that can be cheaper unless something is seriously wrong with our accounting systems???
It seems bizzare, but bulk sea freight costs only of the order of $10/ton. The price you pay is that it takes 4 weeks...
As to why people do it... cheap labour in China. Actually that is changing. Yesterday I had a quote for some (complex) labels from there, at €0.77 each. That is the same as the UK. China is rapidly screwing itself.
@Peter, yeah I agree with your statement but for me the flaw in that system is it looks purely financially at the actual gain/loss of the transaction and the individual. While ignoring anything non-tangible or difficult to account. It may cost $10/ton, in direct cost. But what about indirect costs to the environment in the higher fossil fuel usage to transport the items, and then social costs in the local area of job losses and less people to purchase local items, or afford to fly for example, our accounting systems can not see that impact because of the way they are setup...
Brining my argument back to an aviation setting, I think that the issue with airports forcing out GA is a symptom of an odd spiral down the plug hole that we find ourselves on. Airports provide jobs, however small, it may one manager and some cafe staff, but that is more that none. For me the problem with politicising the GA community is one that immediately becomes counter productive and seems to provide a one way ticket to demise.
As large airports push us out, and the managing businesses along with local politicians claim to have scored a victory over pollution and "rich boys" playing, it gives them cheap political points. What if for a second we looked at things from a different perspective - the airports encouraged us to come, their revenues would increase (€200 euros from 1 GA movement is far less than €20 euros from 50 GA movements), if regulation and maintenance regimes were sensible and affordable more people could afford to fly - the utility would go up.
But then maybe it is the airlines that are behind this, more people who fly themselves the less people who fly on the jets... but for the green lobby who say we pollute remember our thread on fuel consumption per seat per mile... made interesting reading that whatever the size of aircraft there was a magic figure that all seemed to align on.
So I would argue we are not polluting, well any more than any other mode of transport! I would argue that we are not pushed out of larger airports for money, I would argue that few in our community can be sure of the real reason that we are pushed from the airports. I certainly don't, I am just looking at the information provided by the community and questioning it, because to me it doesn't make sense!
Next time somebody mentions pollution in relation to light aircraft, ask them how many children they have and whether the world would have less pollution if they'd chosen differently.
