29 March 2016
If you have a problem while flying in the south-east, best not to divert to London Luton Airport unless you really, really have to. The pilot of a Piper Warrior PA-28 which landed at the airport after being diverted there and encouraged to land by the airport tower has been hit with a landing fee of £1,047.36.
The case has been highlighted by Charles Strasser of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA). Mr Strasser instigated the well-known ‘Strasser Scheme’ whereby aircraft making an emergency landing, for weather or technical reasons, would not be charged a landing fee.
On 19 January this year, an instructor and student set of from Elstree aerodrome, in a Piper Warrior 151 G-ROWS on a night flight for his night rating course.
On the take-off run a loud thump was heard. The controller at Elstree said the lighting was poor for a low pass for an undercarriage inspection and a decision was made to fly to Northolt instead. They were unable to accept them and recommended an emergency be declared and to divert to Luton. This they did.
A couple of low approaches [at Luton] were made for the fire crew to have a look at the undercarriage. They reported that it looked to be down and the instructor decided to go back to Elstree.
However the Luton controller suggested that a landing should be made “just to make sure everything was OK and then take off again shortly afterwards”. They accepted this, as it was sound safety advice, landed without incident and taxied to the FBO. They inspected the undercarriage and all looked normal. They asked if they could use the washroom facilities before departing and were taken to the reception.
As the pilot had declared an emergency, he claimed that under the “Strasser Scheme” landing fees should be waived. Although 207 UK airports have joined and participate in the “Strasser Scheme”, unfortunately London Luton is one of the remaining four airports, who have so far declined several attempts to get them to do so. However, Glyn Jones, the former managing director of London Luton Airport, is on record as saying, “that London Luton would do its utmost to assist any pilot in distress and would never disadvantage a GA pilot financially”.
As an AOPA member, the pilot enlisted the help of Charles Strasser to try and get at least a partial refund of the billed amount of £1,047.36.
Charles Strasser’s attempts to communicate with the current CEO of London Luton, Nick Barton, to get the charges refunded finally resulted in a refusal. On the other hand, charges levied by the FBO have been refunded in full.
Charles Strasser said, “It is the fear of such monstrous charges being levied for genuine emergency landings by GA aircraft which prompted the CAA to publish potentially life saving CAP667 9.2(c) which clearly states “that all aerodrome owners be persuaded to adopt a policy that there should be no charges for emergency landings or diversions by general aviation aircraft.”
FLYER has asked London Luton Airport for a comment but nothing has yet been received.
9 comments
This is shocking, they should get a full refund and shouldn’t have even paid it in the first place.
Id agree htough they’d probably impound the plane…
Let’s just boycott this cr4p airport. I fly there when I have no other choice and I am always ready to pay a premium not to go there (or Stansted).
I flew from Luton when they still did training and ATC were excellent. Its the management who have a serious attitude problem against GA. They were the ones that killed the flying clubs based there. They need to get a grip on what is really important.
How things have changed. I did a triangular cross country from Cranfield in the seventies, and Luton’s landing fee was £12!! That inclued a follow me van to the apron and a minibus (with two gorgeous girls in) to and from the terminal.
Luton needs to be boycotted…I shall be making strong recommendations to my many corporate aircraft clients and friends to go elsewhere……if just one does so…then that will be a bigger loss than the whole charge being made here.
Mr. Barton has done a great disservice to his airport if the above reporting is factual. I shall make enquiries to determine if this is so, but have no reason to doubt FLYER.
Up near Syracuse NY there was a grass strip that was on the sectional. A lot of CFIs liked to use it to practice emergency landings. The owner apparently got tired of it. He got the N number and sent the flight school a bill for several hundred dollars for landing fees. Word got out and we never used it again.
Why not just not pay?
I’m not sure the pilot of the plane had a legally enforceable contract with Luton, as it was Luton who invited the distressed plane to land.
An overworked diverted GA pilot would have no realistic idea he was going to be charged if he accepted this safety invitation.
If Luton want to take him to court, then I’m sure the GA community would chip-in to his defence fund. Luton would probably drop the demand then, as the alternative is to have its aviation reputation dragged through the dirt in the papers & every GA magazine & aviation forum.
I’d chip in £10 & a GA lawyer would quite likely take on the case on at no win/no fee, if they thought it had a chance in court.
Use to route from/to Elstree via Luton for customs or special branch clearance many times. How things have changed. Wouldn’t be so bad if they didn’t close so many useful airfields nearby like Hatfield, Leavesden etc. Should at least cap it at £100. I wonder how many airline pilots flying out of Luton trained at Elstree originally.