Viewing facilities at Gatwick

Albert – And anyone else,

Just wondering if anyone had submitted their details to Gatwick Police, and have thay had any response.

I have only ever been moved on once at LGW, and never had too much of a problem, unlike SEN where Special Branch detained me for an hour or two – years ago:D 😀 with wife in tow, that went down well:mad:

If they cut down a large chunk of bushes and made a mount overlooking taxiway would be ideal and as popular as AVP i bet. Anything offsite wont work commericially and BAA are not going to invest £50k of infrastructure for anything less than £10k return a year.

1. theres a layby opposite a very good pub, chop a few trees & bushes, problem solved and Im pretty sure the pub would have a great day and so would the enthusiasts.

2. BAA wouldnt know a good idea / investment even if it bit them on the bum, I know where theres a Herald rotting away coz of BAA arrogance.

3. See No.2

Bex

No one said anything about a police budget? It is up to the police to work with BAA to make this happen. It is in both their interests and WILL make money for both.

What would you prefer, park your car and have to walk for miles to find somewhere that has no facilitities, food, toilets or shop and is on a busy road where you get hassled by police OR park your car in a dedicated car park, walk a few yards and enjoy all the above facilities in perfect peace and safety? Unless you adopt a positive attitude to this, it will indeed never happen.

I doubt my opinion will change whether it will happen or not but im flattered you rate my opinion so highly….:D

But you wont get hassled by police under ID card scheme thats the entire point. Car Parking – BCP within 5 min walk. Ok it would have a toilet but i doubt anything decent like a cafe etc as do you really think there would be constant demand to keep it open. Your talking at least 30 people a day to cover a shops costs minimum!

If they cut down a large chunk of bushes and made a mount overlooking taxiway would be ideal and as popular as AVP i bet. Anything offsite wont work commericially and BAA are not going to invest £50k of infrastructure for anything less than £10k return a year.

I spoke to a friend of the family in Sussex police and he confirmed no police budget would be allocated to development of any viewing area as there is “no budget for development of a commerical entity even when return may be made to the force”..

No one said anything about a police budget? It is up to the police to work with BAA to make this happen. It is in both their interests and WILL make money for both.

As to your point about off airport locations, this would be very much a white elephant. Who is going to go to an area off the airport to take photos etc when they can do it for free in the same area just outside of the viewing area.

What would you prefer, park your car and have to walk for miles to find somewhere that has no facilitities, food, toilets or shop and is on a busy road where you get hassled by police OR park your car in a dedicated car park, walk a few yards and enjoy all the above facilities in perfect peace and safety? Unless you adopt a positive attitude to this, it will indeed never happen.

Personally I would love to see another viewing area at Gatwick. However I can’t see it being anywhere near where it used to be as airside developments have blocked the view. I’d think it would have to be above the North term or somewhere thereabouts. Yep you could do something at the 08 end in the fields. That would make sense but be a bit limited.
I can’t see that BAA would want to spend money on something for our benefit though, not enough money in it for them.
Having said that, why would Gat Pol be interested in an ID card system for enthusiasts if BAA weren’t going to do something? There isn’t anything in the terminals for us so I would expect to be kicked out if I was there just loitering around. If you’re at the 08 end I’m sure the Police already know the regular faces.
Confused as to motives/reasons and more info req is the only conclusion I can come to at the moment.

We are talking about current climates of security not pre 2001 ones.

I spoke to a friend of the family in Sussex police and he confirmed no police budget would be allocated to development of any viewing area as there is “no budget for development of a commerical entity even when return may be made to the force”.

He did say there was budget for development of an ID card scheme wether independantly or with BAA.

As to your point about off airport locations, this would be very much a white elephant. Who is going to go to an area off the airport to take photos etc when they can do it for free in the same area just outside of the viewing area. Hence only way it will be viable is to go along Manchester AVP lines which means an airside view.

I dont deny at all that a viewing area is a good thing and I would love to see one at both airports but i think im being realistic in my views over LHR.

Of course there is a need for viewing at LHR but that doesnt mean they will have the same view of it as LGW do and this is down to security. (we can rule out money given both airports have same owner)
For example LHR has the Royal Reception Centre. This is extremely high security area and only used for our and visiting high ranking royals, presidents, diplomats etc. Does LGW have one of these? No..

Wasn’t The Royal Reception Centre open when Heathrow had roof-top viewing facilities?

On the note of an area controlled by security forces, i am confident when i say we can rule out anything on Manchester AVP scale as there simply is not the room. At Heathrow it is surrounded by roads and buildings and at Gatwick there is either a thick section fo trees/bushes or buildings. ..

There is certainly room adjacent to the Westerly runway approaches at LHR! Open fields in fact! Exactly the same at LGW at Charlwood end, which could link into the aircraft museum there.

Remember areas are never airside and this means locations are highly limited. They are not going to let people wander down a pier to a specific gallery with a good view just because of a pass…. ..

No one said they would?

In principle a good idea but really its not an interest to the police in creating an area. Nor is it something that is within their budget. .

