Not quite sure if Helinut's "voice of the people" refers only to the print media, but sadly a local councillor has padlocked herself to the railings on this one.
In
this story she has written to the airport wanting tighter security checks "because residents living under the flight path are vulnerable". Argh. Sounds like she needs to live on Fairford's flightpath instead.........
Full text of that story to save you looking it up (I've only included the link so you can double check it!)...........
A HELICOPTER company at the centre of a security loophole exposed by a national newspaper says it has nothing to hide.
Biggin Hill Helicopters, which operates out of a hangar at Biggin Hill Airport, was exposed by the Daily Mirror as not carrying out luggage checks before a sight-seeing flight over London .
But Captain Bill Lowry, managing director of Biggin Hill Helicopters, says his company complies with all regulations laid down by the Civil Aviation Authority.
He said: "Helicopter operators are not required to search passengers or their bags and I'm not aware of any operator in the country which does."
He added: "If the Mirror would like to see the rules changed, it would have been much fairer if they'd taken the matter up with the authorities."
Biggin Hill Airport was singled out for allegedly allowing a helicopter to be chartered and flown over Parliament, Buckingham Palace and other city landmarks without rigid security controls.
Orpington councillor Jenny Powell has written to the airport to seek assurances security will be tightened.
She said: "If the airport is lax about safety and security, residents living under the flight path are vulnerable."
Biggin Hill Airport says it operates in accordance with the Department of Transport's National Aviation Security Programme (NASP).
A spokesman said: "The airport is carrying out a full investigation into the helicopter company's operation."
11:48 Tuesday 4th March 2003