It’s a real shame that we are witness to the demise of what was once hailed as the ‘Premier Special Event in the country’. It is of course a long time since those glorious heady days back in 1999 when two heliports saw 4,200 movements on race day. The heliport however, to the best of my knowledge, was seeing a respectable 1500 to 1800 movements on GP Sunday. For what ever reason this has sadly fallen away of late but it is still a busy event for helicopters, and in the right hands and at the right location I am sure it could grow and develop again. Twin only and no parking or fuel has obviously had a massive impact and of course the ludicrous landing fees have scared off many long standing operators and their clients. With a new regime running the show and with obvious massive savings made in some departments it would have been nice to see them backing off a little with the slot fees but this sadly seems not to be the case. Maybe this is a transitional year and we can expect a more user friendly and viable operation in the future. I for one certainly hope so because if not, the way things are going, there will be no need for a Grand Prix Heliport at Silverstone in a few short years.