Mystery flights.....no flight plans.....conspiracies.....all in a day's work for Kelvin Thompson representing "local residents". Ya gotta laugh....
No mystery flights at Essendon Airport, air body says 15 Feb 10 @ 10:59am by Engel Schmidl
THE air traffic authority has refuted claims that 4 per cent of aircraft movements at Essendon Airport could not be accounted for in a study monitoring night time flights during a three-month period last year.
Air Services Australia spokesman Matt Wardell said there were no mystery flights at Essendon Airport but that a number of aircraft did not lodge flight plans.
Mr Wardell said not all flights required flight plans and law enforcement aircraft, such as the Victoria Police Air Wing, did not need to lodge flight plans.
“There are no unidentified movements at Essendon,” Mr Wardell said.
He said some members of the Essendon Airport Working Group consultative committee had misinterpreted figures taken from the study report.
Mr Wardell said even if no flight plan was lodged or recorded by Air Services Australia, these aircraft were still identified to air traffic control.
Wills federal Labor MP Kelvin Thomson, who has raised the issue of the missing flights with Air Services Australia, wants a clarification about the information in the report.
Mr Thomson said residents had a right to know the nature of flights using the airport.
“The advice that I have received is that all flights must lodge a flight plan, and the idea of unidentified planes coming and going from Essendon Airport has raised concern amongst local residents,” Mr Thomson said.
But the Air Services Australia spokesman was quick to hose down any such suggestion.
“This is not a safety or security risk as all aircraft are identified by air traffic controllers on departure from, and approach to, Essendon,” he said.
No mystery flights at Essendon Airport, air body says - Government - News | Moonee Valley Leader