Efortless,

I'd try and have a word with the administrator/liquidator, despite the general conception of them being ogres they have nothing to gain by inhibiting potential trade.

If you owe any money at all to the airport company, (and that includes, for example, if you rent hangerage from a company which owes the airport company money) you'll be obliged to cough up before you can go ove your remove your "chattels".

On the good side, the liquidator will treat Shoreham Airport as a separate, viable company and look for a buyer ahead of the holding company's less viable assets.
That means, for good or bad, Shoreham will be sold off as a priority.

I very much doubt that this historic airfield will go into housing, funnily enough the company that gone to wall had some helicopters on site that flew away just before the airfield closed, according to sources...funny that!! How to make a fortune in aviation.....start with a big one!!
Good crowd at SHM, hope you guys can get airborne in the next few days.

W

fairoaks
 

Does anyone know if Fairoaks is being closed as they are owned by the same company?

Fairoaks is open at the moment, they are waiting to see if they are going to be affected by all this.

niknak

Thanks but it wasn't for me. I was wondering whether an uninvolved aircraft could simply depart. There is of course no charge for taking off and one would assume that nothing was owed.

Shoreham is a great little airfield, I heard a rumour that there has been some "funny handshake" types involved, let's hope it gets a fresh start under a new management team.

Maybe somebody sensible will buy the airport. Run it for GA types, maybe turn it into an airpark...That way, the local council will benefit by collecting council tax as well.... Run it along the lines of a French municipal airport maybe?????

Start by reducing the landing fees, sacking the ATC staff and getting an A/G operator. Then get rid of the parking meters. Then get rid of al the non-aviation businesses and lease their hangers to aircraft owners at a sensible rate. Rename it Shoreham (Mike Chapman) Aerodrome. Have an annual air display but with vintage aeroplanes only.

We can but dream........................:( It's all been downhill since they put in a hard runway

Effortless: I am not an expert in this field, but it seems to me that if the company has gone into administration, it doesn't mean that the company no longer exists. It means that the company is not being run by its previous managers, but is being run by the administrator instead. He can determine whether the aerodrome is open or not, as he is (effectively) the licence holder.

So if he has determined that Shoreham is closed, then closed it is. Mind you, there is a regulation that states that an aerodrome cannot be closed unless essential services are not available, but that only applies to Public Use licensed aerodromes. Those with Ordinary licences can close down whenever they feel like it. There are not many "essential services" required for a small private aircraft.

If the aerodrome operating company had gone belly up, and the aerordrome was floudering around without any owner or lessee (but presumably the local authority still retains actual ownership?), then I guess the aerodrome would be the equivalent of a grass field, and you could take off without having to get anyone's permission.

If I wanted to get my aircraft out of Shoreham, I think I'd just go, and argue afterwards. I can't see that I would have broken any law unless someone in authority had expressly told me I could not take off.

Riverboat,

I'm certain that unless you were receiving a 'direction' from an ATC provider, you could leave and argue about it afterwards. It's your aeroplane, and as it's already at the airport anyway, you already have the landowners permission to be there..Just make sure you 'book out' to satisfy the legal requirements..

Unless you owe the receiver money, then I reckon you're free to go.

i wouldnt worry about shoreham , i imagine it will be opperated as a (profitable?) going concern .

fingers crossed it wont be developed into houses but this credit crunch should sort that one out :-)

I don't know Shoreham but a number of general principles apply here.

First, the job of an administrator is to try and salvage the company but also to obtain maximum value for creditors. This will usually involve disposing of the valuable assets as going concerns.

The BBC report says there are 30 businesses at the airport. Many of those will have leases, which give the tenants a number of projections. One of the most important is that the landlord (usually the freeholder) cannot "derrogate from the grant" of the lease. This means that if you as a landlord grant a lease for say a flying school or aircraft maintenance facility, there is a clear implication that the business will need the use of an operating airfield! Fairly obvious really. However, the landlord cannot then turn around and remove that facility.That is a breach of an implied term in the lease. I suspect that a similar argument may have been used at Lee on Solent.

So, whoever buys the airport will take it subject to the leases held by the businesses and the right to use the airfield. Most of those leases will also offer the tenants substantial protection from eviction and entitle them to a new lease at the end of their existing terms.

As for anyone with an aircraft there, I cannot see there would be anything unlawful about removing their aircraft by flying them out. They could not of course bring them back without consent from the administrator. This is so even if they do owe money, unless the airport has already exercised a lien over the aircraft.

Not so Cluseau

At Lee the owners of the land the hangars or on is not the owner of the runway. Also the leases granted on the hangars are very short term.


WRT "unauthorised" departures the bit you're groping for is Rule 40 of the Rules of The Air Regulations
Not NOTAMmed (yet) as closed today.

Notamed closed till 1100Z today.

Aerodrome or field
 

If the CAA has suspended the Aerodrome licence then Shoreham is no longer a Licenced Aerodrome and so is not subject to the rules governing such aerodromes, in fact it is a field and as such removing your aircraft is subject to the normal laws governing removal of personal property from another persons land.

I would not be waiting for someone to put a chain around my prop and the months of court action that would follow to recover my property if this happend.

If it looked as if this shut down was going to take a long time to sort out I would fly my aircraft out as soon as no one was looking, I dont think that the administrators would have any wish to persue me for this unless money owing.

Fortunatly I dont see the closure of Shoreham lasting very long.

Leases?
 

:uhoh: Another angle to this - are not Brighton Council and the neighbouring council the ultimate "owners" of the land as they leased it at 150yrs to this company.

Yes they are.

This whole business has many facets, not touched on in pilot forums.

Another angle to the take offs.

Whilst Shoreham may not be a licensed airfield at present. Technically to take off from a 'field' as some are describing Shoreham you must have the land owners permission.

So I suppose that until the new owners (banks or Local Authority) get the required bits of paper, nothing moves :{

That is of course not considering that given the alleged 'dodgy' practices of Erinaceous - that the Administrators haven't got a Court order stopping aircraft from leaving until they've determined what is privately owned and what is owned by the Erinaceous offspring Longmint. Because if I was an Erinaceous shareholder I'd be hounding the Longmint crowd for every penny that they owe, and aircraft and that large Sussex home would be two good places to start :E

Bear in mind that the aerodrome is notamned closed (until 1100 as I understand it) and as such it's like any other airfield which is closed, i.e. unless you have written permission from the owner, you can't land or take off from there.
I don't know the facts, but I would also check your individual insurance policy for the aircraft regarding operating from a closed airfield, before wizzing off into the sunset.

Not that it's any of my business or anything
 

But I'd be tempted to just get your plane out asap. When big business and the little guy collide it's always the little guy that looses.