Weston Airport

Suits wrote: »

What station was she on? Someone should have rung in and put her straight.

I got blanked in Leixlip Village by a shop owner when I was buying some food one day because I had my NFC jacket on....I said "Hi" to draw his attention to me and he said cuttingly "oh I hear you dont worry, I cant help but hear you lot" so I put down the items and walked out.....was a bit petty and I was hungry too....:(

They dont have planning permission to extend the runway to create a balanced field do they? I thought I heard that before but was unsure and would assume that would be the cause of much local saber rattling.

To the locals all I could say is that Weston has a stupid nose abatement policy in order to keep you all happy, the airport authorities bend over backward to meet you demands and you just create more of them. Weston isnt going anywhere and those who think they can force it to close are sadly mistaken!

It was Kildare FM I think, she's a regular there.

Runway 25 ends at the county boundary with Kildare, so there is no "runway" in Kildare as such (just the stopway). So when huge efforts were made, consultations, planning applications, safety cases etc, to "move" or centralise the runway (a paint job actually, no tarmac laying involved), which would have increased safety both for pilots and nearby residents, all the serial objectors banded together, in case the sky fell in of course. They succeeded in having that effort to improve the infrastructure stopped, mainly on the basis that it involved a "new runway" being built in Kildare...pure poppycock!
There were of course, the usual objections on the basis of " intensification" of the use of the airport. Which of course would have meant more jobs at Weston, are you following their logic...??....wait a minute...aren't there thousands of unemployed...?...oh well...

I hope you passed on your experience in that shop to the others at NFC! Boycott the grumpy bast**d.

QDM

It's only since this thread started and the info came out that I looked at the charts etc.

It seems a bit mad to me ( as a lapsed PPL ) , basically there is a whole chunk of runway there that can only be used as a stop area for runway 27 .

So Aircraft taking off from 07 can't use it , but if they could wouldn' that mean they would be higher/ further away from the houses / built up area ? Talk about shooting themselves in the foot.

Or have I got things wrong ? ( wouldn't surprise me )

I believe jet aircraft line up on the stopway and taxi into position for a rolling take off at high speed and full power.......*cough*

The locals assume a longer runway means an a380 may swoop overhead. Many of them dont know anything about aviation and they fear that commercial jets like 737s, A320s etc may start to use the airfield. They dont understand the mechanics of the industry etc and lack of knowledge breeds fear.

CharlieOscar wrote: »

As an in-training PPL'er, I can see and understand arguments from both sides.

But a solution to all the rants on here (both from pilots, enthusiasts and "whingers as they are so kindly referred to/or just local residents"), might be instead of random gossip as to what is happening, to publish a document either here or on the Weston Executive Airport website, to outline what the intentions of the airport are, what type of traffic is in operation, when this traffic is operating (08:00 - 19:00), what are the plans for development and growth of the airfield. What are the plans to extend if any, just put it all in black and white.

I see your point and it would be an ideal solution, but the issue that weston has is that the people they deal with in the local area are unreasonable and wont listen when they are told the facts. They let fear and hysteria overtake them and cant be talked down. If weston issued a document that said "We plan to move the runway to a more central position thus allowing a larger clearance of obstacles etc", the locals would claim it is so Capt Jean Luc Picard could land the Enterprise there or something. They assume any change from the current layout would mean large jets. This situation exists because of ill informed dickheads in the area filling people's heads with idle gossip and fear mongering amongst locals who are trying to have their cake and eat it as far as house price:airfield proximity goes.
You then get TDs stoking these fears so as to create an issue out of nothing and make it look like they are doing something about it for the community. It's utter nonsense!

Bottom line is no matter what weston do it will never be good enough. A shower of opportunists bought cheap houses under a flight path and then complain when the aircraft make noise. Like building a beach house and then complaining that the ocean keeps you awake.....or those people who bought cheap land on a flood plain and complained when their houses flooded after heavy rain, even though the people who build Newgrange and the people in the Stone age knew it was a bloody flood plain!!:rolleyes:

Charlie Oscar as a matter of fact that is exactly what Weston tried to do but the reasonable considered truthful approach to objectors just doesn't work.

An example, at one airfield the objectors scoured the regulations and decided that once the runway was lenghtened that locals would be unable to build houses in the vicinity because of obstacle clearance rules. This refused to go away even when the IAA pointed out it would practically have to be a skyscraper at the end of the runway for it to be an issue. Similarly fears were stoked up that it would be turned into a 24 hour operation with the likes Ryanair flying in and out, despite the location being completely unsuitable, the cost of setting it up astronomic and the fact that a half empty international airport was only ten minutes flying away.

Nothing will convince them otherwise. Local TDs and councillors invariably take the side of the objectors because quite frankly despite the fact that an airfield may be beneficial to the community they are more interested keeping their votes and will quite cynically use it to garner popularity.

