A formal planning application for an airstrip on the land between Willow Woods Road,

Little Mongeham and Mill Lane / Coulson Grove, Northbourne has been submitted to DDC.

The application includes an airstrip, 2 hangars, 20 light aeroplanes, 10 glamping pods and helicopter access.

What do you think about it? Do you want it? Tell us here.

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Tony Wells

May 22, 2021

Edited: May 22, 2021

Freedom of Information

in Say no to Mongeham airfield!

Comments from @Keith Jones uses words such as "exaggerated" and "uninformed" on more than one occasion.

So, let's be honest, we, the uninformed public, can only make decisions based upon the information that is being presented to us. At the moment this is the contents of the planning application and supporting documentation.

If we don't have the facts how can we come to an informed decision. We have to and will assume the worst case and make decisions based on that, whether it's the number of aircraft, the noise produced by the light aircraft, the number of flights per day, the hours of operation and so on.

I am certain there are a number of people on this forum who are in support of this proposal, are aviators themselves and who were based at the Maypole Airfield. So I'd like to make a request to those individuals.

I'd like to ask a series of questions, consider it a Freedom of Information request if you like, in an attempt to clear up some areas of confusion:

In the Planning Support Statement it states "a small group of keen aviators who have been displaced from their long-standing home in north Kent".
1. How "small" is small?
2. How many of these aviators would be moving to this new airfield?
3. How many aircraft and what types would they relocate?
4. During a typical year, how often would they expect to fly?
5. Where/how far do these aviators live from the proposed airfield?
How many additional aviators have expressed interest in using the airfield as their base? What types of aircraft will they base there?
Will aircraft be permitted to park and for how long? I've driven past airfields and seen aircraft tied down under weatherproof covers which would imply they were parked long-term.
What type of maintenance/servicing is required for these aircraft, how often and where will this take place?
There appears to be no refuelling facilities at the airfield, so how will light aircraft based at the airfield, light aircraft visiting the airfield; helicopters; emergency services and Air Search services be refuelled?

Many thanks in advance.

13 comments

13 Comments

geoffrey.937

May 30, 2021

@Keith Jones Apologies if you have already replied somewhere else and I missed it, but can you answer @Paul Osborne here - do you think that fuel will be stored on site?

Keith Jones

May 30, 2021

Replying to

I think it is most likely but in a quantity that is far less than the average petrol station. The storage of fuel is strictly regulated and all storage must be bundded ( in effect one tank inside a second tank to prevent fuel leaking from the fuel unit )

geoffrey.937

May 31, 2021

Replying to

@Keith Jones Thank you for the clarification.

sallyann

May 22, 2021

I'm sorry I'm probably being a a bit thick but I don't understand what you you said about question 4.

Keith Jones

May 22, 2021

Replying to

Tell me what you don’t understand but I will try to make the explanation clearer. But the Civil Aviation Authority mandates how and by who maintenance on aircraft can be carried out. For the larger and more complicated aircraft the CAA takes direct oversight of the companies and people who are authorised to do this. For the smaller and less complicated aircraft the CAA delegates organisations to do this task, The Light Aircraft Association is such an organisation, they appoint inspectors to do the day to day inspection of aircraft. The system works very well and has produced a would class safely system that has a very good safety record.

Keith Jones

May 22, 2021

I will try to answer your questions but as I am not directly connected with the airfield development There are some questions others are in a better position to answer.

question 1 is best answered by those directly involved in the development. As is question 2.

Question 3 is about aircraft that are based on an airfield but not kept in a hangar, this is common practice as some people don’t want the expense of Hangarage and think it is saving them money ( but it usually results in extra maintenance costs and saves them nothing ).

question 4, aircraft maintenance has to be carried out to a program mandated by the aviation authorities, usually they mandate the program published by the aircraft manufacturer but can add additional items. Usually maintenance is carried out by companies who specialise in that type of aircraft but for some of the smaller types the owner can do the maintenance and have in certified by an approved inspector.

question 5 it is common for small airfields to have a small fuel trailer unit , expect something the of the size that could be towed by a Land Rover. The smaller Rotax powered aircraft use normal car petrol and so little of it that the owners are likely to re-fuel from Jerry cans.

I hope this helps answer a few of your questions.

Tony Wells

May 23, 2021

Replying to

@Keith Jones Many thanks for your reply.

To clarify:

Can only be answered by one of those involved in the planning application.
Can only be answered by one of those involved in the planning application.
Can only be answered by one of those involved in the planning application.
Many thanks for your answer. I did some further research and found clear statements & instructions that pilots can change their own oil.
Again, thanks for your answer, in particular about the Rotax engine. It looks like refuelling will be performed at the airfield.

Keith Jones

May 23, 2021

Replying to

@Tony Wells Question 4. What is called by the authorities “pilot maintenance “ is part of the mandated maintenance program and there is a list of non- safety critical tasks that pilot owners can carry out without oversight from an approved inspector. Experience over many years has shown this to be a very robust system in terms of safety. It must be remembered that in terms of mechanical sophistication these aircraft are way behind modern cars, with this simplicity comes reliability. The Rotax engine is in car terms very simple and because it has been widely used in military drones has amassed a huge number of flying hours, with knowledge gained from all this flying time the manufacturer has long ago got all the bugs out of the engine, it now being standard practice amongst the military to send these engines on flights lasting 24 hours or more. It will take most private owners over a year to amass the flying time that the military will do in a long weekend.

Paul Osborne

May 25, 2021

Replying to

It's a real shame that those pilots involved in the development do not wish to respond to questions. As Tony says, people will just think the worst.

Ref the fuel, would it be unusual for fuel not to be kept at an airfield such as that proposed?

geoffrey.937

May 22, 2021

I would be very interested to hear the answers too.