LETTER: Flight in ‘quiet’ time not the norm

Whilst one can sympathise with Mr Hamlin (letters October 16) to a certain extent about being woken at 0344 by a departing aircraft he can be reassured that is is not the norm.
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Whilst in the summer season there are plenty of arrivals during the small hours there are no scheduled (noisier)departures between roughly 2330 and 0530; sometimes however, there are delays and permission is given for a departure outside the normal ‘quiet’ time. The aircraft which woke Mr Hamlin was an A320 operated by Smartlynx Latvia flying a charter ART9072 to Bodrum in Turkey.

It had, no doubt, been delayed many hours so it was not a question of profit for Gatwick operating at that time, but more a question of getting a planeload of passengers to their destination after what must have been an extremely frustrating delay in the middle of the night – and I trust Mr Hamlin would not begrudge them that.

PETER HILLMAN

Primrose Copse, Horsham

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