This from the local paper, The Evening Argus.
How safe is this airport?
by Lynn Daly
Sunday's crash - the third in a year on Sussex beaches
The plane which ditched on Worthing beach at the weekend was the seventh to come down flying into or out of Shoreham in just over six years.
For the beachcombers enjoying the burst of spring sunshine, it was a heart-stopping moment.
One minute they were relishing a peaceful stroll. The next a light aircraft came spluttering through the clouds, heading straight for the shoreline.
The scene, reminiscent of a movie, has been replayed three times in Sussex in the last year.
On Sunday, pilot Christopher Linton battled to steer his single-engine aircraft clear of crowds after the engine exploded at 2,000ft.
Miraculously, Mr Linton managed to avoid the afternoon sunbathers and made a bumpy but otherwise safe landing on the pebbles at Worthing.
But this latest drama has raised questions about the safety of planes flying into and out of Shoreham airport.
Two other planes have crash-landed on beaches, one ditched into the sea near Hove Lagoon and one hit a house in Shoreham. The others came down in fields near the airport.
Despite the recent spate of accidents, Shoreham insists its safety record is top flight.
Manager John Haffenden said its safety record was comparable with similar airports in the UK.
He said: "We have an average of 70-75,000 movements a year and we have had probably five to six incidents in five to six years. That's one for every 75,000 movements and I'd say that's not bad."
Mr Haffenden said although the sight of a plane landing on a beach was dramatic, it was exactly the right thing to do.
"Pilots are trained for just this eventuality - the unusual incident. If they suffer catastrophic engine failure, as Sunday's plane did, they have to put the aircraft down in the safest possible place.
"If they put down in the sea, it is like slamming the plane into a concrete wall. It comes to a dead stop or it could turn over.
"Shingle on a beach acts like sand at the bottom of a hill for a car - it slows it down.
"Pilots will always look for a stretch of land or beach where there are no or few people and try to bring the plane down in the safest way possible."
Last April, Donald Campbell's light plane dropped out of the sky and on to the home of Helen Monahan in West Street, Shoreham.
She had left only minutes earlier to collect her children from school.
Mr Haffenden said: "In this case, the pilot was not aiming for the houses. He was trying to get to an open space beyond but the wing clipped the house and took the roof off."
He said injuries were unusual in the majority of incidents of this kind, and that the number of accidents compared favourably with road crash figures.
He said: "I can assure people we have a very robust safety management system at Shoreham."
David Learmount, operations and safety editor of Flight International magazine, said most light aircraft were single-engine planes.
He said: "Because of the careful checks pilots and engineers do, and the design of the engines themselves, engine failures are rare. But the thing every pilot dreads is having failure when he is too far away to glide back to an airfield.
"In that situation the drill is to find somewhere flat, wide and clear and put the plane down so as not to harm a soul, including the pilot. Beaches fit the bill entirely."
Mr Learmount said a new era of quieter, more reliable light aeroplane engines was beginning.
However, such reassurances do little to calm the nerves of people living around the airport.
Kathlyn Simmons who lives at Willowbrook Park, Lancing, said living in the flight path was "nerve-wracking".
She added: "On a bad day, at the weekends, a plane goes over about every minute between 10am and 7pm.
"Apart from the noise, it is very worrying. We've had three planes come down now in the last 14 months. It's getting a bit much and they are too close for comfort.
"If they came down here, these houses are made of timber and they would split apart like matchsticks."
Mrs Simmons and her neighbours have written to MP Tim Loughton and Mr Haffenden asking them to move the flight path away from their homes.
For the beachcombers enjoying the burst of spring sunshine, it was a heart-stopping moment. One minute they were relishing a peaceful stroll. The next a light aircraft came spluttering through the clouds, heading straight for the shoreline
Note: It was a clear day as stated above, the beachconbers enjoying the burst of spring sunshine......so where did these clouds suddenly come from then? the jurnos head bt the looks it.
Kathlyn Simmons who lives at Willowbrook Park, Lancing, said living in the flight path was "nerve-wracking".
The others came down in fields near the airport Lancing has fields to one side. NIMBYism at its worst.