But the biggest problem is usually the simple fact that the whole campaign is often organised by a single individual or small group often with a grudge. They keep the pot boiling and will manufacture complaints out of nowhere. The lengths they go to are extraordinary. In one particular case shotguns were produced and used near the airfield with a clear implication. Nothing 'illegal' of course.............

Where that doesn't exist airfields are often popular locally to the extent that people will turn out in droves of a Sunday just see what's happening at 'their' airfield.

But that could change overnight if one person sets out on a campaign to close it.

Funny I just joined and I am straight into an issue I am passionate about.

Those who surround Weston have no right to complain about aircraft as there was a runway there before most of the houses. Simple as for me I'm afraid!

Kenny2012 wrote: »

M-CICO FA50EX City Air Services dep at 17.20

Ken

Thanks . I saw the Falcon as I drove past at 3:30ish . Always one of my fav aircraft.

Well, here we go again, today's (June 2nd issue) Liffey Champion, Page4, has TD Catherine Murphy off on her personal vote catching crusade against Weston again....

Whether there's any truth in the headline, "Weston Airport is sold, but new owners still unidentified", is debatable, but her attitude is apalling. Instead of welcoming new investment, and hopefully new jobs, she is siding with the complainers and whingers, the same old same old....:(

Before any new owners take over, she is setting out her stall, along with I am sure the "Everything about Weston is bad" brigade, who will pop up soon enough...

There is no unauthorised use of any runway taking place, ask the IAA, Ms Murphy, they oversee it's licence, and should know. There are very strict noise abatement measures in place, and used by all aircraft. The locals reporting "extreme levels of noise pollution" should not whinge to her, but report it to the IAA. What do they expect living next to an airport?

Get off your personal high horse, and get this country working again, it is after all what you are supposed to be elected for.

QDM.

She could do with a few emails and help her get off her high horse:D
catherine.murphy@oireachtas.ie

As a newbie here, I am encouraged by the support shown for Weston as a GA airfield. I have taken some flights from there and have spend many hours with the kids in the car asleep while I watch the planes fly in and out. I am also sickened to hear about political opportunism by Catherine Murphy. On another note; has skytrace pulled out of Weston. I see on their website that they have moved their base to Waterford. I took a few lessons from them last year and found them good. I also found NFC good. Hope this is not a sign of greater demise in Weston and that new owners (whoever they may be) can get it going again.

xflyer wrote: »

How recent is that Leftbase? Obviously some November. It's almost laughable. Taken at face value it seems 47 separate aircraft arrived in a two hours flew very low over the unfortunate local residents causing terror among the children and setting off alarms all over the place.

It must have been quite a sight! And that's November, what must it be like in the Summer?

But this is the kind of nonsense that these people spit out. Amazingly it's gets taken seriously in some quarters.

Another example was where pilots were accused of deliberately flying low over people's houses in order to intimidate them. No doubt while laughing evilly, mu ha ha!

It's a year or 2 old I think, but I'd imagine it still applies to these people.

A C152/172 landing at weston with low power setting wouldnt not make that much noise and would not set off alarms.

Dunno what it is with these kids, my friends and I would have loved a few low flying aircraft over our houses. The kids there must be a shower of cowards!

bombs away wrote: »

Actually that particular article is from 2004 -

http://www.flyinginireland.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=448

so not sure if that still applies.


That said I would appeal to everyone to e-mail the afformentioned TD to correct her on her errors some of which could be deemed as defamation against the facility and it's employee's due to their many inaccuracies.

Oh ok I see, didnt know it was that old!

Does anyone have a link to any of her actual stances/arguments?


Oh Here's some lies and falsehoods here! http://www.maynooth.org/?p=36136

I emailed her addressing some of the issues she raised.

xflyer wrote: »

I should also point out that the current Minister for Transport has taken an anti airfield stance too. You have to wonder about people being fit for the job.

Also Murphy is an independant which of course means she has very little influence other than to stir things locally.

One ironic point to make is that the antis objected to the proposal that the runway be re drawn so that the runway is centred on the paved area. This would have the result that approaching aircraft would be considerably higher in the vicinity of the houses. Not only that of take off to the east they would also be higher. So no more so called low flying.

This would answer a lot of the genuine fears among some residents. But naturally this was rejected because in reality the low flying allegations are simply part of a campaign to get the Weston closed permanently. That's what this is all about. If the so called noise and low flying issues were resolved to the satisfaction of people who have genuine issues, whether they be real or not. It would not suit the purposes of the organiser behind this campaign.

That's why being reasonable and bending over backwards to placate objectors never actually works.

I recently pulled into the housing estate to see what it was really like there. A few 152s a 172 and NFC's Twin went over and apart from a slight rumble from the Twin (quieter than the reverser noise within a 5 mile radius of DUB) I heard very little because....what I did hear was a constant drone from the N4....the 6 lane motorway just beside the estate was droning out the aircraft noise.....by far the noisiest thing in the area!

So much for "peaceful" neighborhoods..:rolleyes: