Protesters at Biggin Hill airport!

[PompeyPaul]

Looks like they are taking the closure of "Biggles Bar" very seriously.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/6949056.stm

[Fuji Abound]

Its only a bunch of protesters dear :), we will still make it to the Splendido for lunch.

:)

[Captain Smithy]

Dear oh dear! Wherever will this madness end? Bloody idiots.

Quote from BBC article:

"Richard George, spokesman for the group, said it was a protest against the super-rich who had their own planes and were not trying to cut their carbon emissions."

Stunningly ironic statement highlighted in bold. I have yet to come across a "super-rich" PPL... :uhoh: :rolleyes:

What the **** do these eedjits know? When will this lot learn not to talk about things they clearly know bugger all about?

[Fuji Abound]

I have yet to come across a "super-rich" PPL...

To be fair, I suspect the reason these protests were at Biggin and Farnborough is that the later is largely, if not almost wholly, frequented by private business jets and the former is not far behind, although it does maintain a good "GA" presence.

[AlanM]

Good to see see that is not only Thames Radar protesting about Biggin Hill!!!! :)

They had blocked the passenger entrance, but an airport spokesman said flights had been running on schedule.

Bad choice of words perhaps - are they not allowed to have scheduled flights?!?!?! (I know what he meant though - just that NIMBYs may not!)

:}:):D

[skua]

Presumably this is not the same (Sir) Richard George (former owner of Weetabix) who is certainly "super-rich" and a longstanding eggbeater pilot.:)

[Sir George Cayley]

Did anyone get chance to ask said pprotestors how they got to Big One Hill?

Walked?


Cycled?


Public Transport?



or did they turn up in a number of old diesel vans?





Hypocrits if they did:=


Sir George Cayley

[bigdunk]

It makes me so angry people buy homes near airfields and then complain about the noise.:*

[bogcleaner]

I reckon they just didn`t fancy lying down in front of the traffic at the entrance to the heathrow approach tunnel. I reckon you could probably get away with a whole 15mins before being squashed at the official entrance to the terminal at Big One Hill.

[Gipsy Queen]

Nothing new here. Biggin has been under siege for as long as I can remember.

Originally it was residents who had recently bought houses close by and who objected to the noise levels - we did not even have an environment in those days, let alone carbon footprints - and there was still some RAF activity. This silly behaviour is pretty typical of people seeking to change the rules of a club ten minutes after gaining membership thereof. This was during the 'fifties. Things would be quiet for a while and then some firebrand seeking to make a name for himself would surface and we're all off to the races again. I remember an evening in the local boozer trying to quell the local populace who were convinced that they were about to be buried under London's third airport following the arrival of a couple of Britannias which had come to languish and die.

A political dimension seemed to enter the equation after the field was adopted by Kent County Council and we had more of an anorak element patrolling the peritrack. Things could be busy at weekends but, generally, there were not all that many movements during the week - there usually was time for a quick R/T joke with Robin in the tower for those who had R/T; there were many non-radio a/c around then - and the noise level was not high but nevertheless, complaints there were. I am not sure what, if anything, he did but things were at their quietest when Douglas Bader was Chairman of the local RAFA which used to meet in the Biggin Hill Flying Club.

Now it seems that a new generation of have-nots/wannabes (scions of the Greenham Common tribe?) disguised as tree-huggers and others of dubious earth-friendly credentials have moved in. Certainly, the character of the airfield is now unrecognised by those of us who frequented dilapidated army huts in which the CFI had a three-legged desk (the fourth corner being supported by an inverted waste paper bin), the briefing room (!) wall festooned with Brylcreme-lined flying helmets. "Fuel on, mixture rich, throttle set, contact . . " and cough-smoke-cough-cough of a Gipsy Major starting filtering through the smoke-grimed windows . . . .

I think I might join the band of objectors; not in opposition to fox hunting or whatever the currently fashionable cause celebre might be but in protest at the passing of so much that was interesting and fun to be replaced by the politically correct and stultifyingly bland.

Sic transit and all that . .

GQ