The majority of all aircraft accidents occur during take off and landing. MARINAIR's approach and departure flight paths are planned over shallow estuary waters. MARINAIR's runway island removes aircraft from the inhabited environments surrounding all existing London airports, and will relieve London of the considerable burden of over flights.
There are a number of examples of airports which are built either in the sea or are built adjacent to the sea and/or rivers. Of the airports which are built completely within and surrounded by the sea, major examples include the major airports of Check Lap Kok serving Hong Kong in China and, Kansai serving Osaka in Japan. Those adjacent to the sea include such major airports as Nice in France and John F Kennedy New York and Miami in the USofA. Those adjacent to rivers include London City Airport, Liverpool Airport and Cardiff Airport in the UK and, up until recently when it was closed for reasons of its proximity to the City of Chicago and concerns following '9/11', Meigs Field serving Chicago, which is in Lake Michigan.
There are proposals to build in the sea, a new airport to serve Amsterdam in Holland and it is the intention of the Japanese Government to construct all new airports off-shore, for both environmental and safety reasons.
Bird strike problems occur mostly at levels below 500ft - although aircraft have struck birds whilst in transit at altitude - and all airports experience some level of bird problem as a result of the large open areas of grassland adjacent to/between the runways. Airports on bird migration routes are required to carry out more rigorous bird scaring activities, during periods of migration.
The Thames Estuary Airport will be entirely surrounded by water and, the entire airport island will be in the control of the airport operator. It will therefore be possible for the airport operator to properly control bird activity on the airport island. Also, it will be relatively easy for the airport operator to patrol the waters in the vicinity of the approach and departures paths off of the ends of the runways.
Most land-based airports suffer bird problems from adjacent land - particularly flocking birds attracted to farmland and open grassland and water fowl on adjacent reservoirs and lakes - and, as the adjacent land is not in the ownership of the airports, managing the bird problem is more difficult than will be the case at the Thames Estuary Airport. The type of birds which will predominate at the Thames Estuary Airport will be gulls.
Birds are a problem at all airports, irrespective of where they are located. There are many large airports operating today, which have a greater bird problem than will be the case at the Thames Estuary Airport.
The existence of birds within the surrounds of the Thames Estuary Airport will be managed, just as is the case at all other airports.
The existence of birds relative to the Thames Estuary Airport is NOT an issue and objections to the airport which purport to demonstrate that birds will be an insurmountable obstacle to safe aeroplane operations over the Thames Estuary, are NOT well founded or relevant. If there was an insurmountable problem with locating an airport in the sea, then existing airports as mentioned above - and others not mentioned - would have been closed.
The Airport Island Complex will include air-sea rescue and security stations, serving the airport and providing a general estuarial facility.
Some people make things happen,
Some watch things happen,
While others wonder what has happened.