That’s the complete opposite to Gatwick Airport Police’s view! It IS in their interest in co-operating with aircraft enthusiasts to provide a viewing area and in return revenue from this would be raised for the police AND BAA. It is nothing but a ‘win-win’ proposal that needs every support.

I dont deny at all that a viewing area is a good thing and I would love to see one at both airports but i think im being realistic in my views over LHR.

Of course there is a need for viewing at LHR but that doesnt mean they will have the same view of it as LGW do and this is down to security. (we can rule out money given both airports have same owner)

For example LHR has the Royal Reception Centre. This is extremely high security area and only used for our and visiting high ranking royals, presidents, diplomats etc. Does LGW have one of these? No.

On the note of an area controlled by security forces, i am confident when i say we can rule out anything on Manchester AVP scale as there simply is not the room. At Heathrow it is surrounded by roads and buildings and at Gatwick there is either a thick section fo trees/bushes or buildings. Therefore they will either make it publically known current spotting areas are now “accepted” by them or make space in the terminal which will be hard for them to get a good view for spotters given how advanced building work is etc.

Remember areas are never airside and this means locations are highly limited. They are not going to let people wander down a pier to a specific gallery with a good view just because of a pass….

In principle a good idea but really its not an interest to the police in creating an area. Nor is it something that is within their budget. Passes are a policing issue if they make them it and I agree its a very sensible thing to do. However BAA are the people who would have to fork out on a viewing gallery and even if they use the figures for Manchesters AVP i dont think they will jump at it given the geography.

Heathrow is our countries biggest airport, of course the security and policing will be different than that of gatwick.

What should that matter? Gatwick is a fairly important airport and rather busy. What about Amsterdam? that’s the biggest airport in the Netherlands so does that mean that should be shut off to ‘enthusiasts’?
I don’t think it should matter what size the airport is. If it is in the interests of giving people an area from which people can easily take pics or registrations which is controlled by some sort of security team then it will make the ‘jaggies’ stand out from most ‘enthusiasts’. 😀

Heathrow is our countries biggest airport, of course the security and policing will be different than that of gatwick.

It is a bit silly though for BAA at Heathrow to say “viewing areas closed due to security…point blank!”, and for BAA at Gatwick to acknowledge that there is a need for a viewing area and for enthusiasts to help towards stopping any possible security threats.

One hopes the request for position ideas for a viewing area is not a gimmick to get people to sign up to card idea…

Care to elaborate why you think this?

I think it is good that BAA at Gatwick are taking this approach because then at least we [enthusiasts] get to agree on a decent location for viewing/photography rather than being restricted to locations that BAA decide by themselves.

Heathrow is our countries biggest airport, of course the security and policing will be different than that of gatwick.

Was this idea not proposed at EDI or GLA a while back?

One hopes the request for position ideas for a viewing area is not a gimmick to get people to sign up to card idea…

I think this is a really good idea!

[B]

If only they [BAA and the local police] would do the same for Heathrow…:cool:

Yeah that would be brilliant but where can they put a veiwing area? :confused: ,They are opening the Visitor center again I think.

This is brilliant news hope it goes ahead and they dont stop it ,Then I will be able to go plane spotting at LGW again:D

James

AT LAST – COMMON SENSE PREVAILS!:D:D:D

Do you know how I can put my name down for one those ID cards you metioned?

If only they [BAA and the local police] would do the same for Heathrow…:cool:

Unfortunately, I filled in the application form and left it with them, not thinking to get a spare copy to scan for the forum. However, if you print off the scanned letter and send it to the name and address at the bottom, together with your name, address,place of birth, date of birth, phone number,e.mail address and any comments about this idea, I’m sure that would be fine.

I did mention that they should get together with Heathrow to do something simililar there, but the whole issue revolves around money as usual! Gatwick Airport Division of Sussex Police are looking at ways to raise funds for themselves and the Airport and at the same time getting enthusiasts ‘on board’ to identify any suspicious ‘non-enthusiast’ behaviour around the airport. Alas, Heathrow is manned by the Metropolitan Police who are funded by Central Government and couldn’t care less whether there is a viewing area for enthusiasts or not. They would rather waste their time patrolling the perimeter and harrassing those innocently enjoying our hobby! I tried addressing this issue with the BAA PRO at Heathrow, who just said ‘public viewing areas closed on government advice’…point blank!

Talking to them, they realise that they need to ‘engage’ with aircraft enthusiasts to counter terrorism. Rather than keep harrassing enthusiasts round the perimeter fence, it looks as though they have finally realised that a ‘viewing area’ is required near the approach end to each runway, which could generate funds for the police and the airport.

AT LAST – COMMON SENSE PREVAILS!:D:D:D

This is a wonderful idea as I can do some viewing during my lunch break/s; seeing as I work at the airport! At the moment I am restricted to having to go ‘airside’ and over to the Pier 6 construction or I have to go to the rather cramped ‘Sports Bar’ in the depature lounge of the South Terminal, where there are big windows to see through. Both offer relativley good views of the runway, however, the windows are rarley cleaned so it is not the most pleasant view of all at either location…

Do you know how I can put my name down for one those ID cards you metioned?

If only they [BAA and the local police] would do the same for Heathrow…:cool:

at last they have found some common sense