Recently, I was in Heringsdorf EDAH and planning to fly to southern France in one day. They had published a NOTAM that due to illness, the opening times of the airport would be reduced, now opening at 08:00 (Z, so 10:00 LT) . We got there half an hour in advance, hoping to maybe already find someone to let us in to prepare the plane for a timely takeoff, as we also wanted to beat a cold front moving in on our intermediate fuel stop in Nancy. Around 09:40, I saw someone in the building and approached him. The answer was “I can’t do that because we might get in trouble with the public authorities if they see us doing this”. So we duly waited another 20 minutes to satisfy some ominous local authorities’ ominous rules. Luckily still made the flight OK.
The security staff also showed stress in this incident. I have sympathy for them.
The thing which all daft regs have in common is the failure somewhere high up to do anything about it, or even to recognise it.
So the twats who confiscated my toothpaste at Norwich International Airport (some years ago) were on CCTV and might have been fired if they had not done it. Well, they also positively enjoyed it but that is a separate issue: occupational self selection i.e. “little hitler” jobs attract “little hitler” personality types.
And aviation is the best ecosystem in current existence for all kinds of weird and incompetent types because the magic word “safety” shuts up anybody trying to change the system. It takes top management with real balls and good realistic legal advice to do it, and that is really rare.
There are tons of obsolete regs in the aeromedical side too, written by e.g. 80 year old cardiologists (exact words of one cardio I know). Few people want to write about these openly for obvious reasons, but the threads attract lots and lots of readers…
Although this sounds ridiculous, I do feel for security staff, who are damned if they do and damned if they don’t.
Maoraigh wrote:
Today this was not permitted
Today our LAA Inspector was to check our work on our Permit aircraft. He flies from a farm strip, and had let his Inverness airside badge time-expire. He went to renew it, but was unable to do so today.
I was inside the hangar when he phoned me. I had previously escorted people in, on production of their driving licence, and a promise not to let them out of my sight. I went out to meet him. We both wore conspicuity jackets, and I had my airside badge.
Today this was not permitted. The gate staff were only doing their duty – he contacted the most senior on-duty management, and was still refused.
As he had previously held an airside badge, he could only be allowed in, escorted by me, on production of a pilot’s licence as well as a driving licence.
He drove home, got his PPL, and was allowed in to check the aircraft.
(He is a retired senior Air Force engineer.)
Ibra wrote:
“It is forbidden without a cemetery plot to die on the territory of the commune”
I heard this a while ago and, if I remember correctly, this was a way for the mayor’s office to wash their hands of the problem with no more cemetery plots available: “We have promulgated a law to deal with that, and if anyone dies anyway, blame them, not us”.
Ibra wrote:
“It is forbidden without a cemetery plot to die on the territory of the commune”
ROFLOL!
Reminds me a bit of Gerard Hoffnungs tale about Tyrolean Landlords writing to him in answer to holiday inquiries.
“In the nearby village you can buy nice memorials for when you pass away!”
I think a lot of it is that the advent of GPS caused the bottom to drop out of the nav profession, and left a whole load of people scratching around for work to do / caught a lot of regulators with their trousers down, so they had to find some other outlets for their talents.
You can’t beat local laws by French municipal mayors: “Any aircraft, known as a flying saucer or flying cigar, which should land on the territory of the community will be immediately held in custody.” (law that was intended to ban UFOs landings in the 50s)
Out of aviation topic but still from another mayor: “It is forbidden without a cemetery plot to die on the territory of the commune”
