Manston's rat-plane nose-dives in Dublin

Aptly named Bin Air joins the pantheon of unsavoury and unsafe airlines that are welcome at Manston airport. It would appear that Charles Buchanan, Infratil's representative on Planet Thanet, is so desperate for business that he'll do business with anyone. This does nothing for the confidence or peace of mind of those of us who live near the flight path.

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Dublin Airport reopens after plane's wheel fails

​Picture from The Aviation Herald

The scene of a plane crash at Dublin Airport after the front wheel of the Bin Air aircraft buckled on landing causing the accident on the runway, Thursday March 7, 2013. Neither the pilot nor co-pilot, the only crew, suffered injuries, an airport spokeswoman said.

Flights at Dublin Airport were temporarily suspended Thursday when a BinAir cargo plane's nose wheel collapsed after touching down, the second such landing-gear failure to beset the small German charter airline.

The Dublin Airport Authority said nobody was hurt when the forward landing gear of the Fairchild Metroliner twin-turboprop aircraft failed.

The aircraft, operated by the Munich-based freight carrier BinAir, was carrying two pilots and a cargo of laboratory rats from [Manston] Kent, southeast England. It thumped to a stop with its nose on the tarmac.

Five inbound flights to Dublin were diverted and dozens delayed as authorities shut the obstructed runway. Unfavorable wind conditions meant it took about a half-hour to open a backup runway. The authority said flight schedules at the airport — the busiest in Ireland, averaging more than 400 flights daily — were back to normal by noon.

Thursday's landing-gear mishap was not the first for BinAir, which uses a fleet of about a dozen Metroliner turboprop aircraft and specializes in ad-hoc freight bookings.

In January 2010, a BinAir Metroliner skidded off the runway in Stuttgart, Germany, when the right-side landing gear collapsed upon landing. In that accident, the pilot reported a landing gear fault warning and aborted the initial landing, but ground crew said they could see the landing gear fully deployed. German air safety investigators determined that the right-wing landing gear collapsed upon hitting the tarmac.

European Union and German air safety authorities placed BinAir under "intensified" scrutiny, and warned it could lose its license to operate in Europe, but the airline undertook unspecified actions for "verified safety deficiencies" according to an April 2011 report by the European Commission's Air Safety Committee.

When contacted by telephone, BinAir owner Eugen Pansow declined to identify himself to The Associated Press and hung up. In a follow-up call, Pansow said he couldn't comment until he knew what caused the accident. He declined to specify the aircraft's age or date of acquisition.

The Fairchild Metroliner itself has had a troubled history. About 700 of the aircraft were built in many variants, chiefly in Texas, from 1972 to 1989. They have suffered a dozen fatality-causing crashes over the past quarter-century.

In February 2011, six people were killed at Cork Airport in southwest Ireland when a Metroliner operated by an Isle of Man airline, Manx2.com, clipped a wing on the tarmac and flipped onto its back while trying to land in heavy fog. That was the first deadly crash of a commercial airline flight at an Irish airport.

AP 7th Mar 2013

Six million passengers for Kent airport

An international travel hub could be created at Kent International Airport at Manston. The 25-year vision from KIA bosses at the former Battle of Britain airfield includes a complex to rival Luton and Stanstead, with passenger intake increasing from 16,000 a year at today’s figures to six million in 2033.

It foresees a second passenger terminal, an extension to the A299 Thanet Way - providing a direct route into the airport for freight and passenger traffic, and a railway station to serve the airport, which aims to take passengers from London St Pancras to Manston in 80 minutes. Two spots have been earmarked for the parkway station - at Cliffsend and the Lord of the Manor roundabout, which is the favoured spot.

Passenger flights will return to Manston. Likely destinations are Faro, Malaga and Palma, as well as domestic services to Manchester, Glasgow, Dublin and Edinburgh. Another option is to bring in a budget airline to Manston and bosses say they have made "significant progress" in this area. Matt Clarke, KIA chief executive, said:

"The growth in the airport here will come as the other airports in the south east near their capacity. They’ll become less easy to use, and certainly the convenient, regional airports (like Manston) have the opportunity to soak up some of that extra growth as the demand for air travel increases. It will be such an improvement for the Thanet area, particlularly because the airport has the potential for huge, wide-scale growth and employment opportunities. The 2033 estimates suggest there’ll be 7,500 jobs created as a result of the aiport - 1,200 of them will be directly employed at Manston.

The commencement of the high speed domestic rail services between Ramsgate and London in 2009 will dramatically reduce travel times making the airport even more attractive to passengers and aircraft operators. The proposed expansion is supported by national, regional and local planning and economic development policy, and with the extensive facilities currently in place, the infrastructure required to support the projected growth can be accommodated on land currently owned by the airport. We already have the beginnings of a well-developed airport. Aircraft handling facilities exceed those found at many successful regional airports and we already host daily 747 aircraft movements during our peak season. KIA is substantial asset which will benefit the whole county and provide much-needed runway capacity for the south east."

The airport is also expected to see an increase in the level of freight it handles, rising from 33,000 tonnes at the moment to 100,000 tonnes by 2010, 150,000 tonnes by 2012, and more than 500,000 tonnes in 2033.

Following the announcement, Thanet North MP Roger Gale said he believes that London mayor Boris Johnson should "look very seriously at the potential of Manston as the site of a major regional airport". Mr Gale said:

"Manston is a service that could be swiftly developed and is waiting to happen. The pressure on Heathrow and Gatwick could be relieved very successfully if a serious effort was put behind the plans unveiled by Kent International Airport."

Mr Gale has campaigned for 20 years for the airport to be serviced by proper infrastructure and he praised the vision of a high-speed rail link to Manston. He said:

"The ideas suggested by Matt Clarke and the team at KIA are exciting for the whole of the region and Thanet in particular. However, this is only possible with the development of a parkway station, which would be a ‘halt’. It would need a large car park, two covered platforms and a swift link direct to the terminal."

kentonline 8th Oct 2008