LETTER: Treat residents with respect

With regard to Mr Hillman’s reply (Letters, October 23) may I thank him for his apparent detailed on the spot knowledge of the 03.44 flight on September 24.
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Strange that the reply to my noise complaint dated October 1 made no mention of any delay. Simply the feeble excuse that ‘there was nothing unusual about the aircraft which overflew your location’. Obviously I would have showed humanity towards any delayed passengers should the aircraft had to be rescheduled due to a technical fault, or similar important reason. My numerous complaints commencing April 2013 regarding outbound night flights have been met with the standard response ‘Gatwick Airport is a 24 hour operation and there is clearly a commercial demand for flights at this time and it is in the interests of the airlines to ensure maximum fleet utilisation’.

So Mr Hillman there is no official ‘quiet time’ as you suggest.

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After being woken up at 03.36 on October 11 by an outbound aircraft the Flight Performance Team wrote on October 21 stating that they ‘will continue to register any future complaints you make however no response will be provided’.

By failing to engage this will exacerbate a situation which will further antagonise the surrounding communities. Gatwick Airport Ltd is a commercial organisation which clearly places profit above sanctity of sleep and needs to treat its nearby residents with respect and dignity.

PAUL HAMLIN

Retired police officer and life long aviation enthusiast, The Street, Capel

Editor’s note: Further to Mr Hamlin writing this letter, he has asked us to clarify that he has received confirmation from the Gatwick Flight Performance Team to say this flight was scheduled to depart at 3.30am and it left at 3.42. There was no significant delay to this flight.

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