NATS to consider flight path changes after campaign
23.07.08
Campaigners have secured a flight path rethink by air traffic control company NATS, the Herts and Essex Observer reports. The company has published feedback to its 4 month public consultation on changes to flight paths above the south east - including take-off and landing routes from Stansted - and revealed some good and bad news for campaigners.
This initial document details the points raised and questions asked in more than 15,000 responses to the Terminal Control North proposals - the biggest aerial reorganisation in more than 30 years.
The suggested change to the Stansted westerly departures caused alarm to Thorley residents, who called for the route to be redrawn further away from Bishop's Stortford. NATS has said that it has tried to avoid the largest concentrations of population in the town, Sawbridgeworth and Much Hadham.
However it added: ‘We will consider whether alternative design options would be appropriate and feasible which realign the route, moving it further away from Bishop's Stortford, but towards Much Hadham.’
NATS will also review the feasibility and benefits of holding aircraft bound for Stansted's westerly runway in a hold at higher levels - above 7000 ft - in a bid to cut noise and limit the area over which planes may be seen descending to 4000 ft. The company will also look at holding easterly bound aircraft above 8000ft, but warned that safe separation and avoiding conflict with other flight paths was its top priority.
‘Procedural avoidance’ of Saffron Walden was also identified as an issue, with NATS considering a move to route aircraft above the town at a height of over 5000 ft. A suggested shift to the easterly Stansted departure route, moving it further north from the town, will also be considered - provided it does not have a ‘significantly negative impact’ on villages including Ashdon and Little Walden.
However, one issue where NATS is so far refusing to budge is Stop Stansted Expansion's suggestion that aircraft bound for the airport should queue over the sea. The report said: ‘An efficient hold over the sea for Luton / Stansted airport arrivals would operate from 20,000ft upwards this would occupy up to three times the area of a low-level hold. This would interfere with many established air routes over the North Sea.’
More details are available at www.nats.co.uk.
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