In article ,
"David Starer" wrote:

In the UK it is possible to give an airfield protected status. Once this is
done, local planners cannot give permission for any development in the
surrounding area that would have an operational or safety impact on the
airfield. This gives the airfield operator protection against the sudden
appearance of tall buildings, masts, chimneys, etc. Owners of surrounding
property cannot grow tall trees or even put fences up against the airfield
boundary if this would cause a hazard to the operation. Maybe something
similar exists in NZ?

I don't know, but I would hope not. The guy has a perfect right to do
what he wants with *his* land. It is, after all, his, not ours.

The runway at Omarama is a pretty good length at 1380m (just over 4500
ft).

That's several times longer than many aerotow operations have available,
and is even long enough to get a decent height winching (and there is a
winch there).

It's comparable to or longer than the commercial runways at Blenheim,
Gisborne, Hastings, Hokitika, Kaitaia, Kerikeri, Masterton, Milford
Sound, Napier, Nelson, New Plymouth, Paraparaumu, Rotorua, Taupo,
Tauranga, Timaru, Wanganui, Whakatane, or Whangarei. It's longer than
Queenstown was until they decided they not only wanted to have 737s
flying locally but to also fly them fully loaded to Australia.

So you're going to have a pretty tough time arguing that putting up some
houses off the end of the runway is going to have a significant effect
on *safety*.


So the only real danger I can see is that people buy houses there and a
few years down the track start complaining about the noise. Which is
totally illogical, but it happens.

So why aren't we concentrating on *that*?

Don't try to tell the guy he can't subdivide his land. That will cost
him $$$ and so of course he won't like it much. Just ask him to get the
buyers to sign a covenent that they know there is an airport there and
they know there will be some noise. That's not going to cost him any $
at all, so it's hard to see why he wouldn't agree if approached nicely.

-- Bruce