Row over training flights at Kent Airport
22.08.07
Restrictions on training flights at Kent International Airport have been removed from official documents of the government's aviation industry regulator. The controversial flights have been increasing in regularity according to residents who say they are noisy, polluting and low flying.
Infratil, the airport operator, decreased the number of conditions that appear on the Civil Aviation Authority's pilot guide following an increase in traffic at the Manston airport. According to press reports, the company did not tell Thanet District Council of the changes.
Flight activity and its impact on the surrounding environment is controlled by an agreement between the operators and the council, called a section 106. Thanet council chiefs say there are no restrictions on training flights in the document, but opposition councillors dispute this.
Labour councillor Richard Nicholson, who lives in Ramsgate, said: 'This is why it is so important the council gets its head out of the sand and starts meeting with Infratil to get this sorted out. There are set routes designed to keep the flights away as much as possible from areas where people live. But they are ignoring the route completely and that is what people are so angry about. They seem to be doing it with impunity.'
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