Vandalism at Rochester?

[CBLong]

Hi,

I caught the tail end of an item on the Beeb's south-east local news last night which seemed to be about an incident where some vandal(s) had tampered with some light aircraft at Rochester - can anyone fill in the rest for me?

The film showed an instructor pre-flighting a C152 and talking about how any such tampering could have fatal consequences etc etc, and that the airfield authorities were stepping up security. There was an implication that the vandalism might have been part of the ongoing attempts by locals to get the 'beleaguered' airfield closed down... NIMBYism gone mad!

cbl.

[SteveR]

I flew from EGTO yesterday whilst the beeb where on the plot - they took some footage of me taxying and, and also one of my better landings.

I believe the vandalism was fairly recent and possibly provoked by the recent use of an Eastern parking area over by Toys'R'Us. ie, the w**kers spotted aeroplanes while they were out nicking playstation games and decided to round off their day with a bit of vandalism. I gather they easily gained access to the Cessnas, but Piper's door latching systems were too complicated for them.

I cannot believe there could be any conspiracy behind it. The only 'locals' trying to get the airfield closed are the eejit Labour and Lib Dem councillors - the overwhelming majority (85% in one survey) of their constituants want the airfield kept open (a fact which we will be reminding them of when the next local elections come around).

On the whole, Rochester's security is pretty damned good. Whenever I'm on the field late at night (commitee meetings), the guards pop in and see what's happening, and t'other evening I found myself locked in 'cos the gates were locked, and a security chappy arrived in less than 3 minutes to check me out and let me out.

Did anybody see the whole article?


Steve R

[spitfire747]

I did not see this report and i am based at another airport in the south. I think that any SCUMBAG caught and arrested for vandalism of ANY aircraft, should be in court for ATTEMPTED MURDER.
The criminal justice system in the counrty now is far too soft and at the moment any body caught is likely to get a BLAIR "soft touch" slap on the wrist.