[Peetwo]

Great to see the ‘Public Interest’ being served by this new proposal at Essendon. Lots more opportunity for shopping. Lots more opportunity for residential development.  Lots more opportunity for short term real estate development with a good ROI.  Bugger aviation and the critical role it plays in our economy.  They can fly from somewhere else.  

Methinks the long term plan is to close down the airfield altogether using the ‘death-by-a-thousand-cuts’ method big developers have honed to perfection with tacit government approval.  It goes something like this:  ‘hey mate, stick in the application, no worries.  We’ll take care of it..  it’ll go through the normal approvals process using the flawed ‘affordable risk’ methodology we’ve been using for years without consequence.  Don’t worry about all that international shit.  We give lip service to that so it looks as if we are meeting that standard when nothing could be....well, you know.  Then when you find there’s reduced air traffic you can put an argument for further reductions in width and length and we’ll go with that because, clearly, aviation is giving you a poor ROI...we can’t have that, can we?  We can’t stifle the market place!  And Bob’s your father’s brother. Oh, and about that donation for a good cause........!

Of course this is a purely fictional account of what might happen bearing no resemblance to those living or dead!  

 In the interim the public and fliers are at risk and not just along the sides of runways but at the ends where there ARE NO PUBLIC SAFETY ZONES courtesy NASF which is not interested in looking after the public at end of runways for established airfields.  Nup, you’re on your own.  School kids, local residents count for nothing.  Just an affordable payout should things go pear-shaped.  Tells us something about the value governments puts on human life.  The message, for those of you who’ve missed it, is humans are a commodity with a certain value, and that value is the price of doing business.  How much are you worth!

Update: Via the AFAP

Link: https://10daily.com.au/shows/10-news-fir...79Kn2B6js8

Essendon Airport Propose Runway Changes To Develop To New Shopping Centre  
 
The high profile owners of Essendon Airport want to narrow the runways, to develop a new shopping district opposite the current DFO. "It would set a very worrying precedent for our other federal airports around the country," says #YourAFAP.

&..

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9 News Melbourne
July 2 at 4:30 PM ·

Essendon Airport's operators want to narrow its runways in order to put new commercial buildings around the airfield. It's a masterplan which a peak pilots' body has warned would compromise safety.

#9News | http://9News.com.au

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#Pilots have slammed moves by the owners of Essendon Fields Airport to narrow runways in a bid to make room for a giant shopping complex and offices. Essendon #airport is owned by Lindsay Fox and Max Beck and both men want more bang for their buck. Pilots don’t want the proposal to get off the ground, saying it would compromise #safety. Public submissions on the master plan close today. (AFAP Safety & Technical Manager) Marcus Diamond said he was “baffled” to learn about the plan, particularly given a report investigating how the Essendon DFO was approved still hadn’t been released.

Pilots angered by bold new plans for Essendon airport

02/07/2019
MACQUARIE NATIONAL NEWS
 

 



Pilots have slammed moves by the owners of Essendon Fields Airport to narrow runways in a bid to make room for a giant shopping complex and offices.

Essendon airport is owned by Lindsay Fox and Max Beck and both men want more bang for their buck.

But the Airline Pilots’ Association says the only bang they’ll get under this plan is a potential crash.

The Age is reporting the master plan is virtually a mirror image of DFO, which sits next to the Tullamarine Freeway.

It also involves painting new lines on the runways, effectively narrowing them to make room for the development.

Pilots don’t want the proposal to get off the ground, saying it would compromise safety.

Public submissions on the master plan close today.

Marcus Diamond, from the Australian Air Pilots Federation, told 3AW it was a recipe for disaster.

He said he was “baffled” to learn about the plan, particularly given a report investigating how the Essendon DFO was approved still hadn’t been released.

A plane crashed into that DFO building in 2017, killing five people.

“You really shouldn’t be making any changes to this airport until that ATSB report comes out,” Mr Diamond said.

https://omny.fm/shows/mornings-with-neil...ation-of-a

MTF...P2