KEY POINTS:
The move by the Waitakere City Council and Infratil to rezone the land at RNZAF Base Whenuapai to allow for commercial airline operations has met a great deal of opposition from the residents of the areas most affected - the North Shore, Herald Island and Whenuapai village.
Most concern centres on the additional noise and pollution that would result from the vastly increased number of flights. An additional concern, which has not seen much publicity so far, is the issue of safety and this has now been highlighted by the B777 accident at Heathrow.
It is a statistical fact that 70 per cent of all aircraft accidents occur on take-off or landing, either on the airfield or in close proximity. For this and other reasons, study of recent airfield developments worldwide will show that they are built as far from housing as is reasonably practical.
Indeed, if one looks at Auckland International Airport, it will be noted that while one runway has its approach over water, the other runway has its final approach over industrial land and farmland. This demonstrates the foresight of the planners who purchased 1500ha to ensure that housing could not encroach. The nearest house under the approach is sited approximately 5km from the runway.
We do not yet know what caused the B777 to lose power, although the initial report suggests a computer malfunction. But that is largely irrelevant. The fact remains that it was extremely fortunate that it was able to crash land on to the airfield itself.
If it had occurred as little as 30 seconds earlier, that would not have been the case.
If we now imagine a similar accident at a commercial airport at Whenuapai, we would find that the aircraft would have crashed on to either Whenuapai village or Herald Island housing, depending on the direction of approach.
The loss of life in that circumstance would have been horrendous. Several schools lie under or near the approach to Whenuapai, including New Zealand's largest secondary school, Rangitoto College.
Do we really need to wait until we have some terrible disaster before we decide that a commercial airport at Whenuapai is not acceptable?
The possibility of an aircraft crash was one of the six disasters that posed the greatest risk to the Auckland region specifically mentioned in a pamphlet developed by the Auckland Regional Council and released by councils some months ago.
North Shore Mayor Andrew Williams stated in a recent press release: "I am most concerned at the enormous potential safety risks for those people in North Shore City located under the proposed flight paths of Whenuapai should it ever be intensified into a commercial operation."
The Heathrow accident should serve as a big wake-up call to all those promoting a commercial airport at Whenuapai. Airports all over the world are being moved away from cities and urban areas. As a society, we must be aware that the interests of big business, in this case Infratil, do not necessarily coincide with the interests of the community.
Waitakere Mayor Bob Harvey has quoted the shorter travel times in his justification for a commercial airport and has placed great store on a recent survey of 0.01 per cent of the North Shore population, commissioned by his council and Infratil, which purports to indicate support for a commercial airport.
He dismisses the vote of 37 per cent of the population which clearly indicated in the local body elections that they do not wish to have their lifestyles compromised by the noise, pollution and safety concerns of a commercial airport at Whenuapai.
* Russell Stewart is president of the Whenuapai Airbase Action Group and a retired airline captain with 44 years in aviation.
