WHO IS WATCHING ?

Part of the editorial comment in Tuesday’s Telegraph featured some questions about the ‘leak proof’ qualities of Britain’s borders; particularly those concerning small airfields and harbours. The editorial suggested that we should be concerned at the ease by which it is possible for people who aren’t necessarily tourists to enter the country almost at will.

The point made was that there were insufficient numbers of Border Police to provide coverage for these out-of-the-way places anf thereby plug the gaps.

A report from a Lord Carlisle QC stated: “The risk of lethal material entering the UK on a light aircraft landing at a busy general aviation airport or remote rural airstrip is real”

When these concerns were raised during 2006, MPs were told that at some smaller airfields, customs and immigration personnel were seldom seen.

There are clearly implications for a majority of those who use these columns. Most of my flying is in England visiting remote farm strips, the more so since landing fees were seen as a serious form of income for many of the more well established airfields and small airports. During many years of flying activity I can have seen nothing untoward or any activity that would cause me to contact the Police or Immigration service. Would many agree, I wonder?

What for GA are the implications of this report? Increased surveillance. Increased costs of such passed to the consumer – you and me. Restrictions of time ? Restrictions of size of aircraft. More reporting paperwork. How do you prove without laborious ‘backtracking’ of enquiries and paperwork that your flight began and ended within national boundaries?

Are we approaching the point that every time you disappear for a local bimble you become a suspected law breaker ?

We’ll see.